San Diego Chargers at Arizona Cardinals Preview & Free Pick

NFL Preseason Preview: San Diego Chargers at Arizona Cardinals

Written By David Hess (Follow me on Twitter @DavidHess311)

When: 10:00 PM ET, Saturday August 22, 2015
Where: University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona
Televised: NFL Network

Odds: The Arizona Cardinals opened up as 1 point favorites and it has been bet up to -2.5. Th O?U line opened at 38.5 and it has been bet up to 39.5.

The San Diego Chargers played a very good game in their opening 17-7 win over Dallas. Mike McCoy was particularly happy with the performance of their defense, which allowed Dallas just 238 yards of total offense, including just 70 on the ground. The Cowboys also hit just 21 of 34 passes for 168 yards. On offense the Bolts threw for a measly 64 yards, but they ran for 135 yards, with both Brandon Oliver and Jahwan Edwards each churning out 53 yards in the game. Prized rookie Melvin Gordon was in their sparingly and had just 11 yards on 6 carries, but he should get more of a workload in this one. Rivers went 2-2 for 20 yards and should also get more time in there.  

The Arizona Cardinals did not have a god opening game as they were thrashed by a score of 34-19 by the Chiefs. In the game the Cardinals did jump out to a 10-0 lead at the end of the first quarter, but after that it was all the Chiefs. A bright spot for the Cards was the play of Carsom Palmer, who went 4-4 for 77 yards in that first quarter. This offense should be okay this year when he is in there. The need him to stay healthy as the other 3 QBs that played went a combined 12-30 for 156 yards. Not good. The first team defense really played good vs the Chiefs first team offense, but depth may be an issue here as the backups allowed 34 points over the final 3 quarters. I would expect the Cards to try and get longer looks as their backups in this one.

The chargers this year will not have a fully explosive offense. They only threw for 64 yards in their opener and may not do a whole lot of damage vs an angry Arizona offense. The Charger will be a run first offense and conservative as well, which is how they played last week and will play throughout the year. They have solid defense and they know that, so why take chances on offense. Gordon should get more reps in this one and that should help eat the clock. The Arizona Cardinals will not be a conservative offense team, especially when Palmer is in there, but in the preseason he won’t be playing the whole game and the backup QBs on this team showed that they will struggled this year. I look for the Chargers to continue to work on their ground attack, while the Cards will really look to lock it down on defense. Arizona may score early, but when paler is out the scoring should stop and that that will really help keep the scoring down.

I say go Under 39.5 in this one.

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