Idefender the most responsible position in sports? It's close enough that it doesn't matter: Players must memorize a complex formation, orchestrate an entire offense, look for open receivers while 280-pound opponents rush toward them with aggressive intent, and then throw a pass to a target that might be 30 yards downfield among a crowd of defenders. Now try doing all this as a 44-year-old grandfather, exactly 1,800 days since you last played in the NFL.
Philip Rivers breaks this historic streak Indianapolis Colts on Sunday. The longest pause before that belonged to another 44-year-old quarterback who returned to action after years away from the game and some time in coaching: Steve DeBerg with the Atlanta Falcons in 1998.
After injuries to starting quarterback Daniel Jones and rookie backup Riley Leonard, the main reason the Colts invested in this seeming impossibility is Rivers' familiarity with head coach Shane Steichen's passing game. Steichen worked closely with Rivers for several years with the Chargers, where the quarterback spent most of his 16-season career before his first retirement, so at least the offensive schemes and playmaking decisions will be familiar to him.
At St. Michael's Catholic High School in Fairhope, Alabama.where Rivers has been the head coach since 2021, Rivers' players were excited and swore that the offense there was similar to what Steichen ran with Rivers and is a familiar iteration of what Steichen runs now with the Colts. Without that previous connection between Rivers and Steichen, asking the old man to come back and face any NFL defense, let alone a Seahawks defense that ranked No. 1 overall in DVOA in this game, would be absolute foolishness.
And Sunday's game went as expected at first. Rivers had some of the old Sonny Jurgensen instincts.and as for the speed of his shots… well, my Guardian colleague Ollie Connolly there were jokes.
But as the game progressed, Rivers' enormous football mind, which had not diminished at the same rate as his body, showed up just enough to give the Seahawks' top-notch defense some problems in their own stadium. Rivers ended up completing 18 of 26 passes for 120 yards, a touchdown, one interception and a 91.8 passer rating. and that was his 16-yard conversion on third-and-7. on the backside of a fading ball to receiver Alec Pierce, who helped set up what looked to be Blake Group's game-winning 60-yard field goal with 47 seconds left.
However… Seahawks kicker Jason Myers, who made a total of six field goals in Seattle's 18-16 win, eliminated the team. valid winner of the game with 22 seconds on the clock. Rivers' subsequent deep interception for Kobe Bryant's safety with 11 seconds left brought the curtain down.
Regardless of the outcome, what Rivers did after such a long layoff was remarkable and unprecedented in history. NFL story. To travel over 2,000 miles to the NFL's toughest home stadium and put on such a performance shows the power of a football mind, if a football body can do enough. The 8-6 Colts have the San Francisco 49ers, Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans to finish the regular season, a brutal final slate. But it will be interesting to see what Rivers can accomplish with more reps in the coming weeks. The only thing that doesn't bother him is the physical side of the game.
“I never minded that part,” Rivers said Sunday. “My wife always tells me I'm crazy because in the last three or four years I've sometimes said, 'I wish I could just throw one ball and get hit hard.'
Video of the week
If one video can speak a thousand words, it would be what happened to Patrick Mahomes with two minutes left in the Kansas City Chiefs' 16-13 loss to the Chargers. Mahomes was trying to get his team within field goal range when he suffered a torn ACL, an injury that ended his season.
The result means the 6-8 Chiefs will miss the postseason for the first time since 2014. During that time, they won three Super Bowls and reached the AFC Championship Game seven times, and much of that success was due to the brilliance of Mahomes. Leaders who there are a number of problems that need to be solved this offseason, the face of their franchise may not be ready for the start of the 2026 season.
MVP of the week
Trevor Lawrence, QB, Jacksonville Jaguars. Sometimes it takes a quarterback a while to learn a new offense. That's been the case for Lawrence this season and his ability to utilize new head coach Liam Cohen's system. Cohen was hired to develop Lawrence into the “generational” talent that was promised when the franchise selected him with the first overall pick in the 2021 draft. Lawrence has faced all sorts of obstacles, from substandard players around him to a lack of Urban Meyer as head coach in his rookie campaign, from dealing with three different offensive coordinators in five years to his own mechanical issues.
