Quarterback Logan Thomas scrambles to find a receiver during Thursday night's 12-9 loss in San Diego.

SAN DIEGO – When Logan Thomas was drafted in the fourth round in May, the Cardinals knew they were bringing in a project at quarterback.

Thomas aced his first test in the preseason opener against the Texans, but showed some inconsistencies in the finale on Thursday against the Chargers. Thomas finished 9-of-21 for only 73 yards through the air, was sacked three times and threw an interception in the 12-9 loss. He played the entire game as coach Bruce Arians chose to rest starter Carson Palmer and backup Drew Stanton.

"Just very, very average," Arians said about Thomas' performance. "You can't take a sack down there on the 1-yard line, patting the ball. Either throw it away or get it to the checkdown. It was a good learning experience for him."

Thomas knew to temper his expectations heading into the game, since the Cardinals have a

regular season rematch with San Diego in 11 days. Offensive coordinator Harold Goodwin called the plays instead of Arians so the Chargers could not pick up on any tendencies, and the designs were not intricate.

"Oh yeah, we kept it super vanilla," Thomas said. "I just wanted to see how we competed. I thought we played hard. It was kind of what we expected it to be. Obviously we'd like to hang a couple more points, but it was a lot of fun."

Thomas started well, completing his first two passes for 32 yards to tight end Troy Niklas. He struggled the rest of the way, unable to get the Cardinals into the end zone. His receivers didn't help at times, as Brittan Golden dropped a nicely thrown deep ball and the interception bounced off Dan Buckner's chest.

Thomas also credited the Chargers.

"They played great defense," Thomas said. "There's things here and there that I could have done better. Just got to watch tape and learn from it."

With the regular season up next, Thomas will return to his third-string role. Barring injuries, this will be a learning year for him as he aims to work out the deficiencies in his game.

"This will be my last time playing for a while, which I understand," Thomas said. "Now it's just time for me to learn and try to help out the team as much as I possibly can from here on out."