NFL fans may know Philip Rivers as a mercurial player, but his wife, Tiffany, described him as a more easygoing, spirited kind of guy.

His Los Angeles Chargers teammates and on-the-field opponents may think otherwise. His wife allowed that Rivers’ competitive streak was even evident in elementary school, when the girls would race the boys up a magnolia tree in their Alabama town. “He was just very athletic. When he was on the field, he was on the field and it was game on. Off-the-field, he’s just super lighthearted and fun. He really hasn’t changed much at all, which is kind of neat.”

While the 37-year-old quarterback readies to face the New England Patriots Sunday in a divisional-round matchup, his wife has her own deadlines: The couple’s ninth child is due March 1 and the launch of Hermoza swimwear is planned for that same month.

As for whether the quarterback is confident about Sunday’s showdown in Foxboro, Mass., Rivers said during a phone interview from her California home, “Oh yes, yes, yes. He’s very excited. Everybody in this house is just over-the-moon excited. We’re already focused on next Sunday and are trying to figure out if we’re going to the game as a whole family. There is a snowstorm coming so that is a little bit crazy. Either way we’ll be cheering him on.”

Asked if there is a lot of conversation about the Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady, Rivers said, “Not really. Phillip doesn’t really know him too much personally, so we haven’t really talked too much about him. He’s a great quarterback so I’m sure that’s definitely in Phillip’s mind a little bit — the competition and everything. They’re friendly.”

Weeks away from their own family’s newest addition, Tiffany Rivers said her husband has been joking that they are having twins. The reality is their ninth child will be a daughter — the couple’s seventh. They also have two sons. “This is the third generation in Phillip’s family, who has seven girls and two boys so we were pretty excited about that. When we told his 91-year-old grandfather, he said, ‘You didn’t have to go to the doctor to find that out. I could have told you — that’s family history.’”

Before their friendship turned into a business, Rivers and De Lecce used to commiserate about the lack of functional, modest swimwear.

Retailing between $150 and $200, the Hermoza line will consist mainly of one-piece suits with some tankinis, all in three fabric options categorized as Movement, Shape and Sculpt. The UV-protective, eco-friendly fabrics will include one made from refuse from the Mediterranean Sea. Their plan is to “really enhance the dignity of who you are as a woman instead of overly sexualizing you. What we also hold dear to our hearts is showing the beauty of a woman, looking at her and not just objectifying her and seeing parts of her,” De Lecce said.