Colts head coach Shane Steichen confirmed Tuesday Philip Rivers will be the Colts' starting quarterback for their Week 17 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Lucas Oil Stadium. Riley Leonard will be the Colts' backup, Steichen said.
The Colts are still alive in the AFC playoff race, but need plenty of help before and after they kick off against the Jaguars on Sunday. Steichen said the Colts' playoff eligibility will not impact who the starting quarterback will be against Jacksonville; if the Houston Texans beat the Los Angeles Chargers on Saturday night, the Colts will be eliminated from the playoffs.
However, Rivers will take first-team reps in practice this week, and Steichen said making a switch to Leonard the night before a game wouldn't be fair to the rookie quarterback, who wouldn't have had much time to prep for the Jaguars.
Rivers completed 23 of 35 passes for 277 yards with two touchdowns, one interception and a passer rating of 97.0 in the Colts' 48-27 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Monday night.
Rivers, after two games this season, has upped his career passing yards total to 63,837, putting him 252 yards away from passing Ben Roethlisberger on the all-time passing yards list. Roethlisberger is currently sixth with 64,088 career passing yards, but Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford will enter Week 17 seventh – just ahead of Rivers – with 63,988 career passing yards.
There's a good chance wherever Rivers and Stafford shake out at the end of this season, they'll be set in the top seven or eight in NFL history for quite some time. Only three active quarterbacks have over 40,000 career passing yards (Joe Flacco - 48,152; Russell Wilson - 46,966; Kirk Cousins - 44,394). 31-year-old Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff has 39,094 yards and would need to average about 4,000 yards in each of his next six full seasons to reach 64,000 passing yards; guys like Patrick Mahomes (35,939) and Dak Prescott (35,612) still have just under 30,000 yards to pass wherever Rivers will end up.
Rivers will be eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame again in 2031. He was named a semifinalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2026 before ending his retirement earlier this month, meaning his eligibility clock won't re-start for another five years.
