Philip Rivers knows he and his San Diego Chargers’ teammates will get the best of the 0-4 New Orleans Saints on Sunday night.
Rivers said the Saints will not be uptight nor will they pack it in after a disastrous start of the season. How does Rivers know New Orleans will be ready to face the Chargers?
Rivers was Brees’ understudy in 2004-05 before he took over for Brees in 2006. Rivers is still impressed by Brees’ handle on situations, whether times were good or bad.
“It’s been many years since I’ve been around Drew (Brees) but he’s treating today like they’re 4-0,” Rivers told reporters in San Diego this week. “He’s very steady. And that’s how you bounce back from a situation like they’re in. In a Drew Brees’ team with what they’ve been though, you can’t ever count them out of anything. We’ll get their best and we’ve got to prepare to make sure that we give them our best … We could have won on a Monday night or been beat and he was going to do the same thing. His demeanor never changed. He could have thrown three interceptions and it was like he had thrown three touchdowns or vice versa. And I think that’s something that filters down through the locker room. I’m a little more emotional and it’s harder for me to keep as steady but that’s one thing that I did learn from him.”
Brees will have a chance to break an important NFL record against his original team. He is tied with Johnny Unitas for throwing a touchdown pass in 47 straight games. Rivers knows what a difficult feat that is.
“It’s impressive when you think about how many games that is in a row throwing a touchdown,” Rivers said. “He’s broken a lot of records in the past few years and he’s a heck of a player. I was with him in the early part of his ascent to the level he’s at. So it’s been fun to see where his and what a great player he is.”