NFL PLAYERS STRIKE: DAY 4 : Offensive Line Is Complete; Picket Line Is Quiet

The non-union Chargers finally have five offensive linemen, and just in time, as game day is only a week away.

Charger coaches had their new players out of bed at the crack of dawn Friday and worked them out after team meetings for three hours, starting at 8:45. There also was an afternoon workout inside San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, and, for the first time, coaches emphasized special teams.

“We’ll go to war with what we’ve got,” said Coach Al Saunders, whose new team must play the Cincinnati Bengals’ new team next Sunday if there’s no settlement of the NFL Players Assn. strike.

Meanwhile, striking Charger players were flabbergasted Friday afternoon that non-union Chargers were practicing inside the stadium. Charger officials say it was just a coincidence, but, for the first time this week, striking Chargers didn’t get a chance to taunt their replacements.

“They can run, but they can’t hide,” said Wes Chandler, the Charger player representative who vowed to be back on the picket line today.

Eventually Friday, Chandler huddled his players together for a meeting. He had been in contact with Gene Upshaw, the executive director of the Players Assn., and he wanted to update his teammates on the negotiations.

“Our players are going to be very rowdy at this time next week,” Chandler said. “Monday, you see, is a normal payday. And when the checks don’t roll in, they’ll be rather angry. I didn’t say violent. I said angry and rowdy.”

Earlier in the day, the striking Chargers held their workout on the UC San Diego campus with 28 players showing up--four fewer than attended Thursday and 14 fewer than Wednesday.

“Well, we’ve got a lot of guys who went home to see their colleges play this weekend,” quarterback Dan Fouts said. “Most of them had never had that chance before. But we expect a big turnout Monday.”

During practice, Fouts was carrying around a small piece of cardboard with plays on it. He said he has talked several times on the telephone with Roger Theder, the Chargers’ quarterback coach, who gave Fouts some plays that might work against Cincinnati.

In other words, two different Charger teams are preparing for the Bengals, but only one of them will get to play.

The non-union Chargers hope it’s them. Defensive end Duane Pettitt, formerly of San Diego State, was asking reporters about the latest strike talks.

“Talks broke off?” he asked. “Great.”

There were 47 players at the non-union practice Friday, and Steve Ortmayer, the Chargers’ director of football operations, said he has contacted 20 more, just in case. Until Friday, the new Chargers had only four offensive linemen. Jim McCullouch, a 6-foot 5-inch, 260-pound guard from UCLA, is the fifth.

“Offensive linemen are hard to come by,” Saunders said.

San Diego police guarded the non-union players’ bus from union players, but there already has been some malicious mischief at the stadium.

Thursday night the air had been let out of the right-front tire of a car owned by punter Joe Prokop, a current non-union player who formerly was on the regular Chargers’ injured reserve list before being cut.

Other non-union players, who asked to remain anonymous, say they received late-night phone calls at the hotel Thursday night from striking Chargers.

“They did a lot of yelling,” one of the non-union players said.