Philip Rivers has been a constant thorn in the side of the Oakland Raiders ever since he took over as the San Diego Chargers starting quarterback spot for Drew Brees. Rivers has had plenty of success against Oakland through the years, but his encounters with the Silver and Black as of late have been tight ones. Oakland beat Rivers last season at the Coliseum before coming up with a near upset earlier this year when Derek Carr through for four touchdowns against San Diego, but at home Rivers is usually hard to knock off for the Raiders as he has few losses down in Southern California in the AFC West rivalry.
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Coming off of a embarrassing road loss to the Miami Dolphins, Rivers is looking at another clash with the Raiders out of the bye week and a game that the Chargers need to win to stay up to the chase for playoff position in the AFC West. On Wednesday, Rivers spoke to Bay Area media about the Raiders-Chargers rivalry and Sunday’s matchup in San Diego. Following is a transcript of Rivers interview courtesy of the Oakland Raiders official website:
When you guys came off the field after your last game against Miami, were you wishing you were playing right away or was the bye week beneficial?
Rivers: “Obviously, never being in that position before, it was rough. I think it was good to have some time. I think it was good to have some time just to take a deep breath and get away a little bit. That was unlike anything that we’ve dealt with and it was just a bad game all the way around. So, I think the combination of getting healthy, getting some guys healthy, plus just the guys that have been playing getting them healthy both physically, mentally and getting them regrouped, take a deep breath and getting ready to go for these last seven, starting here this Sunday.”
Did you spend a lot of the bye week correcting what had been going wrong the three previous games or did you just start to move on?
Rivers: “You can only do so much when you’re not playing a game and not practicing. There is a lot of good in those three weeks. Obviously, not so much good in the Miami game. We can’t worry about those. We are worried about this one on Sunday.”
Having played the Raiders once already, and them taking you down to the wire at the Coliseum, are you surprised by their record?
Rivers: “I don’t really get caught up in the record, either way, whenever we’re playing an opponent. I go off what you see on tape, and what you see on tape is a good defense. I have a lot of respect for a lot of the guys on that defense. They’ve been in a lot of close games. For whatever reason, they haven’t been able to get any , but that doesn’t change the way we approach them or the respect we have for them, and we know what they can do. You mentioned, obviously, that we have the film of our game against them where we dealt with it in person. Obviously, when you watch them on tape in the game since that game, we know we have to be ready to go and play well to win. We’re a team that has lost three in a row. It’s a division game. Us and the Raiders is always a heck of a game, so we have to be ready to go.”
Quotes from Raiders.com