{"id":53065,"date":"2018-11-09T21:28:43","date_gmt":"2018-11-10T02:28:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonnfl.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=53065"},"modified":"2021-05-30T19:08:02","modified_gmt":"2021-05-30T23:08:02","slug":"philip-rivers-mvp-candidate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2018\/11\/09\/philip-rivers-mvp-candidate\/","title":{"rendered":"Philip Rivers Is an MVP Candidate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Philip Rivers<\/a><\/strong>, the quarterback of the Los Angeles Chargers<\/a>, is having a superb year so far. Now that is usually something that can be said most years; he is a top 10 quarterback, after all (arguably even top five). But even by his standards, he\u2019s having a superb year. In fact, he\u2019s having the best season of his life thus far. His Chargers team is 6-2 as of this writing and currently tied for second best record in the entire AFC. With all of that, Rivers is having a season where he can be considered an MVP finalist.<\/p>\n

Philip Rivers Should Be Considered for the MVP Award<\/h1>\n

2018 Season Stats Thus Far<\/h2>\n

I\u00a0actually addressed\u00a0this topic of Rivers being a possible MVP candidate\u00a0briefly\u00a0a couple weeks ago<\/a>\u00a0as one section of another article, but now the team is\u00a0actually halfway\u00a0through the season and his status as such a candidate has been better cemented. Regarding Rivers\u2019 season thus far: as previously stated, he\u2019s having the best season of his career thus far. Let\u2019s look at just how good he\u2019s been.<\/p>\n

So far, he has 19 touchdown passes and only three interceptions. That puts him on pace for a total of 38 touchdowns to six interceptions. Those would be easily the best numbers of his career. His career touchdown pass high is 34, and his career least interceptions are nine. Furthermore, he has a passer rating of 116.5 — which is third in the league right now behind Patrick Mahomes<\/a><\/strong> and Drew Brees<\/a><\/strong>. Also, he currently has the\u00a0second-best\u00a0completion percentage of his career at 67.1 (his career high was 69.5).<\/p>\n

The \u201cValuable\u201d Factor<\/h2>\n

Generally, part of the consideration for who gets the Most Valuable Player award is just how valuable the player in question is \u2013 would the team still be anything close to what\u00a0they are\u00a0without him? Right now, the answer is admittedly more kind of middling with Rivers. It\u2019s not like he doesn\u2019t have any help. The wide receiver position is slightly thin with a couple of one-dimensional receivers, but he still has Keenan Allen<\/a><\/strong>, and Tyrell Williams<\/a><\/strong> has been making a resurgence the last few weeks. They also boast a deadly running back duo with Melvin Gordon<\/strong><\/a> and Austin\u00a0Ekeler<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

But would the team be able to win much this season without Rivers? Probably not. While the running game might still be able to get work done, the receiving game would likely collapse to just Allen — especially since a lot of the team\u2019s passing game relies on accurate deep passes. And the lack of Hunter Henry<\/strong><\/a> this year would also hurt any backup quarterback coming in. Rivers\u00a0is still critical to the team\u2019s success.<\/p>\n

The Competition<\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s\u00a0take a look\u00a0and see who\u00a0Rivers\u00a0is\u00a0up against.\u00a0At the moment, the main\u00a0front-runners\u00a0look like they would probably be the\u00a0previously mentioned Mahomes and Brees. On one hand, Mahomes is having historic numbers for his first\u00a0full\u00a0season as a starting quarterback. On the other hand, Brees has the highest passer rating in the league (120.6) and\u00a0the highest completion percentage in the league (76.3, which would also be good for the best of all time). Some have also mentioned Tom Brady<\/a><\/strong>, but while he is having historic numbers for his age (17 touchdowns and seven interceptions), they don\u2019t quite measure up to the numbers that Brees, Mahomes, Rivers or even others like Jared Goff<\/a> <\/strong>or Matt Ryan<\/strong><\/a> are having. (If you hadn\u2019t noticed, it\u2019s an insane year for quarterbacks.)<\/p>\n

Now in terms of how valuable these other two are… due to Mahomes\u2019 numbers, some may be inclined to go with him, and they could hardly be blamed for doing so. But given that the Kansas City Chiefs<\/a> were a playoff team the previous two years with Alex Smith<\/strong><\/a> (also known as the king of\u00a0check-down\u00a0passes), I\u2019m not so sure that the Chiefs couldn\u2019t still do fine without Mahomes. Brees is another matter. His situation is actually\u00a0similar to\u00a0Rivers\u2019–one all-star wide receiver, a deadly running back duo and not much else.<\/p>\n

Last Word<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s hard to say at this point whether Rivers will\u00a0actually win\u00a0the MVP when it\u2019s all said and done.\u00a0There\u2019s been so much great quarterback play this year, that even though right now the frontrunners look like Brees, Rivers and Mahomes, that could change down the stretch for all we know. But what is still undeniable is that Rivers is having the best year of his life, and only a couple of other quarterbacks are doing much better right now. Rivers is an MVP candidate, and he should be recognized as such.<\/p>\n

Embed from Getty Images<\/a>