Indianapolis, IN
Philip Rivers’ starting stint with Colts should make us appreciate him more
INDIANAPOLIS — Philip Rivers wasn’t able to change the course of this Colts season.
A promising campaign that seemed lost when Daniel Jones tore his Achilles tendon in Jacksonville effectively ended when the team was eliminated from the playoffs before Rivers led the Colts onto the field against the Jaguars again.
The collapse, the kind that hasn’t been seen in the NFL in thirty years, prompts big questions about the future of the franchise, questions that can only be answered definitively by Carlie Irsay-Gordon in her first year as principal owner.
Those answers will come later.
For the moment, it is OK to appreciate what Rivers brought to Indianapolis, the NFL and the sport at large at the age of 44, even though he wasn’t able to make the Colts’ wildest dreams come true by leading the team to the playoffs.
“If this was the last one … shoot,” Rivers said. “I told you guys I wouldn’t have any regrets about coming back and I don’t. Other than us not winning, right – us not winning. It’s been an absolute blast for three weeks.”
Three starts in December at the age of 44 were not going to change Rivers’ Hall of Fame credentials. Not unless he somehow led the Colts to a Super Bowl, the sort of fairy-tale ending that would have been in production at Disney before the halftime show began in Santa Clara.
But the three starts Rivers made in December gave the NFL world a chance to fully appreciate what made Rivers great, on the field and off, as a representative of the game.
Rivers wasn’t the same player he’d been in 2020.
Far from it. The old shotput motion was still there, but he clearly had less velocity on his throws, leading to misses that Rivers could have made in his sleep the last time he took the field. After a surprising performance against San Francisco on Monday Night, Rivers fell back to Earth on Sunday.
“I thought this was probably the worst game I’ve had of the three,” Rivers said. “Just couldn’t get in really any sync or rhythm.”
The game-changing interception Rivers threw in the fourth quarter brought home his diminished physical ability. Rivers fluttered an out route to slot receiver Josh Downs, leaving plenty of time for Jacksonville cornerback Jarrian Jones to undercut it for a pick.
“I wasn’t fooled by any means,” Rivers said. “It was just a bad throw.”
The throws shouldn’t be the takeaway from these three starts.
Rivers wasn’t fooled. By just about anything. Five seasons after he last started in the NFL, Rivers flew back into Indianapolis on the whim of Shane Steichen and Chris Ballard, stepped back into a quarterback meeting room and immediately knew more than almost anybody else in the league.
In the history of the NFL, for that matter. Only a few quarterbacks have ever been able to process information at the line of scrimmage like Rivers, a 44-year-old who kept shocking the Colts with his ability to see what was coming.
Wide receiver Alec Pierce got a taste in Rivers’ first start. When Pierce looked at Seattle’s defense, he saw the Seahawks in a pressure look the Colts had seen on tape, and he told Rivers the blitz was coming.
Rivers shrugged it off, told Pierce the Seahawks were bluffing.
The 44-year-old was right, just like he was right on Monday night, when San Francisco showed a look that offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter was sure indicated a blitz from the right, leaving him shocked when Rivers shuffled the protection to the left.
Rivers was right again. He’s almost always right, looking across the line at defenses like Keanu Reeves looking into the lines of the matrix.
“It’s really just that he’s probably seen it before, so it’s probably not even a matrix,” Colts running back Jonathan Taylor said. “I’ve seen this a couple years ago, and he’ll probably tell you the exact game, the drive, the actual down it was. So, he’s seen a lot of ball, so it’s not much you can throw at him at all.”
Taylor’s right. Rivers never forgets anything.
What makes him special is that he can access all of that information in a split second. When a coach talks about a quarterback going through his progressions, he’s often talking about a decision the quarterback makes after the snap.
Rivers goes through his progressions before he’s even finished calling the cadence.
That’s how a 44-year-old quarterback with diminished arm strength can complete 63% of his passes over three games, throwing four touchdowns and three interceptions to post an 80.2 quarterback rating, numbers that aren’t impressive for a 30-year-old starting quarterback but take on new meaning for a man who’s been calling plays at the high school level for five years.
“For Philip to come off the couch with a couple days of practice, go into Seattle and take them down to the wire, then come in here, and the past two weeks, I’ve thought he played well,” wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. said. “That just says a lot about him, that he can still go toe-to-toe with some of the best teams at, what is he, 40-something? Phil’s up there.”
Rivers’ genius on the field is something only a handful of quarterbacks have ever been able to replicate.
The quarterback’s love of the game, and the way he approached these three starts in December, is something that can inspire anybody.
Rivers had plenty of reasons to rebuff the Colts, namely the tidal wave of public opinion that started flowing as soon as his decision to fly to Indianapolis became public.
But few people have ever loved anything as much as Rivers loves football, and as he’s said plenty of times since answering the Colts’ call, he wasn’t about to let the negative possibilities of what might happen affect his decision to play, even after Indianapolis was eliminated from the playoffs by Houston’s win on Saturday night.
“The message amongst all of us was like, ‘Hey, we get to play in an NFL football game. We signed up for all of them. They pay you for all of them, and you go out there and play,’” Rivers said. “The thought of meaningless games — which I know that gets thrown around, and it is in the sense of it doesn’t affect the postseason, there’s no impact on the postseason — but to say a game is meaningless is not in my DNA.”
That’s what draws people to sports, why so many keep playing pickup basketball or city-league softball long after their actual playing days or over, or why they start taking golf lessons to get that handicap down into single digits.
Win or lose, Rivers loves playing.
