Just one month ago, it looked as though the Indianapolis Colts would end up cruising to an AFC South division title. Against all odds, Daniel Jones was quarterbacking one of the best offenses in the NFL, and the Colts sat atop the conference, looking like a safe bet to have the path to the Super Bowl run through Lucas Oil Stadium.
But after Sunday afternoon, when Daniel Jones was knocked out of action with an achilles tear, and when that was followed by a less serious injury to backup rookie quarterback Riley Leonard, the AFC South had officially flipped upside down. The Jaguars now sat atop the division, the Texans had nudged out the Colts for the time being for the final Wild Card spot in the AFC, and Indianapolis was left without a quarterback.
As if things couldn't get any weirder, they did on Tuesday afternoon when 44-year-old Philip Rivers was signed by the Indianapolis Colts, presumably to be their starter and attempt to lead the team back to the postseason for the first since, well, Rivers was previously under center in a Colts uniform.
Just in case you were wondering, that last postseason game for the Colts, the one that Philip Rivers started in, was nearly 1,800 days ago. That's right, Rivers has been retired for nearly 5 full years, and in that time, he became a grandpa. No word yet on whether he goes by Grandpa, Gramps, Pop Pop, Papa, Grandpappy, or any other unique variation of the term. I do expect that someone will ask Philip Rivers this hard-hitting question though if he actually ends up starting for the Colts.
That seems to still be a what if scenario though, because for now, it looks like Rivers has only been signed to the Colts practice squad. But frankly, I'm not sure it's worth all of the trouble for Grandpappy Phil if he wasn't planning on actually taking meaningful snaps for the Colts sometime soon. With Jones out for the year, Anthony Richardson on the IR and Riley Leonard dealing with a knee injury himself, the only other quarterback standing in Rivers' way is Brett Rypien, a 29-year-old journeyman who is 2-2 in his NFL career as a starter.
Although it seems crazy to think that Philip Rivers could just brush off nearly 5 years of rust and play competitive football with less than a week's notice, it is worth mentioning that in his final NFL season, Rivers threw for over 4,000 yards, completed 68 percent of his passes, had a touchdown-to-interception ratio better than 2-to-1, and won 11 games.
But with that said, I just have to wonder whether throwing Rivers out there against a defense as terrifying as the Houston Texans could be considered elder abuse on the part of the Indianapolis Colts.
(I kid.)