Philip Rivers 2014

NFL Playoffs: Has Ron Jaworski Replaced Eli Manning as the Guy San Diego Charger Fans Most Love to Hate?

ESPN blowhard Ron "Jaws" Jaworski

Rumor has it that, right about now, an impassioned group of San Diego Charger fans have gathered up their torches and pitchforks and are headed to ESPN analyst Ron Jaworski's New Jersey home for a friendly little confab. Jaworski, the former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback who now offers loud, long-winded and sometimes painfully off-the-mark takes on the National Football League, has made a proper fool of himself this week in his hyperbolic and disrespectful analysis of the Chargers, who play the Cincinnati Bengals in a first-round playoff game on Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati.

No big surprise, really. Since last summer, Jaworski, whose nickname appropriately is “Jaws” - he never knows when to shut his mouth - has consistently dismissed the Chargers and their five-time Pro Bowl quarterback Philip Rivers. Jaworski said in July that Rivers was the 17th best QB in the league, and this morning he twisted the dagger in the Charger nation's back by saying that Sunday's game will be turnover-prone Cincy quarterback Andy Dalton's "coming out party.”

Philip Rivers (right) and Andy Dalton - AP/Denis Poroy

Jaworski went on to say today that the Chargers-Bengals game would "not be close" and that Cincinnati would win "in a rout." Jaworski, who also absurdly once said that Chargers' legendary Hall of Famer Dan Fouts will never be considered a great quarterback, made no mention today of Rivers in his game preview. Not a word.

Jaworski didn't acknowledge how wrong he was about the San Diego quarterback last summer, or the fact that what Rivers accomplished this year at the quarterback position was only bettered by the Denver Broncos’ Peyton Manning, who had far more weapons, a better offensive line, and a better defense. Rivers is of course having a phenomenal year and is, by any measure, a better player than Dalton, who threw 20 interceptions this year compared to Rivers’ 11.

It's one thing to predict the game's outcome. But in his one-sided prediction, Jaworski rightly praised the Bengals’ defense but inexplicably said nothing about what the Bolts have done offensively. He ignored not only Rivers' stellar year, but also the fact that Chargers' running back Ryan Mathews has had a dominant season and finished second in the AFC in rushing with 1,254 yards. Only Jamaal Charles of the Kansas City Chiefs was better.

Jaworski obviously knows he was wrong about Rivers but evidently doesn't have the maturity to admit it on the air. Like a spoiled child who did something stupid but won't own up, he's clearly grown a gnarly chip on his shoulder about San Diego. Which begs the question: Has Jaworski now replaced Eli Manning as the person Charger fans most love to hate?

Ron "Jaws" Jaworski stopping pain cold

Jaworski, a pretty good player in his day and a onetime Pro Bowler (1980) whose career numbers aren't nearly as impressive as Rivers, fails to understand that Rivers played last year and the year before behind arguably the worst pass-blocking offensive line in the NFL -- and still managed to throw 26 TD passes vs. just 15 interceptions. This year he threw 32 TD passes and just 11 pics.

Rivers was pressured every single snap the last two years. He had absolutely no time to work in the pocket. He was rattled. It was tough to watch. And yet former Chargers coach Norv Turner inexplicably kept trying to throw the deep passes.

Astute football analysts like ESPN's Trent Dilfer know that Rivers has always been better than the 17th best QB in the league. This season, he lost both Danario Alexander and Malcolm Floyd, his two starting wide receivers, at the beginning of the season, but new Chargers Coach Mike McCoy and offensive coordinator Mike Whisenhunt changed the scheme just enough and the O line improved just enough to allow him to do his thing and return to his elite, Pro Bowl form.

Seeing the effort the team was making to upgrade the O line, I predicted this would happen back in July. Here's the thing: You just don’t go from allegedly 17th to second best QB in the NFL in one season after playing in the league this long. Rivers didn’t get that much better in one season, he already was that good. It is a team sport.

Rivers "improved" because his line is actually blocking for him now and he's working in a smarter offensive scheme that stresses crossing patterns and other quick routes than don’t require as much time to develop. Philip’s accuracy this year is off the charts. He leads the NFL with a nearly 70 percent completion percentage.

And despite what Jaworski and some other shallow pundits have suggested, Rivers was not that bad last year. Bad QBs don’t throw 26 TD passes and just 15 pics. Yep, he fumbled too many times, thanks to the constant pressure. But he still managed to play pretty well on a what was a pretty bad team.

To compare, look at Eli Manning this year. Eli, a two-time Super Bowl winner, was on a pretty bad Giants team this year and his numbers were far worse than Rivers has ever put up. This year, Eli had 18 TD passes and TWENTY SEVEN interceptions. Are you kidding me? Now THAT is a bad year for a quarterback.

I never said that the Chargers will absolutely win on Sunday. It will be a tough game, probably in the snow. The Bengals have arguably the best wide receiver in the league right now in A.J. Green. And they have a solid defense, perhaps the league’s best. But Jaworski needs to either shut up or pay Rivers and the Chargers the respect they've earned this year.

