Rivers hangs tough in preseason opener

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Sunday, Aug 10, 2008
By Michael Balalis, Chargers.com

Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers didn’t have any qualms about taking that first hit, but it didn’t take long for a big blow to come.

Rivers, playing in game action for the first time since undergoing offseason ACL surgery, was sacked on the second play from scrimmage in the Chargers’ preseason opener Saturday night, but he shrugged it off and got right back in the huddle.

“The knee felt fine,” Rivers said. “Even the one sack, there was nothing to it. I felt just fine out there.”

Chargers Head Coach Norv Turner could have done without seeing his starting quarterback get taken to the ground on the second snap of the night, but he walked away feeling good about what he saw from his starting signal caller.

“You don’t want to go have happened what happened in the game,” Turner said. “He gets hit pretty good on the deep ball that ended up being a pass interference call. Once you survive that you understand that it’s pretty good that it happened because you have to be able to play through those things. I thought he did the things he needed to do.”

Rivers played into the second quarter Saturday night. He led the Chargers on four drives, two of which culminated in touchdowns, and finished the night 5-of-6 passing for 54 yards. It was encouraging for fans to see Rivers showing no weakness in his performance and athleticism following surgery to repair a torn ACL last year.

It was expected for Rivers to have limited game play, much like regular starters endure during preseason, but he had no problem leading the offense to the goal line for Darren Sproles to run it in for a five yard touchdown in the first quarter. While he wasn’t thrilled with the way the night started, Rivers was happy with the end result.

“You start with a three-and-out and obviously you want to get it going early,” Rivers said. “We bounced right back and got the ball in the end zone twice. Preseason, you want to stay away from penalties, which we did. You want to protect the football, which we did, thus far through the first half.”

As he promised earlier in the week, Rivers hardly thought about his knee as he took the field Saturday night. That showed in his performance.

“It went well, it went as I had hoped,” Rivers said of his first game back.” It was good to get that one out of the way; it wasn’t in the back of my mind but, the first one back is always a little jittery so it was certainly good to get one under my belt.”

Lisa Blumenfeld, Getty Images North America

Quarterback Philip Rivers looked like his old self Saturday night.

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