NFL playoffs pressure cooker Now or never for Philip Rivers

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NFL playoffs pre sure cooker: Now or never for Philip Rivers? Published: Jan 04, 2019 at 03:07 AM Around The NFL Podcast Co-Host For plenty of players and coaches, postseason football boils down to slaying ghosts. For every -- just beginning to pen his playoff story -- you have a , 37 years old and wondering if his path will ever lead to the . The clock is ticking, the vast majority of his career is in the rear-view mirror and Rivers knows another shot at the Lombardi -- if this campaign fizzles out -- is far from guaranteed. Come January, the vice grip tightens and all wiggle room withers away. Especially for the following list of people feeling an added dose of pre sure as kickoff nears on a playoff date with fate: 1) coach Andy Reid: With one playoff win over the past decade, Reid is looking to wipe out the memory of -- and with it, the lingering stink of four Kansas City playoff quests that crumbled quickly on the heels of otherwise-promising double-digit-win seasons. This edition of the , though, feels entirely different. Instead of sturdy-but-limited at the controls, Kansas City is laced with a ceiling-free superstar under center in . Reid, meanwhile, has written the master code on a juicy playbook dotted DaQuan Jeffries Jersey with college concepts, next-level trickery and uber-creative twists. The lo s of runner stings, but Reid and the still have plenty of playmakers on the roster -- on both sides of the ball. Yes, K.C.'s 26.3 points allowed per tilt are the most of any playoff squad, but this defense boasts a powerful pa s rush. The finished with a league-high 52 sacks, milking disruptive handiwork from (15.5 takedowns), (13) and (9). Set to play at home for as long as they roam, this year's have e sentially nothing in common with those Smith-led operations of days old. Moreover, today's AFC houses a team that -- for the first time in eons -- feels vulnerable. Known around the NFL as a godfather-type figure to so many of the younger coaches he helped mold, Reid is mi sing just one thing: a title. This is his finest shot in Willie Cauley-Stein Jersey a million moons to nab the blue ribbon and quiet any lingering doubts about his ability to own the January-into-February cycle. 2) owner Jerry Jones: Reid was a 37-year-old, largely anonymous tight ends coach with the when Jerry Jones last lifted the Lombardi. That came all the way back in January of 1996, when the Troy Aikman-led knocked off a squad quarterbacked by Neil O'Donnell. Imagine Jones being told at that moment that Dallas would travel another two-plus decades without even reaching a . Or that his backup pa ser, Jason Garrett, would become his head coach in 2010 and manage just one playoff win over the next eight-plus campaigns. Jones isn't under pre sure the same way these other players and coaches are -- simply because he's not about to show himself the door, no matter how ugly it gets -- but his legacy is tugged down deeper every time Dallas gets whacked. 3) pa ser Drew Brees: Will New Orleans still exist in this year's playoff derby when Brees turns 40 years old on January 15? Their divisional encounter with fill-in-the-blank comes days earlier, doubling as another golden opportunity for this future pa ser to get back to a stage that has proven ultra-elusive ever since the bounced the in XLIV. A championship ring already rests on his finger, but Brees hasn't mined beyond the Divisional Round since that title run. Given that the nabbed the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs by ripping off 13 wins in 14 games before resting Brees in a meaningle s Week 17 bout, anything le s than a trip to Atlanta would loom as a vast disappointment for a marvelous player nearing the end. 4) The organization: The sky isn't tumbling down -- not yet -- but something feels off about this year's New England squad. The Pats systematically sealed up a bye, but would anyone be surprised to see them taken out two weekends from now by the ? By the or ? Perhaps Bill Belichick and friends are slow-playing society in crafty fashion, but another run feels like a tall order with not himself; shipped into absentia; and , at times, looking quite unlike the level-beyond-human flinger who typically burns brightest in January. All of this makes the unabashedly fascinating in a way we've never experienced. For so long, we watched to see if anyone could po sibly take out the most powerful franchise in sports. That feels inevitable this time around, begging a different question altogether: Will Brady -- who'll be 42 next season -- ever return to these heights again? 5) Houston's J.J. Watt: Turning 30 in March, Watt mi sed Houston's last playoff appearance due to an injury-eradicated 2016 campaign that kept him in the shadows for all but three game days. Two seasons later, he's back and coming off a brilliant 16-start season that saw him finish second league-wide with 16 sacks and atop the NFL with a whopping seven forced fumbles. In years past, Peja Stojakovic Jersey Watt was asked to take over playoff games all by himself -- turnovers, sacks and even a defensive touchdown against the in January 2012 -- but times have changed. Instead of Houston being saddled with , or T.J. Yates at quarterback, Watt's now fly with the marvelous at the wheel. They're far from pristine, but the can hang with anyone when Watson is at his best. Combine that with a monster January from Watt, and Houston has a shot. It's fair to wonder how many more years Watt has left at this level. The pre sure is turned way up to make the most of this postseason bid. 6) Back to Rivers: He hasn't started a playoff game in half a decade, but getting there isn't enough. Rivers has achieved just about everything one could've imagined when the traded him to the Bolts for on draft day so many eons ago. He's started every single game since 2006 and arguably played his finest regular season yet in 2018. He's a talent and one of football's most likable humans -- but no ring. No moment atop the mountain, staring down at all the others. If it doesn't happen this winter, will it ever? 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