SAN DIEGO -- Norv Turner dissected the defense's performance against the Arizona Cardinals and admitted concern over some shoddy coverage breakdowns. But the Chargers' head coach isn't about to panic.

This is the exhibition season, after all, when NFL teams often employ the same basic defensive schemes on display at local parks and playgrounds.

Glamorous blitz packages and elaborate coverage disguises won't be employed until the games are regarded as more than 60 minutes of exercise.

"I'm not worried about it," Turner said Monday, reflecting on the Chargers' 33-31 victory. "I'm concerned about the big plays, and we need to keep addressing the big plays. You can't give up an 80-yard touchdown pass and say 'We played good defense.' "

Anquan Boldin's long receiving touchdown in the first quarter of Saturday's game was certainly a glaring example of what can occur when a coverage mistake is made. Turner said cornerback Quentin Jammer made a miscue after staring down Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart.

"On that play, it was purely Quentin Jammer," Turner said. "He looked right in at Leinart and thought he was going to throw the 15-yard comeback and he came out of his deep (zone). If he just stays back, they get a 15-yard completion and we get to snap the ball again.

"If we don't give up big plays, we have enough playmakers (on defense) that if we make teams keep lining up, keep lining up, keep lining up, we've got enough guys that will make a big play.

"We just have to be sound and not give up big plays."

Jammer took responsibility for the touchdown and said he broke on the outside receiver when he saw Leinart begin to scramble. That left Boldin open deep behind him.

"It was a bit of a mental thing," Jammer said. "It's something that you wouldn't do in the (regular) season. But in the preseason, you'll take more chances because it doesn't really count anyway."

The Boldin play was one of four times the Cardinals connected on a pass play of at least 26 yards. All four plays led to Arizona touchdowns. Two of the plays came against the first-team defense.

The other long catch against the first unit came when Leinart scrambled out of trouble and found Bryant Johnson for a 41-yard gain.

"The big plays we gave up in the passing game is something we just can't do," Turner said. "Leinart did a good job moving around and buying time, and it's something we may not have addressed as much as we need to.

"We'll start doing the scrambling drills and the movement drills, so we'll address that."

Turner declined to use preseason vanilla defensive packages as an excuse for what occurred. He does allow that what fans and opponents are seeing during preseason games isn't close to the complexity of a regular-season game plan.

Players such as Jammer and strong safety Clinton Hart say they are not concerned with what happened against the Cardinals. They both believe the breakdowns are fixable.

"Oh, nooo," Hart exclaimed when asked if he was concerned. "We're going to be great. It's good we saw it, because we learned from it. That's what the preseason is about. That won't happen again.

"It's good to get the bad apples out of the bucket now before we get the season going."

Jammer, who had a team-high four interceptions last season, noted that broken plays are more likely in the preseason.

"That's because everything we play in the preseason is vanilla defense, it's basic defense," Jammer said. "We haven't thrown anything in there that's real tricky. We're just in basic coverages.

"The quarterback started scrambling, and the receivers made some plays. It was like back-yard football -- like flag football."

Overall, Turner was pleased with the defense.

"We were very, very physical," Turner said. "We played the run extremely well and we handled a lot of the things they did in the passing game pretty well."

- Contact staff writer Mike Sullivan at (760) 739-6645 or msullivan@nctimes.com.