Stats

Birth Date: December 8, 1981  |  Birth Place: Decatur, AL
College: North Carolina State  |  High School: Athens HS (AL)

2011 Season Stats
DATE	OPP	CMP	ATT	PCT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	RAT
9/11	MIN	33	48	68.8	335	7.0	2	2	85.0
9/18	@NE	29	40	72.5	378	9.5	2	2	97.7
9/25	KC	24	48	63.2	266	7.0	0	2	62.0
10/2	MIA	21	31	67.7	307	9.9	1	0	110.6
10/9	@DEN	18	29	62.1	250	8.6	1	1	86.9
10/23	@NYJ	16	32	50.0	179	5.6	1	2	51.4
10/31	@KC	26	41	63.4	369	9.0	0	2	72.1
11/6	GB	26	46	56.5	385	8.4	4	3	85.9
11/10	OAK	23	47	48.9	274	5.8	2	1	72.5
11/20	@CHI	21	31	67.7	280	9	2	2	90.8
11/27	DEN	19	36	52.8	188	5.2	1	0	77.1
12/5	@JAC	22	28	78.6	294	10.5	3	0	146.1
12/11	BUF	24	33	72.7	240	7.3	3	0	123.3
12/18	BAL	17	23	73.9	270	11.7	1	0	127.1
12/24	@DET
1/1	@OAK
Season

Career Season Stats
YEAR	TEAM	G	CMP	ATT	PCT	YDS	AVG	TD	LNG	INT	RAT
2010	SDG	16	357	541	66.0	4710	8.7	30	59	13	101.8
2009	SDG	16	317	486	65.2	4254	8.8	28	81	9	104.4
2008	SDG	16	312	478	65.3	4009	8.4	34	67	11	105.5
2007	SDG	16	277	460	60.2	3152	6.9	21	49	15	82.4
2006	SDG	16	284	460	61.7	3388	7.4	22	57	9	92.0
2005	SDG	2	12	22	54.5	115	5.2	0	5.2	1	50.4
2004	SDG	2	5	8	62.5	33	4.1	1	4.1	0	110.9
Career		84	1564	2455	63.7	19661	8.0	138	81	58	97.2

Career Playoff Stats
YEAR	TEAM	G	CMP	ATT	PCT	YDS	AVG	TD	LNG	INT	RAT
2009	SDG	1	27	40	67.5	298	7.5	1	37	2	77
2008	SDG	2	41	71	57.7	525	7.4	3	62	2	83
2007	SDG	3	52	86	60.5	767	8.9	4	56	4	86
2006	SDG	1	14	32	43.8	230	7.2	0	58	1	56
Playoffs		7	134	229	58.5	1820	7.9	8	62	9	79

In The News

• Turner praises Rivers for enduring Raiders pass rush, says QB shouldn't be ... - Washington Post
• Rivers on Chargers' start: 'There's no AP votes or coaches' votes' - USA Today
• San Diego Manhandles Miami, Avoids Slow Start To Season - Mission Valley News
• Running Rivers - Chargers.com
• Chargers hold off Tebow-inspired Broncos 29-24 - Boston Globe

Biography

Philip Rivers is a winner.

One of the NFL’s elite quarterbacks, Rivers has led the Chargers to four AFC West titles and three playoff wins in his six seasons as a starter. Entering the 2011 season, Rivers is the Chargers’ all-time leader for career completion percentage (.637) and passer rating (97.2), and he holds the second-highest rating in NFL history.

Rivers is demonstrating the kind of skills and leadership that haven’t been witnessed in San Diego since Dan Fouts ran the legendary “Air Coryell” offense. Under the tutelage of Head Coach Norv Turner, Rivers last season topped Fouts’ team record for single-season touchdown passes and became the only QB in franchise history besides Fouts to pass for more than 4,000 yards.

The Chargers offense clicked in 2008 with Rivers at the helm. Most analysts believe Rivers was robbed when he was named only a first-alternate to the Pro Bowl. He spread the wealth in ’08 as nine different Chargers had at least 10 catches and caught a touchdown pass. Rivers led the league and set a new team mark with a passer rating of 105.5. Already the franchise’s all-time leader in passer rating (92.9), he became only the second Chargers starting QB to finish a season with a passer rating over 100.0 and he recorded a passer rating of 96.0-or-better in 13 of the team’s 18 games, including playoffs. His 65.3% completion mark was the third-highest in a season in team history, allowing him to take over as the team’s all-time leader in career completion percentage (62.3%).

Cool under pressure, Rivers was the NFL’s second-leading passer on third downs and in the fourth quarter, posting passer ratings of 110.7 and 111.7, respectively. He threw an NFL-best 15 touchdown passes on third down and the Chargers led the NFL in fourth quarter scoring with 152 points.

Rivers logged six 300-yard games in ’08, the most since Fouts had seven in 1985. He did so after collecting just four in his first two years as the starter. He even did it in back-to-back games, something not done by a Chargers quarterback since 1991.

Rivers had a sensational month of December while leading the Chargers to the playoffs. He went 4-0 for the month, improving his career record to 14-0 in December, completing 80-of-121 (66.1%) for 1,054 yards with 11 touchdowns and just one interception. His passer rating for the month, a lofty 120.3, was second in the NFL.

Rivers’ career got off to an outstanding start in San Diego. After spending two years on the sidelines behind Drew Brees, Rivers took over in 2006 and was outstanding from his first start. Rivers made his first-career start Sept. 11 at Oakland in a nationally-televised ESPN Monday Night Football game and led the Bolts to a 27-0 win, going 8-of-11 (.727) for a 133.0 passer rating. Since 1995, it was the second-highest completion percentage and third highest rating for an NFL quarterback making his first career start in a season opener.

