Philip Rivers earns AFC offensive player of the week honors

The veteran quarterback is getting some recognition after an elite performance against the Cowboys on Thanksgiving day.

Philip Rivers played like Philip Rivers of old.

The 35-year-old quarterback threw for 434 yards and three touchdowns against the Cowboys. He didn’t turn the ball over once and completed a season-high 81.8 percent of his passes. He also finished with a season-high 141.9 passer rating.

Rivers’ play earned him AFC offensive player of the week honors for the first time this season. According to ESPN.com’s Eric D. Williams, this marks the eighth time Rivers has won the award. And he definitely deserved it after what he did to the Cowboys on national television, a game that went from being somewhat close to a blowout in a blink of an eye.

In his 14th season in the NFL, Rivers has now thrown for 20 touchdowns against seven interceptions. He’s tied for seventh in the league with 2,948 passing yards. It helps when you have an offensive line that can actually pass block for once (seems like forever, right?). Rivers has only been sacked 12 times, second-best in the league among quarterbacks with at least 200 passing attempts. Only Vikings QB Case Keenum has been sacked less times (7).

Despite having an up-and-down start to begin the season, Rivers appears to be back on track. It seems as if he’s finally on the same page as head coach Anthony Lynn and offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt, who has done an excellent job calling plays the past two weeks. Not only that, but they are putting trust in their quarterback in big moments–or even when they are up a ton–instead of forcing to run the ball when it’s not working. Even better? Rivers isn’t making anymore boneheaded decisions like he did early on in the year.

The Chargers are going to need Rivers to continue to play at this level if they want to make the playoffs for the first time since 2013.