Bolts Host Cowboys for Joint Practice No. 1

2. Bolts offense tested by Cowboys

The whole point of joint practices is to get solid work in, especially for players who won’t end up seeing action in preseason games.

And when another team arrives in town, that might mean some struggles against players and schemes you haven’t prepared for.

That was the case for the Chargers offense Wednesday, as the unit endured some ups and downs against a stout Chargers front seven.

“When you get these joint practices, especially early in training camp, early in the year, there’s a lot of learning,” said Chargers running back Austin Ekeler. “We didn’t know what they were going to come out in and they showed us some looks today, defensively, that we weren’t really prepared for. We were kind of figuring it out on the fly.

“They’re going to get you sometimes. You’re going to get them sometimes. It’s a push back and forth,” Ekeler added. “Come out, play, you compete, and you try to adjust on the fly. I like that because it puts us in situations where it’s a little bit more stress on our team and we’re going to see how we are going to react.”

The Bolts did find some success in the red zone, as Justin Herbert threw touchdowns to Gerald Everett and Keenan Allen.

The final team period was a 2-minute drill, but the offense quickly faced a third-and-12 after a short completion and a sack. After picking up some yardage to make it fourth-and-1, the offense was then called for a false start.

Herbert hit Allen for a 10-yard gain to move the sticks, but the Bolts stalled after that. They eventually faced and third-and-21 scenario after another sack and couldn’t complete the drive.

Earlier in practice, the offense was in a move-the-ball period where they could pick up first downs and progress down the field.

The unit went three-and-out on the first try, and did pick up a first down on the next sequence, but the drive went nowhere after that with a drop on third down.

Staley said he hopes his team improves and gets better by the end of the week.

“This…