Chargers vs. Cardinals: Full Report-Card Grades for San Diego
The San Diego Chargers opened the 2014 season with a loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Monday night.
After a brief 17-6 lead in the third quarter, it all came down to 4th-and-2 in the closing minutes of the game, and the Chargers couldn't get the job done in the clutch. Philip Rivers had his pass tipped at the line of scrimmage, and Keenan Allen couldn't hang on to the wobbler to extend the drive.
On their previous offensive series, the Chargers were knocked out of field-goal range on a fumbled snap between Rivers and Rich Ohrnberger. Mental mistakes contributed in the loss as San Diego racked up six penalties for 47 yards.
Rivers threw an interception that was converted into points, and the defense allowed back-to-back touchdowns in the fourth quarter. San Diego had a number of dropped balls as well—on offense and defense.
Here's how the units graded out in Week 1.
Quarterback
1 of 10
Rivers didn't have his best night under center, but dropped passes, a heavy pass rush and crowd noise contributed to his demise.
For starters, the play clock worked against No. 17, who was seen making pre-snap adjustments on almost every play. With free rein on offense, Rivers took control at the line of scrimmage, but the deafening crowd noise resulted in a lot of confusion. Receivers ran the wrong routes, and snaps were hurried; delay-of-game penalties were a cause for concern.
The Cardinals defense did not record a sack in the game, but nearly every pass came out in a hurry from Rivers, who was under duress most of the night. As a result, he only completed 58 percent of his passes, and San Diego finished 6-of-15 on third down.
On the interception by Jerraud Powers, Rivers wasn't entirely at fault. His intended receiver on the play, Eddie Royal, made a sudden stop on his route, and Powers made the easy play. Tipped passes to Antonio Gates were also nearly picked off. Powers almost had one in the first quarter, and Tony Jefferson was robbed of another in the fourth quarter.
The fumbled snap between Rivers and Ohrnberger in the fourth quarter was another big mistake.
It wasn't his best performance, but Rivers shouldn't be shouldering all the blame.
Grade: C
Running Back
2 of 10
The ground game was used so sparingly on Monday that Rivers wound up having the second-most rushing yards with 10. Ryan Mathews carried 12 times for 40 yards and a touchdown, and San Diego's grand total on the ground came out to 24 attempts for 52 yards.
Even with Darnell Dockett, Daryl Washington and Tyrann Mathieu not in the lineup, the Cardinals defense locked down San Diego's rushing attack with standout performances from Larry Foote, Jefferson and rookie Deone Bucannon.
Danny Woodhead garnered five yards on six carries, while Donald Brown posted minus-two yards on two carries. The offensive line didn't get the push up front it needed, and the running backs paid the price.
Grade: D+
Wide Receiver and Tight End
3 of 10
Watching veterans like Royal and Antonio Gates struggle with dropped balls was shocking, but it wasn't all bad from San Diego's pass-catchers.
In a matchup that pitted Keenan Allen and Malcom Floyd against Arizona's Pro Bowl cornerbacks, the two San Diego receivers had solid outings. Allen finished with five catches for 37 yards, while Floyd caught four balls for 50 yards and a touchdown. Gates led the way with six catches for 81 yards.
Considering the defense they were playing against, you might argue that Allen, Floyd and Gates all played surprisingly well. They only combined to score one touchdown, but pressure up front didn't give Rivers the time he needed to see the field clearly.
There was also an uproar from the fans that Ladarius Green wasn't incorporated enough into the passing game. While that may be so, it's hard to get him the ball when Todd Bowles' defense is bringing the house on a blitz.
Grade: C+
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Offensive Line
4 of 10
In the aftermath of Monday's loss, there will be plenty of finger pointing at Ohrnberger for the fumbled snap in the fourth quarter, but you can't overlook his performance as a whole aside from that one mistake.
With Nick Hardwick out, Ohrnberger stepped up to the plate and delivered for San Diego. The good news for the offensive line was that it allowed no sacks, but Arizona got pressure up front on more than one occasion. There were also miscues in the run game, which led to a lot of rushes for negative yards—Arizona had eight tackles for loss.
The Cardinals used a lot of blitz packages to confuse the offensive line, and the pre-snap calls by Rivers weren't enough to counter the pressure. Some of those calls might have been lost in the crowd noise as well.
On a side note, the Cardinals front seven was doing damage with a lot of players missing. In the game alone, Arizona lost starting defensive end Frostee Rucker and linebacker John Abraham.
Grade: D
Defensive Line
5 of 10
Production from the defensive line fell on one man against the Cardinals—Corey Liuget.
No. 94 tallied five tackles, one for loss, a sack and two quarterback hits. His running mates (Sean Lissemore, Kendall Reyes, Tenny Palepoi) combined for just three tackles.
Arizona managed 109 yards on the ground, and Carson Palmer accounted for 29 of those yards. The patched-up offensive line of the Cardinals had its way in the trenches despite giving up two sacks.
I found it interesting that Palepoi was activated for the game and not fifth-round draft pick Ryan Carrethers. Ricardo Mathews, whom the Chargers acquired in early September, was also inactive.
