Brady Poppinga: “Philip Rivers is a productive player, obviously, and was a good throwing quarterback but he was extremely petty. He didn’t focus on the things that it took to win games. I felt like he was the kind of guy that if he went out and had a phenomenal game statistically but lost, he would be good with that, versus having an average day and winning… It doesn’t surprise me to see him have all these phenomenal statistics but he’s unable to deliver in the biggest games. His focus was more on statistics and passing yards instead of winning football games… He’s not even a good trash talker, he’s corny and petty. He sounded like he was in middle school talking on the playground… He’s not a lock to be in the Hall of Fame and I get sick and tired of the Chargers people saying he’s a ‘lock’ hall of famer. His stats are so inflated from playing in an era of throwing the ball… He’s not a Hall of Fame guy, he’s not a guy that did the very thing a Hall of Fame quarterback needs to do – WIN BIG GAMES.” (Full Audio at bottom of page)
Listen to former Super Bowl champion Brady Poppinga's rant on The Herd Tuesday, as the former Green Bay Packers linebacker who was on their championship team in 2011 had some revealing remarks about the now former San Diego and Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers.
Poppinga not only said that he doesn’t believe Rivers should be in the Hall of Fame, but also went on to tell Colin Cowherd that Rivers cared more about his individual statistics than winning big games.
Despite Rivers being known as one of the most notable trash talkers in the league, Poppinga said Rivers was ‘petty’ and ‘corny’ out on the field, when recalling a game where Rivers’ Chargers played Poppinga’s Packers in 2007 and Rivers was getting into with former All-Pro Packers cornerback Al Harris.
Poppinga said Rivers wasn’t even clever, and instead sounded like he was 'in middle school talking on the playground.’
Check out the full rant below as Poppinga says don’t fall for Rivers’ ‘inflated stats' as some marker for a Hall of Fame career.