Los Angeles Chargers vs Arizona Cardinals 8/11/18 Odds, Preview and Prediction

The Los Angeles Chargers visit the Arizona Cardinals in this NFL preseason game to be held at the University of Arizona on Saturday, August 11, 2018.

The Chargers have suffered player losses in the offseason due to injury while the Cardinals lost head coach Bruce Arians to retirement during the summer break.

New Era For Arizona

Not only do the Arizona Cardinals have a new coach in Steve Wilks, they also replaced all three coordinators and added a new quarterback in Sam Bradford, who was recently signed to a two year $40M contract.

Bradford played the past two seasons with the Minnesota Vikings but was out for most of the 2017-18 season with a knee injury. Bradford played just a total of two games last season and completed 32 out 43 pass attempts with three touchdowns and a passer rating of 124.4. No question about his talent, but injuries made him expendable in Minnesota.

The Cardinals also inked backup quarterback Mike Glennon to a 2-year $8M contract. Glennon started four games for the Chicago Bears last season and has a total of 22 career starts in the NFL. Glennon should compete with rookie Josh Rosen for the backup job. Rosen was the Cardinals’ 10th overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.

Running back David Johnson will return to the Cardinals after playing just one game last season due to a wrist injury. Johnson had a breakout year in 2016 where he ran for 2,118 yards and recorded 20 touchdowns. He has been medically cleared last April but we won’t expect him to see action in this preseason game.

With Jaron Brown and John Brown both gone, there are plenty of speculation on who will start opposite Larry Fitzgerald at receiver. The name of Carlton Agudosi has come up in some discussion tables as the 6-6 receiver now has the chance to make his presence felt. Likewise, Christian Kirk also has the ability to become the second best receiver on the squad and it’s gonna be key for the right side of the Arizona offensive line to figure things out.

With little time left before the regular season begins, Arizona is going to have to work double time to get used to their new bench tacticians and their new teammates as well.

The Los Angeles Chargers finished the 2017-18 season with a 9-7 record which was good for second place in the AFC West, behind the Kansas City Chiefs. And although they missed the playoffs again, the Chargers finished the season strong thus giving them plenty to be hopeful for in the upcoming season.

The Chargers won six of their last seven regular season games but after the Baltimore Ravens lost to the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 17, it was the Buffalo Bills who made their first playoff appearance since 2009.

After missing on the postseason again, the Chargers had a very rough offseason where they lost tight end Henry Hunter to a season ending ACL injury. Likewise corner Jason Verrett also tore his achilles and is currently in the injured list. Even cornerback Trevor Williams suffered an ankle injury and is questionable for this game.

Los Angeles added tight end Virgil Green to their squad after signing him to a three year deal worth $8.6M. Green played for the Chargers’ divisional rival Denver Broncos last season where he recorded 71 receptions for 807 yards and four touchdowns. Although he didn’t play a vital role in Denver, he will be the starting tight end for the Chargers when the reason begins.

Philip Rivers, the veteran of 201 straight starts who completed 360-575 passes for 4,515 yards with 28 touchdowns and 10 interceptions is expected to take a play or two here but isn’t likely to be given significant minutes. Back up Geno Smith who has a 12-19 record as a starter has more interceptions (36) than touchdowns (29) in his career. On the other hand, the third quarterback on the team, Cardale Jones has completed just 11 passes in his career, all in 2016 when he played for the Bills.

Who Wins?

The Chargers have won seven of the last eight head to head meetings between these two teams. On the other hand, the Cardinals have won four out of five meetings against the Chargers at the University of Phoenix Stadium.

Los Angeles has to be worried about getting more players hurt. The loss of Henry is such a big blow to their passing game because he was starting to show signs of being a top pass-catching option before suffering that ACL injury. Aside from Henry, Verrett’s achilles injury and the banged up Trevor Williams who has an injured ankle are setbacks the Chargers can’t afford more of.

Similarly, the Cardinals are going to be careful here, especially with their new quarterback- Sam Bradford whose injury history is no secret. But even without Bradford, who may or may not play this game, the Cardinals have a better backup quarterback rotation in Mike Glennon and rookie Josh Rosen.

The Chargers have Geno Smith whose movement could pose a problem to the Cardinals’ backup defenders and Cardale Jones who has a canon of a throwing arm but I think they’re uninspiring. Arizona’s QBs will be fighting for second spot and perhaps the starting role if in case something happens to Bradford next season. Between the motives of the QBs in this game, it’s Arizona who will likely perform better. They are also playing in front of their home state fans so we’re going with the Cardinals here. We’re picking the Arizona Cardinals to beat the Los Angeles Chargers on 8/11/18.