Philip Rivers Played On Sunday Without Certain Small Body Parts

Among odds and ends found in the Chargers' locker room while sweeping up on Monday: Philip Rivers' anterior cruciate ligament. Seems that he was playing with only one on Sunday, which is why he seemed extra limber, no doubt. Playing without body parts: That's pretty gutsy.

Rivers played the entirety of the Chargers' 21-12 loss to the New England Patriots with a right knee with no ACL. He revealed Monday he had arthroscopic surgery last Monday to clean out loose cartilage and enable him to play. "If I don't do that Monday, I had no chance of playing," Rivers said. The San Diego Union-Tribune first reported Friday that Rivers had injured his ACL, but the extent of the injury was not known until today. "The ACL is gone," Rivers said.

Meanwhile, LaDainian Tomlinson now has himself the opposite reputation — funny how things work out sometimes, eh? — defending himself for sitting out the majority of the game with the Patriots. The NFL Network's Deion Sanders, for one, called LT out for not playing, saying, "Big-time players are supposed to play in big-time games." Said LT in response:

"He's never been a running back and had a sprained MCL. You tell me what running back has played with a sprained MCL and been effective. You might go out there and try to limp around and play, but it's not going to happen. I don't know how information gets passed on, but until you talk to the source of the problem, what's going on with me, I think it's ridiculous when people make comments like that."

Also, Bill Belichick maintained that Patriots DE Richard Seymour isn't a dirty player, but no one was listening to his bull####.

Philip Rivers Is One Tough Mofo [Larry Brown Sports] Rivers Played On Knee With ACL 'Totally Gone' [San Diego Union-Tribune] L.T. Fires Back At Neon Deion's Criticisms [MSNBC] Seymour Stands Ground [Boston Globe]