Put away your violins on behalf of Philip Rivers, if you think sad music suits his current football plight.
Several of Rivers’ teammates on offense are sidelined, a group that now includes Hunter Henry, who cracked a kneecap in the season opener Sunday.
Rivers especially likes to lead when challenges arise. While he hasn’t always prevailed, he’s dealt with a bunch of personnel shuffling in an NFL career that began 15 years ago in San Diego. He has overcome worse funks than this one.
So although you could hear in his voice Wednesday that he’s bummed for Henry, who lockered next to him in San Diego and worked out with him this summer in Florida after rehabbing from reconstructive knee surgery, you can count on this from Rivers:
He’ll relish the test this week, posed by the absence of not only the team’s most versatile tight end but left tackle Russell Okung, running back Melvin Gordon and perhaps No.