Philip Rivers threw a football on Sunday for the first time in an NFL game since January 2021.<\/p>\n
If you watched the Colts-Seahawks game, you probably noticed that those five years showed up on nearly every single pass. Author Jeff Pearlman certainly did, and he wasn\u2019t thrilled with how CBS\u2019s Andrew Catalon, Jason McCourty, and Charles Davis called the action.<\/p>\n
Pearlman<\/a> posted a TikTok during the game, calling out the broadcast for what he saw as dishonesty. McCourty<\/a> and Davis<\/a> kept trying to make Rivers\u2019 performance sound intriguing, even though, according to Pearlman, anyone watching could see the 44-year-old didn\u2019t have much left.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m watching the Seahawks-Colts game, and I feel like the announcers are being pretty dishonest, actually,\u201d Pearlman said. \u201cJason McCourty and Charles Davis, they keep making it intriguing about Philip Rivers and \u2018Well, this and that and this\u2026\u2019 Like, he has nothing on his ball. He has nothing on his ball. I mean, he\u2019s throwing balloons out there.\u201d<\/p>\n @jeffpearlmanauthor<\/a> I do not understand why CBS\u2019 announcers aren\u2019t being honest about Philip Rivers: Who no longer has an NFL arm. At all. #philiprivers<\/a> #colts<\/a> #indianapoloscolts<\/a> #seattleseahawks<\/a> #nfl<\/a> \u266c original sound \u2013 Jeff Pearlman<\/a><\/p>\n Rivers<\/a> never had a cannon for an arm during his playing days with the Chargers<\/a> and that one season in Indianapolis. But asking someone who spent the last five years coaching high school football to generate NFL velocity is asking a lot. The game stayed close early, 3-3, when Pearlman filmed his video, but Rivers\u2019 passes looked exactly like what you\u2019d expect from someone who hasn\u2019t played competitive football since the COVID season.<\/p>\n \u201cHe never had a great arm, but now he has like no arm,\u201d Pearlman continued. \u201cIf I were Riley Leonard \u2014 if he\u2019s even slightly healthy \u2014 or I think C.J. Beathard might be on the roster (he\u2019s on the Detroit Lions practice squad), I\u2019d be very confused by this. I really would. He cannot \u2014 there\u2019s nothing on his footballs at all. The fact that he\u2019s completed some passes is a little bit of luck and a little bit of timing, but there\u2019s nothing there.\u201d<\/p>\n Pearlman\u2019s issue wasn\u2019t with Rivers himself. The guy is 44 years old and a grandfather. Nobody expects him to look like he did in 2011. The problem was that the CBS broadcast kept selling this as some kind of compelling comeback story when what was actually happening on the field looked more like exactly what everyone predicted would happen<\/a> when the Colts announced this plan, aside from the fact that Rivers didn\u2019t leave the field on a stretcher.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I think the announcers have to say that,\u201d Pearlman said. \u201cThey have to be very clear. That\u2019s what honest announcing is in sports, is you say from your experience what you\u2019re seeing. And if a quarterback is throwing helium balloons, the only way to call it is to be honest about it. And to keep adding like this, almost a sense of intrigue to Philip Rivers, but it\u2019s quickly not that intriguing. He\u2019s not getting his ass kicked yet. The game is 3-3, but he\u2019s not at this level anymore, and it\u2019s OK to say that as an announcer.\u201d<\/p>\n The whole Rivers situation<\/a> has been treated wildly differently<\/a> depending on who\u2019s talking about it. Ryan Clark called the decision to start him \u201cincompetent\u201d and \u201cirresponsible\u201d<\/a> on First Take earlier in the week. But once the actual game started, the CBS crew apparently decided to frame it as this feel-good story rather than describe what was actually happening on the field.<\/p>\n