Who Should I Start? Philip Rivers or Marcus Mariota

Monday, January 26, 10:10 AM

Former NFL quarterback Philip Rivers has withdrawn from the Buffalo Bills' head coaching search, per NFL Network's Mike Garafolo. Garafolo reports that NFL head coaching "might very well be in (Rivers') future, just not right now." After initially hanging up his cleats at the end of the 2020 season, Rivers came out of retirement at age 44 and finished the 2025 season as the starting quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts. He has coached high school football, but has no coaching experience at the NFL level. Buffalo moved on from long-time head coach Sean McDermott after the team's recent AFC Divisional Round loss to the Denver Broncos. McDermott went 98-50 in the regular season across nine years as the head man in Buffalo and led the team to seven consecutive double-digit win seasons from 2019 through 2025. However, Buffalo has not yet broken through past the AFC Championship Game since the emergence of star quarterback Josh Allen. A clear favorite to replace McDermott has yet to emerge, but the Bills appear to be casting a wide net in their search.

Friday, January 2, 12:26 PM

Washington Commanders quarterback Marcus Mariota (hand) has officially been ruled out for Sunday's Week 18 regular-season finale against the division-rival Philadelphia Eagles, according to Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic. Mariota was a stretch to make it back to play in the final game of the year after injuring his hand in the Week 16 loss to the Eagles. The 32-year-old veteran was held out of the Christmas Day loss to the Dallas Cowboys in Week 17 and will now miss a second straight game to end the year. Journeyman QB Josh Johnson will make a second straight start for the Commanders. Mariota ended up playing in 11 games (eight starts) this year while filling in for the injured Jayden Daniels, and he held his own, throwing for 1,695 yards, 10 touchdowns, and seven interceptions. He added 297 yards on the ground and a TD.