The stands were nowhere near packed. The crowd was loud for both teams. The atmosphere was just kind of … blah.
In a soccer stadium that holds 27,000 fans the Chargers only mustered to fill 21,054 of them. Interestingly on Saturday night the same building had 25,667 fans for the MLS game between the Galaxy and NYCFC. On Sunday for the NFL a large percentage of the crowd was made up of Seattle fans. The visitors got to do the vast majority of the cheering.
The Seahawks swooped in to the StubHub Center in Carson and demolished the Bolts 48-17 in the first game for the Los Angeles Chargers since 1960. It was not exactly the return the guys in uniform were hoping for.
The Chargers fans in attendance got very few things to cheer about but one was to be expected. Philip Rivers and the starting offense put together a very good opening drive. Against a Seattle defense that was not dipping too far in to its playbook Rivers five of six passes for 56 yards, finishing the drive with a 5-yard TD pass to Antonio Gates that put the Bolts on top 7-0.
The other thing that got the Chargers faithful excited was a long touchdown pass from Kellen Clemens to a wide open Travis Benjamin, who ran right by the Seahawks defense for a 74-yard score.
Pretty much the rest of the game belonged to Seattle.
Just before the Benjamin touchdown, Clemens threw an errant pass trying to find running back Branden Oliver. The ball was deflected and tipped to linebacker Terence Garvin, who took it back 37 yards for a score. That was the first of three turnovers Clemens would commit in less than a half of football.
The other two also led to scores. Another batted ball was picked off by Tylor Harris to set up a short Blair Walsh field goal. On the very next play Clemens could not complete a handoff; the ball fell on the ground and was picked up by David Bass, who was tackled at the Chargers 1-yard line. The aptly-named Chris Carson scored on the next snap to put the Seahawks on top 27-14.
Seattle added another touchdown on a 4-yard scramble by quarterback Trevone Boykin to build a 34-14 lead in the first half.
The Chargers lone highlight after the break came when rookie safety Desmond King camped under a bad throw by Boykin to make his first interception. Their next exhibition game is Sunday, August 20 when Drew Brees and the Saints come to StubHub Center for another 5:00 p.m. start.
