Because Chargers’ home games typically kick off in the 4 p.m. ET window, quarterback Philip Rivers has a Sunday night routine. He records the primetime game on NBC and then catches up when he gets home. But this week, Rivers’ 8-year-old son broke the big news as soon as his dad walked through the door.
Reigning NFL MVP Cam Newton, while healthy, didn’t start against the Seahawks.
“Dad, the other quarterback came in and he threw a pass the first play of the game,'” Rivers recalled on a conference call with Carolina-based media Wednesday.
“I was like, ‘Come on, what are you talking about? No, he didn’t.'”
Oh, yes he did.
Perhaps if fullback Mike Tolbert had hung onto Derek Anderson’s pass, #TieGate wouldn’t have become a thing. But three days later, it still is.
“It’s unfortunate that I threw a pick,” Anderson said, “but if we go three and out and punt, you’re like, ‘Oh he missed the first series, that’s not a big deal.’ But there’s a turnover, and you guys have turned it into something way bigger than what it needed to be.”
The number of reporters who cover the Panthers daily is so small, calling it a media contingent is almost an exaggeration. So it’s not just “you guys” that have turned Newton’s dress code violation into the nuttiest NFL story of the week.
Even coach Ron Rivera admitted he knew “a feeding frenzy” would chew up any rational thought that the benching lasted just one play and had little effect on the 40-7 blowout. But Rivera apparently had enough of the rumors and false reports by the time he stepped to the podium for Wednesday’s post-practice press conference.
“Apparently, doing what you’re supposed to do doesn’t seem to explain the situation,” an obviously irked Rivera said. “So I’m going to address this one last time. OK?
“Again, I made a decision based on rules. Treat everybody the same. The reason you do it, especially when you’re having a tough season, is because if you don’t, chaos can consume your football team. The idea was to do the right thing, treat everybody the same. I’ve done it before where I’ve had to treat people the same, and that’s all I’ve done. That’s the end of it.”
For now.
Newton wasn’t made available to the media, even though Wednesday is when he typically talks during the week. So the drama — as silly as it still appears — will likely have legs for at least one more day.
“Please, as a football team, we would like to move forward and start focusing in on the San Diego Chargers,” Rivera continued. “So I’m going to ask you not to start asking questions. I want to talk about the Chargers. I want to talk about our football team going forward.
“Thank you.”