Chargers vs. New Orleans Saints live updates: Scoreless in first quarter

Here are the players who won’t be suiting up for the Chargers and Saints on Sunday at SoFi Stadium:

While the Chargers were warming up in Denver last Sunday, Jim Harbaugh felt his heart racing. He knew that feeling, having experienced it as a player in 1999 and as an NFL head coach 13 years later.

The two previous episodes led to medical procedures on his heart. His third bout, which began to surface the Saturday night before the Broncos game, had the Chargers coach dipping into the blue medical tent and eventually heading to the visitors’ locker room for an EKG to check his heart and an IV to replenish his fluids.

At 60, the sinewy Harbaugh is as fit as any head coach in the game, and his heart issues — diagnosed as atrial flutter — are not indisputably attributable to the stress of the game.

Eyebrows raise. Eyes dart back and forth. Heads cock to the side.

When Jim Harbaugh starts talking, Chargers players never quite know how to react.

“It’s like a really fun wild roller coaster,” quarterback Taylor Heinicke said, “that comes with a cool ending.”

Unexpected, unorthodox and unquestionably unique, Harbaugh’s growing phrasebook has set a quirky yet firm foundation for the new Chargers era.

With kicker Cameron Dicker as their only source of points, the Chargers lost 17-15 to the Arizona Cardinals on Monday in State Farm Stadium.

Here’s what we learned from the game:

Chargers need all hands on deck

The receivers were the Chargers’ biggest concern entering the season. They’re still the biggest concern approaching the mid-way point.

Down top pass-catching options Monday in Quentin Johnston (ankle), Derius Davis (hamstring), D.J. Chark Jr. (groin), the Chargers turned tight end Will Dissly into a leading receiver. The tight end who is more known for his run-blocking ability was targeted 11 times, finishing with a career-high eight catches for 81 yards.

Five stars here. Three over there. And two more next door.

This isn’t the Hollywood Walk of Fame but the locker room at the Chargers’ practice facility. Above every locker stall is a placard that’s adorned with a name, number and college alma mater, but also the player’s high school and rank as a recruit.

For instance, quarterback Justin Herbert was a 3-Star prospect out of Sheldon High in Eugene, Ore.

Safety Derwin James Jr. was even more decorated, a 5-Star recruit out of Haines City High in the heart of Florida.
These nameplates aren’t a Chargers tradition but a bit of motivational magic from Jim Harbaugh, in his first season as the team’s coach.

The Chargers have not scored a second-half touchdown since Week 1. Last week they rushed for 59 yards against an Arizona defense that was giving up 153 yards per game on the ground. They failed to protect a one-point lead on the final possession, giving up a game-winning field goal as time expired.

Although a chorus of concerns arose after the team’s 17-15 loss on “Monday Night Football,” Jim Harbaugh is singing a different tune.

“You could be singing with the choir with the ‘would have, could have and should have. If this, if that,’” the Chargers coach said Wednesday. “But it took watching [the tape] three, four times, all sides of the ball, to turn the hymn book to ‘we were better.’ We were better. We got better.”

Should Mike Williams run a comeback pattern?

The Chargers could sure use him now, as they’re painfully low on players who can strike fear in a defense.

That was evident in their 17-15 loss to Arizona on Monday night, when they subsisted on five field goals from Cameron Dicker and consistently came up short in the red zone.

Chargers outside linebacker Joey Bosa (hip) is questionable for Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints, but the star edge rusher said Friday he is “definitely” going to play.

Bosa hasn’t played since getting injured on the first play against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sept. 22, battling through some of “the worst pain I’ve ever dealt with.” A glute strain began affecting his sciatic nerve and the pain left Bosa unable to do anything except lie on an exercise ball in the fetal position for hours.

While the Chargers (3-3) are trying to recover from another deflating defeat on a short week, the New Orleans Saints will be well-rested and trying to snap a five-game losing streak.

The Saints (2-5) have had more than a week to regroup after scoring a season-low 10 points in 23-point loss to the Denver Broncos on Oct. 17.

Not only does rookie quarterback Spencer Rattler have extra time to prepare for his third start in place of injured veteran Derek Carr (oblique), but also the break afforded receiver Chris Olave (concussion) and do-it-all tight end Taysom Hill (rib) opportunities to return to practice.