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)
Former NFL defensive player Brady Poppinga had some choice words for veteran quarterback Philip Rivers, as the former linebacker known for his time with the Green Bay Packers during the late 2000’s ripped Rivers Tuesday on The Herd.
Poppinga said that Rivers cares more about individual stats than actually winning games, and said that the notorious trash talker is actually ‘petty’ and ‘corny’ and sounds like a middle-schooler on the playground than a barker who can cleverly get under people’s skin.
Poppinga also says he doesn’t understand how people can call Rivers a ‘lock’ to make the Hall of Fame, when he has zero Super Bowl appearances, and was only able to climb historic passing yard ranks because of the inflated numbers of the modern era that feature rules that overwhelmingly favor the offense, and systems that throw at record amounts.
Rivers’ name has been a major talking point this week, as the 38-year-old officially ended his long marriage to the Los Angeles Chargers and became a free agent. Rivers’ name has been linked to teams like the Colts, Panthers, and Bucs, but there’s still a lot of debate to how much value Rivers’ could offer coming off a wretched season in which he threw 23 touchdowns and 20 interceptions for a loaded Chargers offense who was supposed to contend for a Super Bowl.
Check out the full rant below with Colin Cowherd.