Grade: C-
Linebackers
6 of 10
The Chargers got some much-needed production from their linebackers on Monday night.
Dwight Freeney's signature spin move looked better than ever against left tackle Jared Veldheer. No. 93 failed to record a sack on Palmer, but his presence in the backfield forced Palmer off his mark on multiple occasions.
Freeney was also the recipient of a fumble recovery along with fellow linebacker Donald Butler.
Manti Te'o, who returned from a foot injury, had the second-most tackles on the team with six, including one for a loss. Melvin Ingram and Jarret Johnson recorded three stops apiece, and Butler had two.
The biggest surprise of the night, however, was second-round draft pick Jerry Attaochu, who had a blocked punt, a strip-sack and four tackles. The Georgia Tech product looked comfortable in his first regular-season action and showcased his explosiveness off the line when he beat Bobby Massie off the edge for a sack on Palmer in the third quarter.
It's tough to swallow the loss, but the Chargers have to like what they saw out of their linebackers.
Grade: B+
Secondary
7 of 10
How many teams in the league can say they held Larry Fitzgerald to a single catch? Not many.
That being said, Palmer still torched San Diego's secondary for 304 yards. Fourteen of Arizona's 22 first downs came on passing plays.
Fitzgerald may have been limited, but it was Michael Floyd whom the Chargers needed to worry about. The third-year man out of Notre Dame caught five balls for 119 yards, including a 63-yard strike in the first quarter.
Shareece Wright lined up across from Floyd for a good chunk of the game and was beaten down the field multiple times. Brandon Flowers shadowed Fitzgerald most of the game but had safety help over the top, which might have contributed to No. 11 catching just one ball.
Eric Weddle and Marcus Gilchrist made a handful of plays with deflected passes and a forced fumble, but the plays they didn't make stood out. Weddle and Gilchrist had surefire interceptions slip through their fingers.
The player who jumped out the most was rookie corner Jason Verrett, who made four tackles and had one pass defensed. And I'm not the only one who noticed the No. 25 overall pick.
"Jason Verrett has been really solid tonight. Glad to see his physicality from TCU is carrying over to the NFL.
— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) September 9, 2014"
For a player coming off offseason shoulder surgery who played very little in the preseason and was limited in training camp, I was impressed with Verrett's performance in his first regular-season game.
Grade: C+
Special Teams
8 of 10
Nick Novak sent a 36-yard field goal through the uprights in the second quarter—his only attempt of the night.
Had the Chargers given him an opportunity to try the game-winner, it would have been curious to see if Novak could have delivered under pressure.
Mike Scifres got in a lot of work with six punts due to the offensive struggles.
As for the return game, there wasn't much to analyze. Arizona's rookie kicker Chandler Catanzaro didn't allow any returns with some booming kicks into the back of the end zone, and Eddie Royal fielded just two punts for 17 yards.
A blocked punt by the special teams unit was a plus, though.
Grade: B
Coaching
9 of 10
Mike McCoy's team came out flat in the first half with only a field goal to show for it, but whatever he said in the locker room to rally the troops must have worked because things started to click in the third quarter. Unfortunately, that lasted just one quarter as mental mistakes began to pile on in the final quarter.
Offensively, I didn't see the kind of uptempo pace I was expecting from Frank Reich's offense. At times we did see the Chargers run the no-huddle, but for the most part, everything ran at a steady, controlled pace. Rivers got the offense set and probably tried to do too much with pre-snap adjustments.
I also thought we could have seen more from the running game. Even with Arizona swarming to the ball, history has shown that the Chargers have a better chance to win if Mathews can get ample carries. But more importantly, we didn't see very many passes to the running backs.
Woodhead had just one catch for six yards, and Mathews caught two for 20 yards. One of San Diego's strengths in the passing game is the use of running backs, and we really didn't see much of an effort in that regard.
Not utilizing Green was another questionable decision. Instead of using the athletic tight end in the slot, San Diego opted to target Royal six times, and he only caught one.
On defense, I thought John Pagano called a good game. Clearly, the decision to provide more help on Fitzgerald paid off, but it allowed Floyd to go off for 100-plus yards receiving. Holding Arizona to just 18 points should be applauded, but there seemed to be no answer on that game-winning drive.
Grade: C
Final Grades
10 of 10
| Positional Unit | Grade |
| Quarterback | C |
| Running Back | D+ |
| WR and TE | C+ |
| Offensive Line | D |
| Defensive Line | C- |
| Linebackers | B+ |
| Secondary | C+ |
| Coaching | C |
| Cumulative Grade | C+ |
While failing to close out a 17-6 lead in the third quarter may seem frustrating, it's important to remember that Arizona was no cupcake opponent heading into this one. The Chargers may have let the game slip through their fingers, but the Cardinals defense stepped up with more than half of its starters missing.
In the end, it came down to mental errors and a lack of execution on offense. The first game of the season usually isn't pretty, and now the Chargers have a monumental challenge ahead in the Seattle Seahawks in Week 2.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
.png?w=480)
