RIVERS FLOWS FOR CHARGERS.

Byline: BILLY WITZ NFL 

SAN DIEGO - The Philip Rivers Era officially arrived Sunday night and when it did everyone from Encinitas to El Cajon seemed to recognize that the Chargers have a quarterback not just of the future but of the here and now.

Even Marty Schottenheimer.

Freed of the play-calling shackles that had fans bemoaning a return to Martyball, it wasn't their stout defense or star halfback LaDainian Tomlinson that the Chargers leaned on in a 23-13 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

It was the right arm, spry legs and sharp mind of Rivers.

He completed 24 of 37 passes for 242 yards and two touchdowns, but those numbers don't begin to do justice to the former No. 4 pick in the 2004 draft, who was making just his fourth career start.

In his powder blue throwback jersey, Rivers channeled his inner John Hadl. All night, he was accurate, he was poised and he made it easy to forget that the Chargers had passed on the quarterback on the other sideline: Ben Roethlisberger.

On this night, it was Rivers who played beyond his years.

``It was a lot of fun,'' said Rivers, who was beaming on the sideline as the final seconds ticked off and afterward in the locker room.

``I've still got a ways to go. But I felt like we got right in there, it was like a football game. At one point, it was like, whaddaya think it's going to be? You're not going to score every time. At the end we wanted to be smart and slam the door and we did both.''

All week long, Schottenheimer was skewered nationally and locally for his conservative play-calling in last week's 16-13 loss to Baltimore. The San Diego Union-Tribune ran a headline, ``Free Philip Rivers.''

The Chargers had spent the final three quarters trying to nurse a narrow lead. Rivers threw just one pass in the third quarter and of the seven he attempted in the fourth, four were in the final 30 seconds - after the Ravens had taken a lead.

It brought back memories of last season's fourth-quarter collapses and also served as a reminder why while Schottenheimer may be the winning active NFL coach, he's yet to reach a conference title game.

``We weren't caught up in the criticism of what we were doing,'' Rivers said. ``If it means throwing it 11 times, if it means throwing it 37times -- whatever it takes to win. We were looking in the mirror. No matter what the numbers were last week, we should have won the game.''

The way Rivers played also allowed Schottenheimer a few laughs. Mentioning Rivers' 15-yard scramble for a first down late in the game, Schottenheimer noted that ``he put it on himself because he didn't like what he saw and he ran the ball, which everyone knows I like to do.''

Asked if the Chargers would be so pass happy next week, he said: ``We're going to try to keep that privileged information because we don't want to give anyone an edge.''

With the Chargers trailing 10-0 and their defense looking vulnerable for the first time this season, Rivers calmly pulled his team back into the game.

He completed three third-down passes on an 80-yard drive, including a beautifully thrown fade to Malcolm Floyd for a 9-yard touchdown with 1:16 left in the half. While the Steelers answered with a field goal to take a 13-7 lead, it didn't matter.

The Chargers scored on their next four possessions and Rivers seemed to get better with each one.

``When it was there for him to make a play, he made a play,'' Steelers cornerback Ike Taylor said. ``If you watched the kid at N.C. State, you knew he could do this and you could see even now he was improving every week.''

All along the Chargers have looked like a team that could be going places. Now, it looks as if Rivers could carry them.

[e-mail]

[phone]