Philip Rivers, Not Peyton Manning, Should be 2013 NFL MVP

Philip Rivers and DJ Fluker - Courtesy of San Diego Chargers

Last night, the San Diego Chargers defeated the supposedly Super Bowl-bound Denver Broncos, 27-20, in a nationally televised beat down at Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver. In the one-sided game, Philip Rivers, the Chargers' untiring quarterback, outplayed presumptive league Most Valuable Player Peyton Manning, secured a Pro Bowl berth, and kept the Chargers in the playoff hunt.

Rivers was flawless, again. And after reviewing this game and every game played by Denver and San Diego up to this point in the season, I submit that Rivers is the one who should be named league MVP - despite Manning's gaudy numbers, and especially if the Chargers finish at 9-7 and sneak into the playoffs.

Yeah, I know, Manning has been mostly great this year and Denver has a better record. Manning has 47 touchdown passes. But let's take a closer look at the numbers and other pertinent facts. While Manning has far more offensive weapons with which to work, Rivers has played at an equally elite level all year without his two starting, towering wide receivers, Danario Alexander and Malcolm Floyd, both out for the year.

And while Manning has played all year behind an offensive line that ESPN recently said was the best in the NFL, Rivers has played all season with a patchwork offensive line that has suffered one injury after another after another. While demonstrably improved over last season, the Chargers offensive front is now led by DJ Fluker, a rookie who will be a Pro Bowler. But not this year.

And while Denver has a lot of weapons on defense, including former Chargers pass-rusher Shaun Phillips and sack-master Von Miller, Rivers has played on a team this year that has had a mostly awful and unreliable defense -- though certainly not last night.

Manning has more touchdown passes this year, but Rivers has a higher completion percentage. Manning also has more interceptions than Rivers (10 to 9), and has far more fumbles lost than Rivers (6 to 1). And head-to-head, Rivers wins out.

Manning has been throwing the ball this year to Demaryius Thomas, one of the league's elite wideouts, Wes Welker, a future Hall-of-Fame slot receiver, and Eric Decker, a proven veteran wideout. Rivers lost his two best wide receivers early and has been throwing all year to Keenan Allen, an overachieving third-round rookie, Eddie Royal, an often-hobbled veteran, and Vincent Brown, a somewhat disappointing second-year receiver.

Here's the deal: Manning was given the keys this year to a Porsche Carrera GT, while Rivers was forced to drive a sporty economy car. And yet Philip has been every bit Manning's equal. None of the Chargers' seven disappointing losses this year can be hung on the good-natured, widely misunderstood quarterback, who's played one of the best seasons I've ever witnessed by a QB on a team without any superstars.

Well, yes, the Bolts still have Antonio Gates, but even the future Hall-of-Fame tight end has had an uncharacteristic number of key drops and fumbles this year.

The Sporting News' Vinnie Iyer almost gets it. He suggests that while Manning will get all the awards at the end of the season - if not a Super Bowl ring - in terms of durability, productivity and efficiency, "Rivers has been No. 2 with a bullet in ‘13, and by no means is it a distant second."

In my view, he's not second: he should be MVP. No one means more to his team than Rivers means to the Chargers. Not even Manning, whose team is stacked with talent on both sides of the ball.

There are a few other quarterbacks who've had great years, too, including the Philadelphia Eagles’ Nick Foles, who only has one pic. He's been phenomenal since stepping in for Michael Vick, but he’s not played a full season. New Orleans’ Saints quarterback Drew Brees, the former Charger, should also be in the MVP conversation. But like Manning, he enjoys more offensive weapons than Rivers, a better ‘O’ line and a much-improved Saints’ defense.

Of course, the subtext of this rant is the fact that this has been a heartbreaking season for the Chargers, because this team has the potential to beat anyone. Beating the Kansas City Chiefs and Denver on the road are obviously huge accomplishments this year. But there are so many games the Bolts shoulda-coulda-woulda won.

San Diego will miss the playoffs again this year unless the Baltimore Ravens and the Miami Dolphins both lose two of their remaining three games and the Chargers win their last two. It's possible. It could happen. But the games San Diego really should have taken, especially the Dolphins game at Miami and the Redskins game at Washington, in which the Chargers had the ball on the one-yard line on first down and could not punch it in for the win, will haunt the team and its fans for a long time.

Still, there is room for optimism for first-year Chargers head coach Mike McCoy -- largely because of the play of Rivers. And I'm not the only one who thinks he is having an even better year than Peyton. David Marber of Bolts from the Blue wrote a piece this week in which he suggests that football fans should appreciate both Manning and Rivers this season because "they're both elite players having career years simultaneously."

A day after after Marber wrote that insightful passage, it proved prophetic: Rivers went out and outplayed Manning. Need we say more?

If I had an MVP vote - and I don't - I'd give this one to Rivers, with Manning a close second. But because of all the media hype, groupthink mentality and "conventional wisdom" in professional sports, it won't happen. Even if San Diego does beat the odds and makes the playoffs.