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It’s the end of an era for the Las Vegas Raiders. For the last 17 years, the team has had some very fierce battles against Philip Rivers but they’ve faced him for the last time. The former Los Angeles Chargers quarterback announced on Wednesday that he’s retiring from the NFL.
2021 will represent the first time the Raiders won’t be seeing Rivers since he entered the league in 2004 as a first-round pick by the Chargers. Quarterback Derek Carr has faced Rivers every season throughout his seven-year career. The Raiders saw Rivers in 2020 despite the fact that he moved to the Indianapolis Colts. Carr sent a message to his old rival after the news dropped.
Carr has played in 13 career games against Rivers and went 6-7. The two quarterbacks were tied up heading into the 2020 season but Rivers and the Colts pulled off a win against the Raiders in Week 14. Carr won’t get another chance to even the score again.
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Rivers Dominated Raiders for Much of His Career
The Raiders should be very relieved to see Rivers call it a quits. Even through some of the Chargers’ struggles over the last decade, he was still a solid player. In 29 career against the silver and black, Rivers went 19-10. He threw for 7,347 yards and 49 touchdowns to 22 interceptions. He had the Raiders’ number for a very long time.
They did get him a couple of times. In fact, the Raiders won six of their last 11 matchups against Rivers. Thanks to his penchant for trash-talking, the quarterback was infamous in Oakland. Though the Raiders should be happy he’s gone, it’ll certainly be strange to go an entire season without seeing him lineup against those silver and black uniforms.
Chargers Could Be Problem for Raiders
Rivers may be gone but the Raiders could a new problem brewing in Los Angeles. Justin Herbert was wildly impressive as a rookie and he’s going to be around for a very long time. Typically, teams don’t lose a Pro Bowl quarterback and immediately replace him with somebody even better. Based on the early returns, it looks like that’s the case with Justin Herbert.
The Chargers have missed the playoffs in six of the last seven years but things are looking a lot better for them. They just hired former Rams defensive coordinator Brandon Staley as their new head coach. His work in Los Angeles was beyond impressive and helped them become the top defense in the NFL.
The Chargers have plenty of talent on both sides of the ball and they are in a position to make a giant leap in 2021. The AFC West is already tough enough with the Kansas City Chiefs. If the Chargers figure things out, the division is just ridiculous. The Raiders better hope the Denver Broncos don’t figure out their quarterback situation. Las Vegas has put together a really good offense but their defense is among the worst in the NFL. If they can’t fix that issue, it’s going to be very difficult to beat Patrick Mahomes and Herbert twice a year each.
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