Chargers at Cardinals 8/11/18 - NFL Preseason Picks & Predictions

The Chargers defense could become a major point of attack for the Cardinals in this game. The Chargers offensive team was able to burn the Chargers defense several times deep in the scrimmages and it was mainly the lack of over the top help from the safeties. Gus Bradley, the defensive coordinator for the Chargers is not overly concerned about this, but the defensive backfield getting carved up could be a major point of contention in this game as a good play action game from the Cardinals could freeze the linebackers from helping the corners or even the safeties at all.

As far as the Chargers offense goes the team is looking to get Melvin Gordon some good playing time and slip him out of the backfield. In practice, Gordon has been able to slip out and go unnoticed to make some catches out of the backfield and provide Rivers another offensive threat. The Cardinals are looking to see what kind of plan first year coach Steve Wilks will be able to come out with. Thankfully, Wilks is taking over a Bruce Arians ran team and Arians definitely laid the groundwork for the Cardinals to become one of the top tier teams in the league. However, Wilks is definitely going to look to get some talent back on the defensive side of the field and hope another player finally reaches his full potential.

The player who needs to get more consistent could easily find some extra reps in this game is Robert Nkemdiche who was drafted in 2016. The problem for Nkemdiche is the lack of taking his talent and having it explode on the field. The other player the Cardinals will be happy to get back is still in recovery phase of ACL surgery and that is Markus Golden. If Golden is able to return to the form he had before tearing his ACL in week 4 of last year the Cardinals could easily become a force and some speculate that he could have some test during practice this week leading up to the game to give the offensive line of the Cardinals a real test before facing the Chargers defensive line.