Los Angeles Chargers: Philip Rivers continues to prove he is elite

The Los Angeles Chargers defeated the Arizona Cardinals, 45-10, on Sunday and quarterback Philip Rivers continued to prove why he is an elite quarterback.

The Los Angeles Chargers did not start off on the right foot against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. An underwhelming defense and miscues on both special teams and offense led to the Chargers falling down 10-0 to the 2-8 Cardinals early on in the game.

Then the Chargers realized how much more talented the team is and went on to score 45 unanswered points and defeated the Cardinals rather easily, 45-10.

This was good for the Chargers, who avoided potential disaster if the team would have lost to the Cardinals. However, with the Pittsburgh Steelers losing to the Denver Broncos, the team is going to be riding high into Pittsburgh next week.

The standout of the contest for the Chargers was Philip Rivers, who broke the NFL record for most consecutive pass completions in a game and tied the record for the most consecutive pass completions period. Rivers started the day 25 of 25 and finished 28 of 29 for 259 yards and three touchdowns.

That was not the only thing that Rivers accomplished against the Cardinals, either. It has gotten lost in the mix with his record-setting performance but Rivers netted two touchdowns, making him just the fourth quarterback ever to start the season with two or more touchdown passes in the first 11 games.

The other three? Johnny Unitas, Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers. That is an elite class if I have ever seen one.

And that is exactly what Rivers is — elite. He may not get the recognition he deserves but Rivers is one of the most underappreciated quarterbacks to ever grace the NFL.

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If Rivers were to have played for the New England Patriots his records would have blown every single other quarterback out of the water. Rivers has done what most quarterbacks never do while playing on a losing team for most of his career.

As it currently stands, Rivers is eighth all-time in passing yards. He should pass Dan Marino with another two seasons of work and should also be able to pass Eli Manning. We will also give him the benefit of the doubt and say he plays longer than Ben Roethlisberger and finishes with more yards.

That would make Rivers the fifth all-time passer in terms of yards. With 365 passing touchdowns, Rivers is 55 passing touchdowns away from tying Marino for the fifth-most all-time. That makes Rivers, in every sense, a top-five quarterback all-time.

Not winning a ring definitely hurts Rivers and it certainly has helped his draft counterparts in Roethlisberger and Eli Manning. Plus, it doesn’t help that Rivers took over after Drew Brees, who will be the greatest of all-time statistically when his career is over.

He also shared time in the NFL with Brett Favre, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. Those are the best quarterbacks to ever do it and they all played within the same window as Rivers. That has undoubtedly hurt his stock.

Yet still, Rivers has been the NFL’s iron man. He has not missed a single start since he was named the starter and has been the backbone of the entire organization through good times and bad.

Philip Rivers truly is an elite quarterback and should be considered one of the best to ever do it. Let’s hope the Los Angeles Chargers can get Rivers a ring before he decides to call it quits.