As the (4-3) San Diego Chargers prepare to play the (7-0) Green Bay Packers, fantasy football owners have to be wondering whether or not Chargers QB Phillip Rivers is an top-notch QB. In San Diego, Rivers is surrounded by top-tier fantasy football studs in wide receiver Vincent Jackson and the top tight end in fantasy football, Antonio Gates.
Rivers also has the luxury of handing the ball off to running backs Ryan Matthews, 2010 waiver-wire darling in running back Mike Tolbert and throwing to flex wideout Malcom Floyd. So for all the talent that he is surrounded by, what is River’s problem?
Despite throwing for 365 yards in the Chargers 23-20 overtime loss to AFC West rival Kansas City, Rivers would also have a costly fumble and throw two interceptions. Rivers thrown for 2,084 yards, seven touchdowns and 11 interceptions—which lead the NFL and a QB rating of 80.7
To say that Rivers is causing his current fantasy football owners to “freakout”—such as me—is stating the obvious.
Unless you have another quality QB2 on your bench as Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton or San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith, I would not think of moving or dropping Rivers. For all of his woes on offense, Rivers still has the likes of Rivers, Floyd, Jackson and Tolbert to use in Norv Turner’s high-powered offense.
Despite facing the undefeated Packers, the Packers have had their issues on defense and have surrendered the sixth-most points to opposing QB’s. Rivers will face favorable match-ups against Oakland, Chicago, Denver, Jacksonville, Buffalo before facing top-10 defenses in fantasy playoff weeks 15 and 16 against Baltimore and Detroit.
If you’re an owner of Rivers, resist the urge to bench, trade or drop Rivers just yet or else you might find yourself up your own fantasy football “river” without a proverbial paddle.
Follow me on Twitter, @Dawgfather_76 and Robert’s Rant Report at @RobsRant_Report