For the sake of playing itself, even though Sunday’s loss to Jacksonville might have been the last NFL game he starts.
“If I’d go back and say, ‘All right, now you know everything that is going to happen. What are you going to do?’ I’d do it all again,” Rivers said. “It’s been absolutely awesome. I mean, if it’s the last one, it’s the last one. … If it is, I got three bonus games that I never saw coming.”
Three games in December that should only make the NFL world appreciate Rivers more.
Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown cover the Colts all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter.
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Hundreds of fitness enthusiasts started Memorial Day with a climb.
The Hill 317 kicked off its 16-week season Monday morning after a last-minute venue change to Paul Ruster Park. The event was initially set for Lawrence but moved due to safety issues, organizers said.
“Once police officers realized this was a health event, and no weapons, alcohol, or drugs were involved, they didn’t see a reason to stop people from working out together.”
Brandon Beasley, who founded The Hill 317 in 2019, said the turnout shows how the group has grown from a small running club into a citywide movement.
“I created this health event in 2019, and it’s been going ever since,” Beasley said. “I decided to run the hill, asked people to run with me, and the next thing you know, we have 3-4-500 people.”
‘It’s really your level’
The two-hour sessions include running, walking, or pacing up the hill, followed by a halftime break for calisthenics like squats, push-ups, and jumping jacks. Refreshments and a DJ round out the workout.
“It’s really your level,” Beasley said. “If you can walk up the hill, you can walk up the hill. If you can push yourself to run up the hill, flip up the hill, crawl up the hill, go backwards — whatever you need to do to push yourself to exercise — then we take a halftime break to do calisthenics.”
People of all ages joined Monday’s session. Organizers said even a baby in a stroller made it to the top.
‘No competition. We’re pushing each other’
Mollie Lindeman, softball coach at Cardinal Ritter and a longtime participant, said the community focus keeps her coming back.
“This is amazing,” Lindeman said. “There are so many people here for our first hill of the season. I love to see everyone out here getting up and running today, after or before they eat some Memorial Day food. This is really a great turnout. It’s awesome.”
Lindeman said the group’s supportive environment stands out.
“I am the softball coach at Cardinal Ritter, but I love the community aspect of this,” she said. “Everybody here is together. There’s no competition. We’re pushing each other. You can meet people here and connect with people.”
Free workouts run through summer
The Hill 317 will meet every Monday and Thursday for the next 16 weeks. Sessions are free and open to all fitness levels.
Organizers said the program focuses on building healthier lifestyles through group accountability and encouragement.
Registration and location updates are available online.
If anyone wants to help sponsor the community event, contact info@thehill317.com.
INDIANAPOLIS – Josef Newgarden exited Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 76 laps early after spinning into the outside wall in Turn 4 of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway; and a day later, Newgarden was in a walking boot.
Newgarden was seen and released from the IMS infield medical unit after the crash, although he didn’t do IndyCar’s procedural media interviews afterward. At Monday evening’s Indy 500 Victory Celebration, the two-time Indy 500 champion had a boot on his left foot on the red carpet. Newgarden claimed he will race in this weekend’s Detroit Grand Prix, and he said the boot will stay on “until the cosmetics are complete.”
“It’s just a big hit — big whip, I think was the big thing about it,” Newgarden said. “So, just the nature of the angle of it, more than anything.”
Newgarden finished 28th in the race after appearing to have race pace worthy of competing for the win. He was fourth heading into the restart before losing control of his No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet.
“It’s a tough mistake,” Newgarden said. “You touch that curbing and it happens quick. I mean, I didn’t even realize I made a mistake until I was sideways, and the next thing you know, you’re in the wall. Some mistakes you can see them coming and you can counteract them. That one, unfortunately, I didn’t know until it was too late.
“It was my fault. I lost my sight line, and you can’t be touching that curb.”
After winning back-to-back Indy 500s in 2023 and 2024, Newgarden has exited the last two races early. Last year, it was a fuel pressure problem that ended Newgarden’s day. Newgarden, who made last-lap passes to win both of his Indy 500s, had to watch from outside the cockpit as Felix Rosenqvist passed Marcus Armstrong and David Malukas for the win in the closest finish the race has ever seen.
“I just wish I was in the fight at the end. It looked fun,” he said. “They had a great race going, and it would’ve been amazing to be a part of that.”
Zion Brown is IndyStar’s motorsports reporter. Follow him at @z10nbr0wn. Get IndyStar’s motor sports coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Motor Sports newsletter. Subscribe to the YouTube channel IndyStar TV: IndyCar for a behind-the-scenes look at IndyCar and expert analysis.
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — This Memorial Day, you can honor United States service members who made the ultimate sacrifice. Crown Hill National Cemetery is hosting a service at 11 a.m. on Monday.
In a Facebook post, the Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs said, “Never forgotten. Always remembered,” encouraging people to attend the ceremony. Crown Hill is the final resting place for nearly 1,000 veterans and eligible dependents.
According to Crown Hill, the keynote speaker will be Michael Hershman, the director of Veteran Health Indiana. Music will be provided by the 38th Infantry Division Band, Indiana National Guard, and the Indiana National Guard Ceremonial Unit will provide military honors.
The service will be in the open area adjacent to the Crown Hill Columbarium Annex.
Parking Information
Guests displaying a valid disability license plate or placard may enter the cemetery’s main gate for on-site parking.
General parking will be available at Butler University Lot 45 (near the intersection of West 42nd Street and Haughey Avenue), with shuttle service provided to and from the grounds of Crown Hill National Cemetery.
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