Arizona Cardinals sloppy in loss to San Diego Chargers

The Arizona Cardinals never got on track offensively in another preseason struggle

Another preseason game, another less than stellar outing for the Arizona Cardinals as they lost to the San Diego Chargers 19-3 on Friday night.  The loss ends the Cardinals week in San Diego where they held joint practices with the Chargers.

None of the Cardinals quarterbacks played particularly well.  Starter Carson Palmer went 4-8 for 37 yards.  One of those completions though went for 23 yards to receiver Jaron Brown, who made a heck of catch to haul it in.

Palmer was intercepted once, which was returned for a touchdown by Chargers cornerback Brandon Flowers.  While the play appeared to be a busted play from the get-go, it was still a heck of an athletic play by Flowers to make it happen.

Backup quarterbacks Drew Stanton and Matt Barkley were not much better either.  Stanton again overthrew receivers, going just 2-7 with an interception.  Barkley saw the most action of the three Friday night.  He went 10-15 for 85 yards.  He did not throw an interception but had his chances to make some plays and throws went wide.

Also missing Friday night was the Cardinals running game.  After rushing as a team for 118 yards against the Oakland Raiders last Friday, the Cardinals rushed for just 63 yards against the Chargers.

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The best play the Cardinals came up with on defense was a hit safety Deone Bucannon put on Chargers receiver Dontrelle Inman.  Bucannon lit him up.  That’s the intensity fans love to see, even in the preseason.

After the game Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians indicated he wasn’t very happy. “I’m pissed”, he said.  He should be.  The Cardinals should have played better against a team they practiced against all week.

In the end, the score makes no difference.  The wins and losses don’t matter.  Everyone is 0-0 when the regular season starts.  Arians said he wasn’t concerned about the Cardinals offense at all.  Nor should he be.  What you see now isn’t what you will see September 11th.

Everything is vanilla right now on both sides of the ball.  The starters are going to play a lot longer as well.  Remember, many of these guys you watched tonight won’t be in those uniforms in three weeks.

Up next for the Cardinals is a trip to face the Houston Texans.   The game is scheduled for next Sunday in Houston.  Game time is 1:00 p.m. on FOX.