Cardinals becoming a Chargers’ nemesis

As if clogging our beach towns isn’t enough every summer, Arizona is messing with our football team, too.

Beware the...Cardinals?

It’s true: the desert birds can no longer be thought docile neighbors.

Just three weeks ago, they outscored the Chargers for the first time in 13 years.

Now they’ve swiped running back Marion Grice. It’s not like stealing San Diego’s water.

Still, the Chargers had interest in promoting Grice onto their 53-man roster Sunday following Danny Woodhead’s season-ending injury before Arizona, per Michael Gehlken, made an aggressive play for the rookie.

Grice choosing Arizona made sense. The Cardinals offered more opportunity in their backfield, even with the Chargers’ loss of Ryan Mathews and Woodhead. Here, Grice was behind fellow rookie Branden Oliver and durable Donald Brown, signed last March to a three-year deal.

I doubt Grice, a sixth-round draftee from Arizona State, becomes an impact starter in the NFL. He is more languid than explosive in his movements.

But he is intriguing as a situational back. Potentially a better option for the Chargers than street free agents they’re considering because of his knowledge of their system and potential in the passing game, Grice is the first of Tom Telesco’s draftees taken before the seventh round to end up with another team. Remember, Marshall Faulk touted him last spring.

Grice got a late start to spring training, recovering from an ankle injury. He lagged Oliver for most of training camp but impressed late in the preseason.

Grice isn’t the only recent Charger employee on Arizona’s 53-man roster. Cardinals GM Steve Keim claimed Thomas Keiser soon after the Chargers cut him eight days before the season. In the 18-17 win over San Diego, Keiser made two impactful plays, impeding a Philip Rivers pass and hitting Rivers to influence a third-down incompletion.

I don’t blame the Chargers for cutting Keiser. They had played Tourek Williams, a sixth-round pick of Telesco’s in 2013, ahead of him throughout training camp. While I doubt Keiser’s knowledge of the Chargers was crucial to Todd Bowles’ Cardinals unit defending the Chargers far better than either the Seahawks or Bills would, Mike McCoy has suggested a coach can’t know too much about an opponent.

Credit the opportunistic Keim with two timely additions.