Jim Harbaugh didn’t hide from the mess after the Chargers’ Week 1 loss to the Arizona Cardinals. On Monday, the Los Angeles coach pointed straight back to the preseason, saying the team’s offensive starters should have seen more game action before the real thing began.
“We made some preseason type of mistakes,” Harbaugh said during his Monday press conference. “Now in retrospect, I wish we'd played our guys a little bit more in the preseason and given them those reps.”
That regret came after an opener in which the Chargers’ new-look offense never really settled in. Los Angeles spent the offseason reworking the unit around quarterback Justin Herbert, adding former Pro Bowl tight end David Njoku, fourth-year running back Keaton Mitchell and several offensive linemen, including center Tyler Biadasz. The team also brought in former Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel as offensive coordinator in January.
But Herbert and other starters barely got any preseason run. The 28-year-old quarterback played only seven snaps across two games, and the lack of live reps showed up Sunday.
The Chargers scored first when Omarion Hampton reached the end zone with 4:27 left in the first quarter, but that was it for a long stretch. Los Angeles didn’t find the end zone again until Herbert connected with Ladd McConkey with a little more than six minutes left in the third quarter. McConkey then left shortly after with a rib injury and did not return for the fourth.
From there, the game unraveled further. Herbert threw an interception in the fourth quarter, the Chargers turned it over on downs twice and Herbert was sacked three times in the loss.
“Some uncharacteristic things happened,” Harbaugh said after the game. “Give (the Cardinals) credit for making them happen.
I would call it sloppy at times. Too sloppy.
That's something we need to get fixed.”
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