Chargers Offense Wastes Opportunities, Talent in Ugly Week 1 Loss

By some statistical measurements, the San Diego Chargers had the second-best offense in the NFL in 2013. It was unorthodox offense for the NFL today, but it got the team to the playoffs and was able to hide a very suspect defense.

With last year’s offensive coordinator, Ken Whisenhunt, landing the top job in Tennessee, the Chargers turned their offense over to quarterbacks coach Frank Reich. With a veteran quarterback like Philip Rivers, few worried about the transition—until now.

Reich wasted the talent available to him, and the offense followed suit by wasting multiple scoring opportunities against a tough Arizona Cardinals defense. The Chargers lost 18-17 Monday night because they got away from what made them a successful team last year and weren’t able to execute their questionable new game plan.

The good news is that the defense looked much improved over last year’s unit. The offense no longer needs to use the extreme ball-control offense to protect the defense, but there’s a reason San Diego used that method in the first place. The Chargers were an offensive weapon or two away from being an offense that could simply outscore its opponents last year, and that hasn’t changed in 2014.

Despite a close game and having an 11-point lead going into the fourth quarter, the Chargers ran the ball just 22 times for 52 yards. The Cardinals did a great job bottling up the run, but the Chargers gave up on it far too easily. In particular, running back Ryan Mathews didn't get enough opportunities.

Mathews was able to break off a 20-yard touchdown run in the third quarter to give the Chargers a 17-6 lead, but on the following drive—after the defense forced the Cardinals to go three-and-out—he didn’t receive a single carry. Instead, Reich called for two passes and gave running back Danny Woodhead a carry up the gut that lost two yards on 2nd-and-1.

Mathews finished with just 12 carries, but Woodhead’s usage was even more bizarre. After being one of Rivers’ favorite receivers last season, Woodhead caught just one pass for six yards. Free-agent acquisition Donald Brown had just two carries and no receptions, so it’s not as if he was really cutting into the production of Mathews or Woodhead.

The Chargers seemed content throwing the ball to tight end Antonio Gates, who was clearly not fully healthy and was a game-time decision with a hamstring injury coming into the contest. Rivers also targeted Malcom Floyd, Keenan Allen and Eddie Royal frequently but with varying degrees of success.

Down and Distance	Field Position	Quarter	Time	Score	Potential Point Swing	Outcome
1st-and-10	ARI 17	2	7:18	3-3	4	After Attaochu blocked punt, Chargers gain four yards on three plays and kick a field goal.
3rd-and-6	ARI 36	2	0:22	3-3	6	Philip Rivers Intercepted. Throw intended for Eddie Royal
1st-and-10	SD 35	3	3:54	17-6	-	Three-and-out. Lost two yards on 2nd-and-1, failed to convert 3rd-and-3.
3rd-and-8	ARI 29	4	7:34	17-12	3	Philip Rivers fumbles snap from center, losses 14 yards. Chargers forced to punt instead of attempt a field goal
2nd-and-2	SD 40	4	2:00	17-18	-	Three incomplete passes in a row. Turnover on downs.

Royal’s miscues were a big part of the reason the Chargers couldn’t put the game away.

On 3rd-and-6 from the Arizona 36 with just 22 seconds left in the first half and the score tied 3-3, Royal stopped his route, and Rivers’ pass was intercepted. It was a potentially six-point swing because the Cardinals were able to kick a field goal with four seconds left before the half.

The Chargers got the ball to start the third quarter and marched 80 yards for a touchdown, but had they not wasted the opportunity at the end of the first half it might have been 13-3 instead of 10-6. After rookie outside linebacker Jerry Attaochu strip-sacked Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer, the Chargers would have had the opportunity to go up 20-3 on Mathews’ 20-yard run instead of 17-6.

Up five points in the fourth quarter, Reich ran a reverse to Royal that lost three yards on first down at the 38-yard line. On the next play, Rivers and Royal had a communication issue, and the pass fell incomplete. It took a Rivers pass to Gates for 34 yards to salvage the drive.

Reich proceeded to run Danny Woodhead up the middle twice in a row for a total of two yards—another questionable strategy. 

On 3rd-and-8 from the Arizona 29 in the fourth quarter, Rivers mishandled the snap, and the Chargers lost 14 yards. The play dropped the Chargers out of field-goal range. A potential 20-12 lead evaporated on the play, and the Cardinals got the ball back down just five points with plenty of time left.

Notably absent was tight end Ladarius Green, who barely received any playing time. Green would have been an upgrade over Royal and could have given Gates much-needed rest. One of Green’s two catches went for 20 yards down to the Arizona 5-yard line and set up San Diego's second touchdown.

The Chargers left the door open and begged the Cardinals to run through it. They gave the Cardinals far too many opportunities to get back into a game after scoring 14 unanswered points in the third quarter. 

“We had a lot of self-inflicted wounds,” Rivers said after the game via Marty Caswell of The Mighty 1090 (raw audio) in San Diego. "What we need to work on will be very clear. It's throwing and catching and blocking and tackling. I didn't play winning QB football.”

The defense that had been good all night couldn’t stop the bleeding in the fourth quarter. The Cardinals went on an 11-play, 91-yard touchdown drive that took over four minutes off the clock. The Cardinals took the lead 18-17, but after failing to convert for two points the Chargers had one more opportunity to win the game.

With 2:25 left on the clock, Rivers hit Allen for 12 yards and then Gates for eight. With just two yards required to extend the drive and plenty of time left to get into field-goal range for Nick Novak, Rivers threw three straight incomplete passes that sealed the game for the Cardinals.

On a night that San Diego’s defense played well enough to win the game, the offense let the team down. It’s a loss that could haunt the Chargers in December, but only if the offense can turn things around in a hurry.