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Cardinals-Chargers Preview

Published Sep. 29, 2010 6:09 p.m. ET

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The San Diego Chargers are again off to a slow start under coach Norv Turner, but sluggish early season play has hardly been a hindrance for them.

The Chargers look to begin another turnaround when they host the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.

San Diego (1-2) has gone 6-8 in September in its four seasons under Turner, but the Chargers responded with winning streaks that gave them the AFC West title in the first three. They won their last 11 games in 2010, took four in a row to close the 2009 season and won their final six contests of '07.

That recent history has made it easier for Turner to maintain his optimism during his team's latest sputtering start.

"I'm not going to back down on what I believe about this team," he said. "This team is going to be an outstanding football team."

The Chargers didn't appear to be on the verge of a winning streak last week in a 27-20 loss at Seattle. They committed five turnovers, the last coming when Philip Rivers was picked off at the Seahawks' 5-yard line in the final seconds.

San Diego lost three fumbles, committed 11 penalties for 83 yards and allowed Leon Washington to return two kickoffs for scores, one a 99-yarder in the fourth quarter that gave his team the lead for good.

In their season-opening loss in Kansas City, the Chargers gave up a 94-yard punt return for a score.

''Someone asked me a question about underachieving,'' Turner said Monday. ''There's a lot of guys that did a lot of good things, perform at a high level, and it's just a shame that it doesn't show up because of the errors we made.''

While Rivers made two of the errors last week on interceptions, he also threw for a franchise-record 455 yards and two touchdowns. He'll look for a repeat performance against a Cardinals team that bounced back from a blowout loss by hanging on to beat Oakland 24-23 on Sunday.

Arizona (2-1) survived when Sebastian Janikowski missed a 32-yard field goal that would have won the game. The missed kick, which came after a 39-yard pass interference call against Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, pushed the Cardinals to 2-1 for the first time since 2004.

''Obviously, happy we got the win,'' said coach Ken Whisenhunt, whose team lost 41-7 at Atlanta the previous week. ''It's a lot easier to continue to work on getting better when you're in a little better frame of mind, so that was a good thing.''

The Cardinals' ground game appears to be getting better, as Beanie Wells returned from knee surgery to rush for 75 yards on 14 carries. Arizona, though, needs more out of Derek Anderson, who went 12 of 26 for 122 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.

Anderson has thrown three touchdowns and three interceptions since beating out Matt Leinart for the starting job. His 52 percent completion rate is fourth worst in the NFL, and the Cardinals rank 25th in offense at 290.7 yards per game and points with 48.

"Obviously, Derek needs to improve and he'll tell you that," Whisenhunt said.

Anderson threw touchdowns to Steve Breaston and Larry Fitzgerald, but he won't have Breaston as a target Sunday. Breaston is expected to miss the next two weeks after undergoing right knee surgery, with rookie Stephen Williams likely to start in his place.

The Cardinals are allowing 231.3 passing yards per game, and that number could go up after they face Rivers, who has thrown for an NFL-high 1,087 yards. He's also been intercepted twice in each of the last two games, though, and Arizona is tied for eighth in the league with four picks.

Rivers' only matchup with the Cardinals came in 2006, when he passed for 231 yards as the Chargers won 27-20 at home.

San Diego is dealing with a number of injuries. Rookie running back Ryan Mathews is uncertain to play because of a sprained right ankle that kept him out last week, while right guard Louis Vasquez (right knee) and outside linebacker Shawne Merriman (left calf) are also banged up. The team also announced that linebacker Larry English is expected to miss four to six weeks because of foot surgery.

San Diego has won eight of 11 all-time meetings with Arizona and five of six at home.

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