Three days is not a long time for a quarterback to get to know his wide receivers, or for wide receivers to get to know their quarterback. But that's what the Philip Rivers and the Colts had to work with last week, and we saw on Sunday, despite the Colts' loss, the impact of a veteran player like Rivers on an offense even with just three days of practice.
The process last week probably played out something like this:
The receivers might have first met Philip in the meeting rooms where they talked over the plays they were going to run, discussing who would be doing what on certain plays and how Philip likes certain routes run. He would have discussed what he's looking for from his receivers, and what he expects to see from a defensive standpoint as well. These conversations normally take place in meetings and at practice.
From there, they got on the field and started running through actual plays and trading feedback – both in regard to Philip seeing how the receivers play, and them seeing how he operates. They talked through all of those details on the field and then took more time outside of practice to run certain routes and plays together.
But it takes time to become in sync as an offense. It takes a lot, and three days doesn't allow for very much time. As a receiver, you don't get a lot of reps because you don't want Phil to throw too many balls, and you also don't want the receivers to run too many routes; you've got to protect their legs and protect Phil's arm so everyone will be fresh come game time.
Sunday's game looked pretty good in regard to Philip's timing and how he worked with the receivers. There was only one play that I can remember where there was a little miscommunication on a pass to Josh Downs, where Philip got the pass up a little early, and Josh just didn't pick it up in the air in time.
But that was the only one, and for someone to just have three days with the receivers – the only receiver Philip had any experience throwing to before Wednesday was Michael Pittman Jr. in 2020 – it was very good. To see Philip hit guys like Alec Pierce and Tyler Warren, not to mention Josh Downs for a touchdown, that was pretty impressive.
With Philip starting again this week against the San Francisco 49ers, he has even more time to continue to build on the chemistry he already has with the receivers. And it's all about continuing that communication and repping out the plays. That's how you keep building that chemistry.
The more you work together, the better you feel. It's as simple as that. Time and reps.
And we saw how beneficial even just three days of practice can be, especially in Philip's 16-yard pass to Pierce in the fourth quarter to eventually set up Blake Grupe's 60-yard field goal. That's a play those two talked about and worked on throughout the week, learning how the other operated, and that's the stuff that pays off on game days. Doing it is very important – obviously you have to run through the plays physically – but the communication involved, to me, is one of the most important things in making a play successful, and we saw that on Sunday.
That's also where it helps to have a guy like Philip Rivers out there running the offense.
Let's face it: he's a coach.
He knows how to communicate with players, he relates to players very well, he has an easy personality to get along with, he's infectious in his enthusiasm. He's comfortable talking to his receivers – he's done it for 17 years in the NFL already – and he's not afraid to call them out for certain things.
That will need to continue over the course of these next three weeks, and these guys being able to continue to communicate effectively and be on the same page will go a long way toward being successful for the rest of the season.
