SAN DIEGO (AP) If there was a winner in round one of the San Diego Chargers' quarterback competition, it wasn't Doug Flutie or Drew Brees, the favorites for the starting job.

It was third-stringer Dave Dickenson.

Dickenson, who didn't take a snap as an undrafted rookie last season, was 12-of-20 for 154 yards and a touchdown in San Diego's 24-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Saturday night in Marty Schottenheimer's first game as coach of the Chargers.

There was no clear-cut winner between the 39-year-old Flutie and 23-year-old Brees, who entered the preseason opener for both teams considered dead-even by Schottenheimer.

Flutie was 6-of-9 for 46 yards while playing the first quarter. Brees was 8-of-13 for 60 yards with one interception that wasn't his fault while playing most of the second quarter.

"I thought Doug did a nice job with the first unit out there," Schottenheimer said. "When we brought Drew in, we had the misfortune of a tipped ball that got picked off for a touchdown. But he came back and finished that other drive, scoring the touchdown."

Flutie, who started all 16 games for the Chargers last season - 11 of them losses including the final nine - seemed satisfied with his performance.

"I made the right reads. I went to the right place with the ball," he said. "I didn't let anything get away. So it went pretty well."

Flutie guided the Chargers to the Arizona 34-yard-line on their first possession, but his on-target pass on fourth-and-4 was dropped by rookie Reche Caldwell. Had Caldwell made the catch, it would have been a first down.

Brees, who was 15-of-27 for 221 yards and one touchdown with no interceptions against Kansas City in the only game he played last year - after Flutie was injured - engineered a 57-yard touchdown drive in his third and final series.

"We had the scoring drive, which was nice," he said. "And then there was the interception. I guess that stuff is gong to happen in the preseason. You've just try to work that out."

Drew's second pass deflected off the hands of Joey Goodspeed and was picked off by David Barrett, who returned it 38 yards for a touchdown.

Dickenson said he felt "pretty good" about the way he played.

"But I hate the way it ended," he said. "I'd like to have had a different result, but it didn't happen."

With the ball at the Arizona 35, Dickenson's desperation pass into the end zone on the game's final play was intercepted by Don Morgan.

Schottenheimer was upset by the 13 penalties for 75 yards against his team.

"Defensively and offensively, we committed 11 fouls before the ball was snapped," he said. "We're looking at 55 yards of field position. It's unacceptable. We've got to fix it and we will fix it."

The Chargers gained 328 yards to 271 for Arizona, with 107 of the Cardinals' yards coming on a 66-yard touchdown pass from Jake Plummer to David Boston on the game's second play and a 41-yard scoring pass from Chris Greisen to Bryan Gilmore midway through the third quarter.

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