Indianapolis Colts’ Offseason Virtual Routine Helped QB Philip Rivers Make Smooth Transition
INDIANAPOLIS — One of the advantages to quarterback Philip Rivers joining the Indianapolis Colts in March was his familiarity with head coach Frank Reich and offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni.
They worked together with the Chargers, which means Rivers already knew roughly 85 percent of the Colts playbook when he signed a one-year, $25-million contract in March. Reich was a Chargers assistant from 2013 to 2015 while Sirianni was with the organization from 2013 to 2017.
What Rivers didn’t know when he changed NFL addresses was how the Colts would adjust to the unusual offseason training activities with a virtual routine that helped the 17th-year pro enjoy a seamless transition.
“It’s really exceeded expectations in terms of what we’ve been able to get done,” Rivers said in a recent Zoom video conference call. “I really could not have imagined getting as much done as we’re getting done. I think that’s a credit to the coaching staff. It starts with obviously Frank, in terms of organizing it all – I can’t speak for the defensive side — (and) what Nick has done offensively with the staff, how organized and how efficient the meetings have been. Really, I could go on and on.
“It’s been unbelievable, just seamless from different coaches presenting, to different coaches sharing their screen and sharing video, going from this to that, doing virtual walk-thrus. (Center) Ryan (Kelly) is making calls. We’re sending guys in motion. It’s been awesome. Had this not been my first year here, I would have said, ‘Shoot, I don’t know what more we could have gained by being in the building from a meeting standpoint.’”
Rivers, 38, acknowledges that not being able to bond with his new teammates in the locker room and for offseason practices was a detriment, but there was nothing he could do about the Coronavirus pandemic causing the NFL to close facilities until recently.
Although the only players who can report to the facility are those rehabilitating injuries, Rivers has moved his family to Indianapolis and has organized throwing sessions and workouts with his new teammates.
“Gosh, you lose a lot like I already mentioned, the camaraderie in the locker room and sitting in there after you’ve done the conditioning and obviously all the field work that we would have gotten done and all the time spent together,” he said. “But in terms of just football and just in the meeting room and what we could get done, I don’t know what has been lacking. It’s been really good.”
Another benefit to learning the Colts playbook required Rivers to study the subtle changes to the offensive game plan devised by Reich and Sirianni. It’s one thing to know why a play is called or the intent of its execution, but Rivers realized he had to focus on terminology for necessary understanding.
“I do know the scheme. I’ve known it, but there’s always tweaks,” he said. “There’s always tweaks when you haven’t been with guys in a handful of years. It’s been longer without Frank than it has been Nick. Then obviously the mesh of those two and of other coaches and their ideas. There is different terminology that they’ve changed. Some things, I remember calling this and now we’re calling that. I feel like that’s been good for me.
“I’ve always worked at it hard in the offseason, but I’ve never had to study. I would work and like to watch tape and go back and evaluate the previous year and do all that stuff, but as far as actually studying playbook stuff, I hadn’t had to do that in a long time. That has actually been fun to do. It has been kind of a challenge to flip through the notebook and look up things that you’re used to knowing like the back of your hand. I’ve had to work at that a little bit.”
That’s why Rivers sounds confident about being up to speed when hitting that practice field with his new teammates. Although he played 16 seasons in the Chargers organization and is now expected to adapt to throwing passes to the likes of wide receiver T.Y. Hilton and tight end Jack Doyle, among others, Rivers
doesn’t sound the least bit worried about possible growing pains.
“I really don’t. Not to kind of make it no big deal, but I just don’t think it is going to be. I really don’t,” he said. “I can say again, I’ve thrown twice with a few guys and I go, ‘Man, it doesn’t feel like it’s just two times.’ It really doesn’t.
“I think a lot of that again is being in the same offense and it’s Nick, Frank, along with the other coaches – the route disciplines, the route technique has all been coached the way I’m used to. They are running the route the way I ran it, believe it, and know it.”
He joked that there was actually was nervous anticipation before participating in the first of those recent throwing sessions.
“I was a little nervous the night before going to throw the other day,” Rivers said. “I was like, ‘Shoot, I’m throwing to these guys for the first time. I better not throw a bunch of balls at their head or throw a bunch in the dirt.’”
(Phillip B. Wilson has covered the Indianapolis Colts for more than two decades and authored the 2013 book 100 Things Colts Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die. He’s on Twitter @pwilson24, on Facebook at @allcoltswithphilb and @100thingscoltsfans, and his email is phillipbwilson24@yahoo.com.)
