As a coach’s son, growing up at his father’s knee, Philip Rivers quickly learned the value of toughness on the football field. In a childhood spent on sidelines across Alabama, Rivers could sense his father’s respect for the toughest among his players, the ones who played through pain, who took pride in being on the field for every play.
“Unless you can’t get off the field,” his father would always say, “you get off the field.” And so, as a young boy, this notion was ingrained in the very fabric of Philip Rivers, before he’d even stepped foot in a huddle.
Fifteen seasons into a Hall of Fame NFL career, in which he played through torn ligaments in his knee and bulging disks in his back — and still somehow has never missed a start — his father’s words still resonate. Over the years, Rivers has proven himself as one of the toughest quarterbacks to ever play, and on Sunday, when the Chargers meet the Seahawks in Seattle, he’ll start his 200th consecutive regular season game, a milestone only three other quarterbacks – Brett Favre, Eli Manning and Peyton Manning – have ever reached.
For Rivers, it’s a meaningful distinction, one that cuts to the very core of who he is. Statistics are one thing. But longevity, in Rivers’ eyes, was a matter of pride.
“The best ability is dependability,” his coach at N.C. State, Chuck Amato, often said. Like with his father, he took those words to heart. Over four years in Raleigh, Rivers started a record 51 games in a row, all the while dreaming of breaking Favre’s record, once he made it to the NFL.
“Favre was always a favorite of mine,” he says. “Still is. I wanted to have that mark, or at least push for it. … I always thought gosh, of all the (records) in the pros, that would be the one.
Rivers smiles. He knows he’ll fall short of Favre’s regular season mark. To surpass the Packers legend, Rivers would have to play deep into the 2025 season.
“Y’all can do the math and figure out your projection of how many years I’m going to play,” he said, “but I’m not going to get to 300.”
The truth is Rivers probably never should have made it to 200. For a decade, as the Chargers center, Nick Hardwick watched closely as Rivers played through immense pain, but never fully disclosed how much.
There were weeks in which his center fully expected Rivers to sit out. “And then sure enough,” Hardwick remembers, “you see him marching out there again. You wonder, how in the hell is he continuing to fight through what he’s fighting through? It’s a testament to the human will.”
January 20th, 2008 was one of the days. A week earlier, Rivers had been carted off the field in Indianapolis. His ACL and meniscus were torn. His season, by all accounts, should have been over. The day after the Chargers punched their ticket to the AFC championship game, Rivers had surgery to clean out his meniscus. Six days later, he was under center, wearing a balky brace, dropping back 37 times on a still-torn ACL in a loss to the Patriots.
“There was no doubt in anybody’s mind that he would play, which is kind of mind-blowing, if you think about it,” Hardwick remembers.
And yet, his harrowing story garnered nowhere near as much attention as it would today. At the time, Rivers said nothing of how badly he was injured. But in the locker room, his teammates understood.
“He never once winced or anything,” Hardwick said. “That whole week wasn’t about him, and looking back, it probably should’ve been more about him.”
Almost seven years later, as the 2014 season stretched into December, a bulging disk sent shooting pains up and down his back, while a rib injury he suffered continued to linger. All season long, as the Chargers went 9-7, Rivers was pummeled, and at his age, the pain was adding up. After missing his first practice since 2007, he confided in Hardwick, then in the broadcast booth, that his injuries might get the best of him.
He played the rest of the season, anyway.
Again, the public knew he was playing hurt. But, not really. Rivers never led on that he was in pain. Even now, he’s asked if he’s ever come close to missing a game. He shakes his head.
“You want to play at a high level,” Rivers said, “and that’s been up and down over 199. But being out there means something.”
To make it so far is a measure of fortitude, above all else, but also of luck and careful consideration. Chargers running back Melvin Gordon credits Rivers’ mind, first and foremost, for keeping him healthy and upright.
“He’s playing chess out there,” Gordon said. “When you’re a master at chess and you know what moves are made before they’re made, it’s kind of hard for people to beat you.”
Rivers thinks back to that first start, long before he’d mastered anything. That day feels so far away, and yet, he still remembers it vividly. He recalls how few passes he threw (11) and how one went for a score to Antonio Gates. “First of many,” he told Gates at the time.
Twelve years later, they’re still here, as reliable as ever. As Rivers take the field on Sunday for his 200th consecutive start under center, one of the toughest quarterbacks the league has ever seen will continue on like he always has, with no end still in sight.
“I have that same passion in this 200th one that I had in the first one,” Rivers said. “That’s what excites me for the next handful of years.”
