The first major football retirement in the NFL is here as Quarterback, Philip Rivers, has announced he is calling it a career after 17 seasons.

A star at NC State, Rivers won the ACC Offensive Player of the Year and ACC Player of the Year in 2003, while also winning three bowl MVPs.  His success with the Wolfpack, earned him the fourth overall spot in the 2004 draft, and he arrived in San Diego as part of a draft day trade for Eli Manning, the top pick who made it known he would not play for the Chargers.

Spending his first two seasons as Drew Brees’ backup, Rivers took over in 2006 and would routinely finish each season at or near the top of the major passing categories.  An eight-time Pro Bowl selection, Rivers led the NFL in Passing Yards in 2010 (4,710) and had 12 other seasons where he cracked the 4,000 Yard mark.  Rivers also led the NFL in Touchdown Passes in 2008 (34) and he never had a year where he had less than 21 TDs as a starter.

Rivers never made it to the Super Bowl, but in 2007 he took the Chargers to the AFC Championship Game, a loss to New England.  San Diego may have lost the game, but Rivers was commended for his performance as he competed with a torn ACL. 

The Chargers were looking to move on, and Rivers played one more season in 2020 with the Indianapolis Colts, still performing at an elite level and guiding the Colts to the playoffs.

Rivers finished his career fifth all-time in Passing Yards (63,440) and Touchdown Passes (421).

Rivers will be eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2026.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com wish Philip Rivers the best in his post-playing career. 

2021 is looking a lot like 2020.

As we are days away from learning who the Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2021 will be, Don Sutton, who was inducted in 1998, passed away after a long battle with cancer.  He was 75 years old.

Sutton debuted with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1966, and played there for his first fifteen seasons.  A four-time All-Star, from 1972 to 1976, Sutton finished in the top five in Cy Young voting and was a four-time league-leader in WHIP.  He also played for Houston, Milwaukee, Oakland and California, and finished his career at age 43 with a final run as a Dodger.

He retired with a career record of 324-256 with 3,574 Strikeouts.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to extend our condolences to fans, friends and family of Don Sutton.

Mahomes’ Status Unclear in AFC Championship

The Chiefs did what everyone, but the most diehard Dawg Pound fan, believed they would do when they defeated the Cleveland Browns, 22-17, in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs. 

However, a not so funny thing happened on the way to the conference title tilt for the defending Super Bowl champs. Their All-Pro quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, sustained a head injury during the third quarter that sidelined him for the remainder of the game. 

The NFL’s concussionprotocol is stringent and the rules are clear. There are five steps a player must pass but there is no specified number of days that said player must sit. Based on the postgame reports, Mahomes appears to be shaking off the effects of a jarring tackle from Browns’ linebacker, Mack Wilson. 

After Sunday's game, Chiefs coach Andy Reid said, "He’s doing great now, which is a real positive as we looked at this. He passed all the deals that he needed to pass, so we’ll see where it goes from here.”

Mahomes tweeted after the game, "#HenneThingIsPossible" which is a clever nod to backup Chad Henne, the 13-year journeyman backup who came in after Mahomes went down. 

His second tweet was in response to Mack Wilson’s tweet, “Prayers to @PatrickMahomes. I pray you back next week! Go be great like you have been!” 

Mahomes replied, “All good brother!”

Positive vibes coming out of the KC camp but that still doesn’t answer whether or not the 25-year-old wunderkind will be back under center when the Chiefs welcome the upstart Buffalo Bills to Arrowhead Stadium. 

Despite the uncertainty surrounding Mahomes’ status, the Super Bowl odds at all of the major online sportsbooks are dealing the Chiefs as favorites to repeat as champions. But that will all change if Mahomes is ruled ineligible for the showdown with the Bills on Sunday. And speaking of which, the Chiefs are currently anywhere from 2 ½ to 4-point favorites depending on where you shop but if Henne does get tapped to play on Sunday, that number will reverse course in a hurry. 

John Murray, executive director of the SuperBook at Westgate Las Vegas, noted that some of his oddsmakers speculated that Buffalo could soar from a three-point underdog to as high as a seven-point favorite if Henne, and not Mahomes, gets the start, "If Mahomes were ruled out, the Bills would be a decent favorite. That (Buffalo-7) sounds a little extreme to me, but it gives you an idea just how much drop-off it is from Mahomes to Henne, in terms of the point spread."

Brady’s Legend Grows

It’s not all that complicated to get your team into the NFL playoffs. Just purchase yourself the greatest quarterback to ever lace up the cleats, give him the ball and the keys to the offense, sit back, crack open a cold one, and let him drive your team to the big show. Simple, really.

And that’s exactly what Tom Brady has done in Tampa Bay. A perennial also-ran, the Bucs' only taste of Super Bowl glory came during the 2002 season. Since that time the franchise has been in only two postseason contests, losing in the wild card round on both occasions, and hasn’t sniffed a playoff berth in a dozen years before this season.

But Brady hasn’t done it alone. He has some very potent weapons surrounding him in the forms of Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Antonio Brown, and a fading, but still effective, Rob Gronkowski. 

Yet, it was the Bucs’ defense that came up with a few critical turnovers in the 30-20 victory over the New Orleans Saints, and one that likely spelled the end of a long and illustrious career for Saints’ 42-year-old quarterback, Drew Brees. 

"I appreciate all that this game has given to me," Brees said. "There are obviously so many incredible memories."

Brady and company will face another future Hall-of-Fame quarterback next week when they travel to Lambeau Field to take on Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers.

"We worked hard to get to this point. Two road playoff wins is pretty sweet," Brady said. "We've got to go beat a great football team we know pretty well. Aaron's playing incredible."

It is getting to be that time!

The Pro Football Hall of Fame is getting ready to announce their Class of 2021, and it looks like we have a pretty good idea as to who some of those members might be.

According to SportsBettingDime.com, Peyton Manning is an absolute lock to be inducted into the Hall of Fame in the stacked 2021 class, and there is no possible metric that can be pointed at to say that they are wrong.  After Manning, Defensive Back, Charles Woodson, who is also in his first year of eligibility is expected to join him. Woodson is a nine-time Pro Bowler and former Defensive Player of the Year.

After Woodson, it becomes a little less clear.  Many believe that six-time All-Pro, Alan Faneca might get the call this year.  Anchoring the Steeler’s offensive line for nearly a decade, Faneca has been passed over for fellow linemen, Kevin Mawae and Steve Hutchinson despite having a better resume.  

Calvin Johnson is another good bet.  The man with the nickname of “Megatron” abruptly retired, and has substantially less Receiving Yards than other Finalists, Reggie Wayne and Torry Holt, however, he was considered the best wideout in football and his highlight reel puts the others to shame.

After these four it gets a little tricky.  John Lynch is a Finalist for the eighth time, and with his former teammate and fellow Defensive Back, Ronde Barber, now making the Finals, it could push Lynch through.  The buzz around Zach Thomas’ candidacy is growing as is LeRoy Butlers.

The most interesting candidate has to be former Linebacker, Clay Matthews Jr., who is a Finalist for the first time in what his last year of eligibility.  There is no other candidate that has more fervent support, and could sentiment propel Matthews Jr. into the Hall of Fame?

Regardless of who gets in we will be watching!