Cohen earned his wealth from his time on Sean McVay's coaching staff with the Los Angeles Rams, as well as the amazing job he did as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' offensive coordinator with Baker Mayfield in 2024. However, it looked like a tough partnership at first. From Weeks 1–12, Lawrence completed 220 of 368 passes for 2,407 yards, 14 touchdowns, 11 interceptions and a 79.4 passer rating, ranking him 27th among NFL quarterbacks. But since Week 13, despite Sunday's 48-20 win over the New York Jets, Lawrence has become a completely different player, completing 53 of 89 passes for 803 yards, nine touchdowns, no interceptions and a 123.0 quarterback rating.
Lawrence scored six touchdowns on Sunday – five in the air and one on the ground. The Jaguars are 10-4 and will have opponents wondering how to stop this suddenly miraculous offense when the postseason arrives.
Statistics of the week
120. That's how many games in a row New England Patriots win in which they led by 21 or more points. That best record in the NFL came to an end on Sunday when the Buffalo Bills came back from a 21-0 deficit in the second quarter to win 35-31, keeping their AFC East hopes alive. Early on, the 11-3 Patriots looked like an unstoppable machine, while the 10-4 Bills couldn't stop tripping over themselves.
The Bills needed to do something to change the situation, and they did it. In the second half, Allen completed 13 of 20 passes for 158 yards and two touchdowns. Buffalo's shaky defense also stepped up in the run game, while James Cook scored two touchdowns on the ground.
Buffalo, which has won the division in each of the last five seasons, and New England, which has won it. every year 2009 to 2019 split the 2025 series. The Bills have the Cleveland Browns, Philadelphia Eagles and Jets remaining on their regular season schedule, while the Patriots have the Jets, Baltimore Ravens and Miami Dolphins remaining. Right now, it seems like the AFC East could belong to any team.
Elsewhere in the league
– Since being selected by the Cincinnati Bengals with the first overall pick in the 2020 draft, Joe Burrow has been one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL… when they let him. Burrow has been plagued by terrible defenses and troubled offensive lines as of late, and while he has one of the NFL's best wide receiver duos in Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, the Bengals' 4-10 record this season isn't what Burrow (who missed most of the season with turf) or anyone else was hoping for.
Perhaps even more embarrassing were Burrow's comments before Cincinnati's 24-0 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. “If I want to continue doing this, I need to enjoy it.” the defender said. “I've been through a lot, and if it's not fun, then what am I doing it for? So, that's the mindset I'm trying to bring to life.”
This doesn't mean Burrow is on the verge of a surprise retirement, as Andrew Luck was in 2019—and the man himself said he was committed to the team — but as the Bengals approach the end of the regular season and begin to formulate their plans for the future, it's worth watching a bit.
— Say hello to the Denver Broncos, who currently have the best record in the NFL at 12-2 and were one of two teams to earn a postseason berth on Sunday. Denver did it by defeating the Green Bay Packers 34-26, and the 9-4-1 Packers may well have lost more than a game. Receiver Christian Watson, perhaps the team's most important offensive player not named Jordan Love, was hurt. what appears to be a serious chest injuryand winger Micah Parsons is, without a doubt, the team's most important defender, suspected torn cruciate ligamentwhich will end his season. Parsons' injury is especially brutal for the Packers, who gave up first-round picks in 2026 and 2027 as well as cornerback Kenny Clark in favor of the four-time Pro Bowler. Parsons was a great player in Green Bay, and without him, the Packers' pressure options don't even remotely resemble what they had with him.
— For Denver, sophomore quarterback Bo Nix threw for four touchdowns against Jeff Hafley's tough defense. The Knicks, along with Denver's monster defense, are the main reason no one should want to go near the Mile High City in the playoffs.
— The Seahawks may have (barely) avoided an embarrassment against the Colts on Sunday, but they have very little time to savor it. They welcome the Los Angeles Rams to Lumen Field on Thursday, and the Rams are fresh off a 41-34 win over the Detroit Lions (41-34 defensible). At 11-3, the Rams became the first team to make the playoffs, and if they beat the Seahawks (also 11-3) at home, they would win the season series and the NFC West would essentially be theirs. In the first meeting of these two teamsSeattle nearly won despite Sam Darnold's four interceptions, and the Rams have been Darnold's top threat the past two seasons. Darnold got off to a great start this season in his first time with the Seahawks, but the offense has stalled a bit since the Week 11 loss. It's time for Darnold to tell these old ghosts to go away.
