Unretired Philip Rivers' arm looks exceptionally weak vs. Seahawks

The Colts' grandpa quarterback is floating his throws early against the Seahawks.

Dec 14, 2025; Seattle, Washington, USA; Indianapolis Colts quarterback Philip Rivers (17) emerges from the locker room for pregame warmups against the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field. | Kevin Ng-Imagn Images

All week, the storyline for the Seattle Seahawks' Week 15 game against the Indianapolis Colts has been around the potential of facing a 44-year-old Philip Rivers.

Rivers indeed made the start on Sunday with Indianapolis' quarterback room on life support. A possible future Hall of Fame gunslinger, Rivers was great in his prime and had one of the strongest arms in the league. That arm isn't quite the same, however.

After two Colts offensive drives, Rivers has completed 3 of 8 passes for 31 yards. And there isn't much mustard on his throws.

These throws are *hanging* in the air pic.twitter.com/LHjDL1Q6Gm
— Billy M (@BillyM_91) December 14, 2025

Indianapolis still managed to take an early 3-0 lead over the Seahawks in the first quarter behind a strong running game. The Colts have already handed the ball of 10 times in order to take some pressure off Rivers as he gets acclimated to playing his first game in five seasons.

It's early, so Rivers has plenty of time to settle in. But if the arm strength isn't there, the Seahawks seemingly have an easy formula for victory: Play underneath coverage, and try to run under Rivers' lob throws.

They still have to stop Jonathan Taylor and the Colts' running game, however, which is the tougher task.

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