No Philip Rivers. No Keenan Allen. No Joey Bosa.
Welcome to the start of the 2018 NFL exhibition season for the Chargers.
The Bolts lost their first meaningless game 24-17 to the Cardinals in Arizona. It had the distinct look of a preseason NFL offering. The teams combined were called for 26 penalties and 265 penalty yards (15-155 for the Chargers).
The Chargers had 213 more yards on offense and a 10 minute advantage in time of possession but still lost because they turned it over four times against just one turnover for Arizona and one of the Bolts giveaways led directly to Cardinals points.
In the 3rd quarter running back Derek Watt caught a pass, was hit immediately, and fumbled. Arizona linebacker Jeremy Cash picked it up and ran 12 yards for a touchdown and a 14-3 Cardinals lead.
After that a few Bolts trying to earn roster spots had nice moments. Wide receiver Geremy Davis made a tremendous contested catch on a horribly thrown pass by Geno Smith for a 47-yard score. Davis had a team-high 88 receiving yards.
The lone Cardinals turnover came when a pass by Mike Glennon was tipped and intercepted by cornerback Brandon Facyson (pronounced Face-On). The undrafted rookie out of Virginia Tech has turned a few heads in camp so far.
But if Chargers fans learned anything it’s something they already knew: if Rivers goes down the season is effectively over. Cardale Jones started under center and looked truly awful. Jones completed six of 12 passes for 50 yards, lost a fumble when he made a bad toss to a running back three yards away from him, and was sacked once.
Smith played most of the 2nd half and had better numbers against backups but still threw an interception, lost a fumble, and was sacked three times. The only QB that did not cough it up was undrafted rookie Nic Shimonek, who went 8-14 for 39 yards.
The Cardinals gave the bulk of their snaps under center to 1st round pick Josh Rosen. The rookie out of UCLA completed six out of 13 throws for 41 yards.
Next week Arizona heads to New Orleans for a Friday night game while the Chargers host former Aztec All-American Rashaad Penny and the Seahawks on Saturday.
