Chargers Still Looking for a Lead Runner, Too
The Chargers right now are a team with more needs than an abandoned infant.
For starters, a touchdown would be nice.
In two exhibition games, they haven’t scored one in the first half.
And there’s no reason to expect that to change tonight at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium when they play the San Francisco 49ers, a team with the No. 1-ranked defense in the NFL last year.
The focus on the Chargers’ problems all summer has been the quarterback position. Two candidates to start--Babe Laufenberg and Mark Malone--remain. Laufenberg will play the first half against San Francisco, Malone the second.
But the Chargers still haven’t solved a potentially more serious problem that was painfully evident last year when they finished next-to-last in the NFL in rushing offense:
They still haven’t found a running back with the speed to turn the corner outside and the durability to carry the ball 20 times a game.
Bruce Allen, the agent for Dallas running back Darryl Clack, said Friday the Chargers have been trying to work a deal for Clack, the Cowboys’ second-round draft choice in 1986. Clack, buried on the depth chart his first two years behind Herschel Walker and Tony Dorsett, carried the ball four times in 1986 and not at all last year.
Steve Ortmayer, the Chargers’ director of football operations, responded to Allen by saying “we have made no inquiries into any of the Dallas players.”
But Ortmayer did confirm the Cowboys are one of “three or four teams” that have called the Chargers asking about holdout outside linebacker Chip Banks. “The statement ‘Chip Banks is not for trade’ still stands,” Ortmayer said.
The Cowboys are looking for linebackers because of injuries to Jeff Rohrer, Mike Hegman and Eugene Lockhart. But Dallas isn’t sure the temperamental Banks fits the Cowboy profile anyway.
The Phoenix Cardinals are known to be offering rookie running back Tony Jeffery, another second-rounder. Jeffery gained 19 yards in four carries last Friday night against the Saints. But, Ortmayer said, “the Cardinals have not shopped Jeffery to us.”
Clack, who might wind up third-string again because the Cowboys like rookie eighth-rounder Mark Higgs so much, has gained 53 yards in 12 carries in exhibition games. That includes 30 yards in 8 tries against the Chargers Aug. 6.
The only thing the best Charger running backs have done well this summer is miss practice.
The No. 1 candidate for the job is still Gary Anderson. But Anderson has nursed a variety of minor injuries, the latest of which is a bad foot. He almost certainly won’t play against the 49ers. He has carried the ball 8 times for 29 yards in exhibitions.
“We all know Gary’s ability,” Charger Coach Al Saunders says. “But our concerns have surfaced in terms of his stability. He’s just not a real durable guy.”
Next in line is Barry Redden, who still hasn’t shown the Chargers what they were looking for when they got him from the Rams in June 1987. He arrived in training camp with a sore hamstring and proceeded to break a small bone in his hand.
Redden ran well last week against the Rams despite the bad hand and the burden of a makeshift offensive line, gaining 25 yards on 8 rushes. But now he has a bad knee and also is unlikely to play against San Francisco.
“Maybe Curtis Adams will surface,” Saunders said Friday. Adams reported this week after ending a summer-long contract holdout. He was the team’s leading rusher last year and will share the ball-carrying duties tonight with veteran Tim Spencer. But he is far behind in physical conditioning. Spencer has averaged 1.1 yards in 15 exhibition carries.
Are the Chargers hunting for help at running back?
Ortmayer won’t answer the question directly, saying the team knows what to expect from Anderson, Lionel James and Spencer. He says the Chargers must find out more about Adams, Redden and Kevin Scott (also injured) before they decide to try and deal for the running back they need.
Padre Notes
The 49ers, who have won one of three playoff games to date, will start Joe Montana at quarterback. Steve Young is supposed to play the third period, John Paye the fourth. . . . Defensive end Lee Williams, the Chargers’ leading sacker last year, will play despite having ended his contract holdout just this week. . . . Players the Chargers will be watching closely tonight include Keith Browner at left outside linebacker, Broderick Thompson at left guard, defensive lineman George Hinkle, cornerback Roy Bennett and the team’s three young wide receivers--Jamie Holland, Anthony Miller and Quinn Early. “It’s time for those three to perform as well in a game as they do in practice,” Charger Coach Al Saunders said. . . . The most prominent Charger who will not play is linebacker Billy Ray Smith (calf injury). . . . John Clay (hip) and Gary Kowalski (knee), the players who figure to be the Chargers’ starting tackles, are “marginally ready” for the 49ers, Saunders said. Rookie wide receiver Darren Flutie, tied for the preseason team lead in receptions with Timmie Ware at seven, is fighting a groin problem. . . . Pro Bowl tight end Kellen Winslow will participate in his first 1988 exhibition game, but, Saunders said, “not in an extensive role.” Winslow has spent much of the summer rehabilitating a knee from arthroscopic surgery.