I was having a conversation with my buddy at Carter-Finley on Saturday when we started talking about Sunday’s match-ups in the NFL. My buddy commented that “the NFL and Sunday’s takeson a real different feel for me now that we have so many former Wolfpackers playing so prominently on Sundays”. Yesterday did nothing to prove this thinking wrong.
On Sunday,
* Tory Holt became the FASTEST wide receiver in NFL history to reach 10,000 receiving yards in a career. Holt caught three touchdown passes in a stinging loss at home to Sean Locklear’s Seattle Seahawks. “His eight catches produced 154 yards in front of 65,592 at the Edward Jones Dome, pushing him past 10,000 yards for his career. He said that was a milestone he set for himself when he entered the league eight years ago.”
* Philip Rivers had his best game as a professional lighting up the 49ers with career highs in yards, attempts, and completions. Rivers went 29-for-39 for 334 yards and 2 touchdowns, passing for over 300 yards for the first time in his career. At one point, Rivers completed 13 consecutive passes falling just two short of Dan Fouts’ franchise record. Overall, PR ended the day with an astounding 116.8 quarterback rating.
* This link will take you to a great article about Rivers and the Chargers offense.
Look, if Rivers, basically a rookie in third-year clothing, really is this good – and he’s given us little reason to think otherwise – we really may have something here. This is one of the NFL’s elite teams and may have more good players than all of them. The key to the lock is not to screw it up, and the quarterback can open the door.
If Rivers really is this good – and if he keeps improving as he has – possibilities are endless, especially when your running game features LaDainian Tomlinson (four touchdowns yesterday), your wide receivers are beyond solid, and your tight end, Antonio Gates, is straight out of “Star Trek�? (did the Niners actually put a linebacker on Gates during that 57-yard catch-and-run for the first touchdown? Bad teams do bad things).
“Who ever thought you’d see him one-on-one out there with a linebacker?�? asked Rivers, not expecting an answer.
We’ve said all along Rivers is going to have his ebbs and flows, that he’s going to make mistakes. We were wrong. He’s made few errors. And they all have, the Elways, the Unitases, the Montanas, the Marinos, the Grahams. They got over them. This kid is about a 10-year veteran. He played quarterback in the womb. He’s been marvelous.
* Alvis Whitted was the only Oakland Raider to provide any offense for the pitiful Raiders.
