Maybe gloves can do for Rivers what they did for Cards' Warner
Philip Rivers is considering wearing gloves this season, and if he's looking for advice on the subject he won't have to go far. Offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt was in Arizona when Kurt Warner, then a mistake-prone quarterback, tried them in 2007.
By
Clark Judge
•
1 min read
When I hear that Philip Rivers is thinking of playing with gloves, I think of what happened when another quarterback made the same decision under Ken Whisenhunt, now San Diego's offensive coordinator.
That would be Kurt Warner, and the move rescued his career.
Warner was a mistake-prone quarterback in Arizona when he played for Whisenhunt, then the Cardinals' head coach, and the quarterback had the same problem then that Rivers has now -- too many turnovers. So he switched to gloves, and ... just like that ... resuscitated his career.
Well, maybe gloves can rescue Rivers, too.
Whisenhunt and his quarterback talked about it in the offseason, with Rivers trying them three of the last four games of last season. Result: He went 3-0, threw seven touchdowns and -- here's the exclamation point -- had no interceptions. Basically, he was vintage Rivers.
But without them? Not so much. He had 19 touchdowns, 15 interceptions and a 4-9 record. Now you know why he's considering making gloves a permanent part of his wardrobe.
"Kurt thought playing [with gloves] made a difference," said Whisenhunt, who went to a Super Bowl with Warner, "and that played a big part of it. I just knew that if it helped to cut down on the turnovers I was 100 percent for it."
Like Rivers, Warner absorbed a raft of hits, and they often yielded turnovers -- with Warner fumbling six times in his debut with the New York Giants. He wasn't going to start in Arizona unless he reduced his mistakes, and that happened in 2007 when he switched to gloves, saying they helped him grip the ball when throwing and getting hit.
The question, of course, is: Did they make more of an impact on him physically or psychologically? Answer: It doesn't matter. They worked.
If Rivers feels he's a better quarterback with them -- and the numbers don't lie -- he should do what Warner did and stick with them.
