Ken Whisenhunt has said that the San Diego Chargers will face a battle during their first game of the 2013 NFL season.

The AFC West side will get their new season underway against the Houston Texans on Monday night.

The team's offensive coordinator told the club's official website: "You can go back and look at games from last year and look at the pre-season and you could compare, but it's always a little more difficult the first game just because you don't know for sure what they're going to do. There's nothing on tape when the bullets are real like they are in the first game.

"If you've got any ideas let me know, I'm looking for any help in that area. He's very good. I've got a lot of respect for a guy that plays the way he plays. We certainly as an offense have to be aware of him. It's going to be a battle, but our guys are working hard on communicating and working on their technique and understand that they're going to have to battle at some point during the game.

"So we know it will be tough going against these guys with their scheme of defense, but we feel good about where Ryan [Mathews] is, where our running backs and Danny [Woodhead] and Ronnie [Brown] and some of the things that we can do. Hopefully that will translate into having a good night Monday."

The Chargers have not reached the playoffs since 2009.