Rivers ended up making the Pro Bowl in 2006 after leading the Bolts to a team-record 14 wins.

The Chargers closed out the season with 10 straight wins and finished the regular season undefeated at home for the first time in team history. The Chargers set a team record by scoring 492 points and Rivers set some very notable marks along the way. He became the first NFL quarterback to lead a team back from 17-point deficits in consecutive weeks. Rivers not only did that, but he did so on the road, leading the Chargers back to wins in Cincinnati and Denver in consecutive weeks. During those two wins, Rivers was in the midst of a streak of 19-straight scoring drives that ended in touchdowns without settling for a field goal. That was a team record and the fifth-longest streak in NFL history. The previous team mark had been 17. Rivers finished the year as the NFL leader in passer rating for the fourth quarter (116.6) and the third and fourth quarters combined (99.3).

In 2007, Rivers was sensational down the stretch when the Chargers needed him the most. During the Chargers’ eight-game winning streak that led to the AFC Championship Game, he completed 133 of 214 (62.1%) for 1,656 yards with 14 TDs and only five INTs for a rating of 98.2, nearly 16 points higher than his cumulative season rating (82.4). Rivers’ toughness, both mental and physical, was put on full display in the final weeks of the regular season and the postseason. In an early Dec. victory over Tennessee, Rivers had to leave the game after spraining his knee. He returned in the second half and led the Chargers to a come-from-behind victory in overtime. Rivers continued to play and he fought through the final month of the season in severe pain.

A different knee injury in the Bolts’ Divisional Playoff game in Indianapolis also sent him to the sideline, but Rivers refused to let it end his season. He had an arthroscopic procedure to repair a torn ACL on Monday following the Chargers’ playoff victory over the Colts and just six days later started and took every snap in the AFC Championship Game on a cold day in New England.

Rivers has always been a winner. Since his junior season at Athens High School in 1998, his first as a starting QB, Rivers has never had a losing record. He went 11-2 (1998) and 10-3 (1999) at Athens; 8-4 (2000), 7-5 (2001), 11-3 (2002) and 8-5 (2003) at North Carolina State, and with the Chargers he’s posted seasons of 14-2 (2006), 11-5 (2007) and 8-8 (2008). Rivers’ collegiate totals at N.C. State included a 3-1 mark in bowl games. He was a five-time MVP in bowl games, including the 2004 Senior Bowl.

Rivers and his family now make their year-round home in San Diego. However, they frequently return to Decatur, Alabama, the city in which he grew up and worked as a water boy when his dad, Steve, was the head football coach at Decatur High School.

In February 2007 while Philip was back in Alabama to visit his folks, he picked up the local paper one day and read a Q&A with Lawrence County High School student Will Inman. One of the questions posed to Inman was about a famous person he’d like to meet. His answer was Rivers. After reading the story, Philip was so impressed that he decided to surprise the young man and he showed up unannounced on campus a couple of days later. It was a total surprise to all of the students on campus. Rivers spent time visiting with Inman and many of the school’s student athletes.

Last spring, Rivers took part in the grand opening of D1 Sports Training and Therapy, a new training and rehabilitation center in Huntsville, Alabama that he co-owns with University of Tennessee Assistant Athletic Director Condredge Holloway. Holloway is well-known in the south as the first black quarterback in SEC history. D1 is a specialized facility that provides its clients with training at a level expected by athletes in NCAA Division I sports.

Philip and his father have always been close. Steve was the best man in Philip’s wedding and he wears number 17 because it was the same number his dad wore in high school. In college, North Carolina State retired that number before Philip’s final home game. Nearly every day after practice, Rivers calls home to speak with his family. Most of his conversations with his dad include a rehash of certain plays the Chargers ran that day.

Perhaps because of the special bond Philip shares with his dad, he has always had a special admiration for coaches. One of his favorites is basketball coach Bob Knight. During Philip’s junior season in 2002, the Wolfpack traveled to Texas Tech to face the Red Raiders in an early season football game. While talking to reporters in the week leading up to the game, Rivers mentioned that he wanted to do two things that week, beat Texas Tech and meet Coach Knight. When Knight caught wind of the story, he made a special trip to greet Rivers and his teammates when they arrived in town for the game. The two spoke and Coach Knight gave Philip a Texas Tech basketball sweater that Rivers still wears to work. Rivers also won the game, leading the Wolfpack to a thrilling 51-48 overtime win over the Red Raiders.

Coincidentally, Rivers and Coach Knight had a chance to reunite in April 2007 when Philip was invited to throw out the first pitch before a San Diego Padres game at Petco Park. Coach Knight happened to be at the game that night as a guest of the Padres and he and Philip spoke briefly before the game.

Rivers and his wife, Tiffany, met as kids in Alabama and were married after his first year at N.C. State. They have five children, daughters Halle, Caroline, Grace and Sarah Kate, and son Philip “Gunner,” and have launched the Rivers of Hope Foundation whose mission and focus is on helping foster children find permanent homes, and helping potential foster parents with the adoption process.

A devout Catholic, Rivers was asked to speak to more than 2,500 youth at the Ignited by Truth Catholic Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina in February. He told the students how in college he used to take cabs to go to mass before bowl games and that he’s a regular participant in the team mass when on the road with the Chargers. In fact, both Rivers and his son spell their names with one “l” after the biblical apostle, Philip.