Seattle Seahawks 18 - Indianapolis Colts 16
Q. Phil, what were your emotions, the route, this game and then now?
PHIL RIVERS: You know, grateful. I mean, grateful. During warmups and all that, and out there for the anthem, and as the game got going, I was just thankful, grateful that I was out there.
And it was a blast. It was a blast, but obviously the emotions now are disappointment, right? Disappointment. This isn't about me. We got a team that was scrapping like crazy to try to stay alive and get in the postseason.
So obviously we're all disappointed. Came up just short. The game kind of played out almost kind of how we thought it was going to play out in terms of how we were going to win the game, kind of one of those grind-it-out kind of games. And, you know, we didn't find a way to get it done is the bottom line.
We did a lot of things really well on both sides of the ball and obviously played unbelievable kicking football all game. Some of us were in there talking now, you know, we gotta win -- you know, I'm speaking offensively. If I can stay healthy, like, I feel good. It's gonna get better as we go. But the catch in that is we gotta win. Doesn't really matter if it's getting better as we go, we gotta win. It's going to be over in three weeks. That's the catch there. It's going to continue to get better. This is obviously the first one, we're talking about three days of practice.
But, again, it was a real blessing to be back out there with the guys, but obviously this is about the Colts and the Seahawks, and we didn't find a way to get it done. Certainly there were a few plays here and there I'd like back, but all in all we just didn't find a way.
Q. Being hit for the first time in a while, did that wake you up a little bit or remind you of the game at all?
PHIL RIVERS: I never minded that part of it. My wife always tells me I'm crazy because there's been times in the last three or four years I said I wish I could just throw one and get hit hard. She says, that's not normal. So I'm fine with that part.
The one where the ball was snapped didn't feel great, but the other ones kind of got me going in the game. Actually didn't feel too far off. It was kind of crazy how normal it felt once we got going in the game.
Q. Describe your feelings on that TD pass, because your excitement was obvious to all of us.
PHIL RIVERS: Yeah. I mean, you know, it was exciting. Shoot, it was exciting to take a 13-3 lead. But first off, our play that we kind of had up all week in the red zone in that area on that down and distance on that hash, we practiced in the exact same spot this week. So when things go like that, they fire you up. Obviously you throw in the fact that it's been 1800 days since throwing a touchdown or interception for that matter. So, yeah, both of those boxes were checked.
That was an exciting drive, heck of a drive. We had a few different plays in there. Ameer had a big catch. Tyler had a big catch on the dover. And then obviously Downs gets in the end zone.
Again, it was one of those grind-it-out games. I know we didn't have a ton of yards total offense, but we controlled the ball. We did all those things that you want to do. Again, I know that on the end of the book it says we turned the ball over, but we didn't turn the ball over. That was obviously in desperation mode.
So all in all, disappointed. You know, thankful and nothing but gratitude from the standpoint of getting to be here and be a part of it again, but disappointed we didn't get it done, as I will have been disappointed in any other loss I've ever been a part of where I was the quarterback.
Q. The back shoulder?
PHIL RIVERS: Yeah. We actually worked on four or five or those on Thursday. I said let's get a few because he was like people were starting to play high on him because he's been running by some folks. Again, this game he didn't really get many targets. That was really one opportunity he had. He had the one they called P.I. and they were kind of squatting on him on the stop route. So we went right back to the go ball and he made a heck of a contested play.
So, again, a lot of confidence in all the wideouts in a short period of time, obviously I've been around Pitt, but not the other guys in person. So, like I said, those kind of plays are I had full trust in those. Those are trust building, kind of like, we did that. But we don't have time -- it's not like we're building this thing out. You're looking at 21 days left, you know, whatever, to find a way to get in.
Q. Phil, you've gone through pre-practices with this team, traveling, meetings, now games. What have you learned about this Colts team?
PHIL RIVERS: Well, Coach said it in there, and you hope it would be the case. But the effort, the fight, the want-to, it's what I remember from the 2020 team. Just being in that team meeting and the meetings last night and everything, the whole week these guys were all about it.
And you can be all about it and you can go after something and I can stand here to say it doesn't always work out. You know what I mean? You can do all those things and it doesn't mean you're going to win because there's a lot of other teams that are doing it, too, that you're playing against.
I think the mindset and the work ethic, all the things, all the buzz words you've all heard, that's all here. Ain't no question about that. We just gotta find a way.
Again, this is a one-score league is what it is. Across the league every Sunday, I've now been doing this as a fan the past four-and-a-half years. And it's central time, which we are, at about 3:00 you're scrambling to find which three games are coming -- four or five games that are coming down the wire, and then you look right back up at 6:15 and here they're coming right back down the wire, and then you watch the Sunday night game. And I've been doing it for 14 weeks. Now I'm right smack dab in the middle of one with 50 seconds left.
Q. You don't get to where you are without being very confident, obviously. But at the same time you haven't done this in a long time. Did any part of you -- or what part of you, if any, wondered how this might go and could I do this? Was there any of that?
PHIL RIVERS: I think that was certainly the sentiment on Monday and Tuesday. And then I really have been thankful to God that I haven't had those doubts really creep back in my mind. I've been very much at peace with everything about it. And I say peace with results, but not with I'm okay with us losing. I'm certainly not. But I've come to grips with however this thing plays out, I'll be okay for having done it because I made that commitment, and I'm just thankful. I really am.
Certainly that first time you get the ball and you go out there and that gets you cranked up and you go, dang! Where am I? I felt a little bit of a dream, honestly. I stood right here before, but it was 2018.
But I hadn't been in an NFL stadium like that, in the center of it, calling the play, obviously, well noted in a long time. Again, thankful to have been a part of it, disappointed that we didn't find a way to get it done.
Q. We saw the reaction from your high school team after your first touchdown pass. What is it about this opportunity that you want to teach them, the kids, whatever about going for it? Why do you want to go for it when you know it could be failure on the other side?
PHIL RIVERS: Well, this isn't the motivation, but I do think that maybe there will be -- I think about my own boys, my own two sons. But certainly there's a high school team I'm coaching. This isn't why I'm doing it. I know it comes with it. I know it is a story, and I know it is rare and all those things. But I didn't do that. I was enjoying myself down there being coach in South Alabama. These kind of things don't come up. Obviously this doesn't come up every day.
But I think maybe it will, I don't know, inspire or teach not to run or be scared of what may or may not happen, you know. Hopefully, certainly I think my sons and those ball players that I'm in charge of at the school that they'll see, like, crap, coach was here. Shoot, sometimes there is doubt and it's real. And, again, you can -- the guaranteed safe path is to go home or not to go for it. And the other one is, shoot, let's see what happens.
And so, yeah, I hope in that sense that it can be a positive to some young boys, or young people, not necessarily boys. But, again, that's not the motivation. But whatever God's will, I'm happy with. But certainly going to quickly turn my attention to the 49ers. I know they have a Monday night game. I never got to experience that either in that COVID year. And we're going to scratch and fight and claw. I do know that. Not because I'm here. But I do know that any team I've ever been a part of, not because of me, but I've been a part of, will fight like crazy until they tell us the season is over. So you can guarantee that for the next three weeks.
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