Rivers: "We Can Fix It and Correct These Mistakes"

Posted Oct 17, 2012

Ricky Henne Managing Editor Chargers.com Twitter Facebook

Philip Rivers stepped to the podium on Wednesday and accepted responsibility for his mistakes that helped lead to Monday night’s loss. But at the same time, he was hopeful about the future of the team and thinks they have what it takes to be special.

“Despite how brutal the (last two) losses were, when you watch the tape, we can be awesome,” he said. “Whether we do that is left up to us but there’s definitely a lot more good than bad on the field. It’s just that the bad, much like other games we’ve lost, has been worst at crucial times. These two were some of the worst. We can fix it and correct these mistakes.”

Rivers showed exactly why his teammates elected him as a captain, showing true signs of leadership in owning up to his shortcomings and explaining his plans to rectify them. That starts with being more careful with the ball.

“When we’re in a seven man protection and fumble for a touchdown occurs, it’s a little wrinkle to a play that we’ve run thousands of times,” he said. “(I can fix that by) stepping up a little more, getting the ball out a little sooner, taking the sack maybe like we’ve talked about. Then you live for another day. I think it’s just me managing some of those situations as opposed to high risk. Certainly there are some things that are greater risk than others but ultimately it’s just a matter of doing a better job fundamentally with the throws and in the pocket.”

Another prime example of being smarter with the football is the pick-six by the Broncos that sealed the Chargers fate with 2:15 remaining in the game.

“That’s just about the simplest thing you can call. If he’s not open, you just can’t throw the ball. There are times when certainly we can do that from a play call standpoint but it really starts with me. I know how to do that and it’s unfortunate I didn’t do that in those crucial moments during the game.”

Overall, despite the last two losses, Rivers remains optimistic about the Chargers future for the rest of the year. After all, they are still tied for first place in the AFC West and have 10 games remaining.

“The good part is, there’s nothing out there we can’t do or can’t correct,” he said. “That’s the exciting part. Yes, Denver made some plays but a lot of our mistakes were self-inflicted. Denver caused some of those so give them credit. They won the game… But if you look at all the good we’ve done, if you correct the bad, we can be really good.”