The Los Angeles Chargers dropped their home opener against the Arizona Cardinals. The Chargers lost their best playmaker in Ladd McConkey due to a vicious hit that knocked him out of the game and his absence seemed to be devastating to the offense. The reality is, the loss can be credited to every single unit as the Chargers lost in all three phases of the game.

The Chargers will host the Las Vegas Raiders in week two. Los Angeles will be facing significantly more injuries week with a much longer injury report while they attempt to clean up their sloppy mistakes from week one.

One of the biggest blunders for the Chargers against the Cardinals came from a surprising source, special teams. Los Angeles has a lot to clean up before the Las Vegas Raiders come to town. Against Arizona, the Chargers gave up a blocked punt in the shadows of their own endzone early in the fourth quarter and the play changed the tide of the game.

One of the more confounding issues facing the Chargers, that consistently set the offense back against Arizona, is the kick return team. The return unit consistently set the team up with negative field position. The offense gets the ball at the 35-yard line with a touchback, the Chargers' average starting field position when they returned the kick was the 20-yard line.

Statistically, Derius Davis is the worst kick returner in the NFL after one week with the lowest average yards per attempt in the NFL with 16.5 yards. Obviously, drawing a conclusion from a one-game sample size is unfair to the player. However, looking at how that happened can be informative.

Reviewing the film, Chargers blockers struggled to find their footing and consistently maintain blocks against the Cardinals' coverage units. Every return featured a member of the coverage unit with a free shot at Davis or Keaton Mitchell.

Safeties Kendall Williamson and Genesis Smith had a rough day as blockers on the kick return team. Special teams coordinator Ryan Ficken has undoubtedly already used the film as a coaching point but there is a sense of urgency to get this corrected.

Eleven kick returners in week one had at least two returns and averaged over 30 yards per return throughout the entire NFL. The Chargers are forcing the offense to essentially start two first downs behind. That is not good a good strategy nor is it fair to the offense to constantly have to battle uphill.

The Chargers are starting a very difficult stretch on their schedule this Sunday as they host their division rivals the Las Vegas Raiders. Los Angeles' special teams return units need to show improvement.

The Chargers special teams coverage units were actually very good in week one. The Chargers kickoff team ranked ninth in NFL in yards per return. The punt unit, aside from the glaring blocked punt allowed, finished third in the NFL in net return average and JK Scott logged the best average hangtime in week one.

The Raiders kick return unit had one of the best starts in the NFL in week one and running back Dylan Laube has the second-best kick return average from the first week of football. Ryan Ficken's unit has to be able to match Las Vegas and not give field position advantages to the Raiders.