In my line of work (or perhaps, “work”) I spend a lot of time sifting through interviews and press conferences trying to find details that players and coaches reveal about injuries. Sadly, this is usually a game where the players/coaches are intentionally vague and sometimes even downright misleading. Rarely though do I find quotes that admit to this quite as freely as Philip Rivers did in an interview to Union-Tribune San Diego’s Michael Gehlken. In speaking about his own back and rib injuries (which were already hush-hush material this season) Rivers said this:
It just does me no good to say on the record what it was.
SON OF A BITCH! We were so close to getting some real details there! This is exactly the attitude that makes some of the NFL injury rehab timelines such a murky business. It’s pretty difficult to compare apples to apples when nobody can even confirm that we’re looking at an apple. Of course, even with as angry as this makes me, Rivers is mostly correct. It would be nice if he would give us a clearer picture, but it’s not like it helps him at all.
For anyone following Rivers health, I can now tell you that he might or might not need offseason surgery on what might or might not be a bulging disc. In that same interview, Rivers says that the existing reports of his back condition are, “not exactly accurate,” but then declined to provide any more details. Well played, Rivers, well played.
