Indianapolis, IN — Clinical, surgical, teach tape: these are just a few words that accurately describe Philip Rivers’s opening drive in primetime against the San Francisco 49ers.
Starting center Tanor Bortolini went down early with a concussion, making it the Colts’ third consecutive week in which a starting offensive lineman left the game with injury, but the veteran quarterback didn’t flinch. Instead, he took the modern-day 49ers defense to school as he carved them up en route to a 9-play, 72-yard touchdown-scoring opening drive.
Culminating in a big-time touchdown to wide receiver Alec Pierce, Rivers’s pre-snap operation is what led the Colts offense to a quick, efficient score. Spending almost the entire play clock on each play, the veteran quarterback made every check and audible possible as he singlehandedly walked the 49ers’ defense down. The touchdown to Pierce came on the heels of a free play after Rivers’s cadence caused the defensive line to jump.
On the opening drive in question, Philip Rivers went 5-7 for 73 passing yards and 1 touchdown through the air.
It was an electric throwback to the past era of quarterbacking, yet also provided a peek at what a player of Rivers’s caliber can do with more prep time than half of a week directly off the couch.
Against the Seattle Seahawks in his debut back from retirement, Rivers’s genius was on full display, but his understandably weaker arm was as well. Against the 49ers, however, his arm seemed to reclaim some leftover juice from his past. That’s not to suggest that Rivers is back to his prime, but he’s certainly shown shades through one quarter of play thus far.
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