Chargers : Some Won’t Be Getting Much Work Sunday
While Coach Dan Henning has yet to reveal the answer to the big question involving the Chargers’ first exhibition game--Who will start at quarterback?--he did answer some smaller ones Wednesday at UC San Diego.
Henning said he planned to play only about 48 of the 80 Chargers under contract in Sunday’s noon game against Dallas at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.
“You can’t play with 80 guys, or it would be a mess,” Henning said. “They won’t get anything out of it. Rather than give bits and pieces, we’re going to give extensive time to certain people.”
Henning also said he planned to use no more than five of the seven running backs who are in camp and that he planned to separate them depending on the situation. He said he likely would use two or three of the backs on first down, two others on third down and have two sets of backs for short-yardage and goal line situations.
Henning said he would not decide on which backs he will use in which situations until Thursday night.
But he did rule three players out of the game because of injuries--center Don Macek (ankle sprain), inside linebacker Gary Plummer (sore leg) and running back Timmy Smith (ankle sprain).
Dennis McKnight, who was moved to center from guard in mini-camp in the May, likely will start in place of Macek. His backup, rookie Courtney Hall, is recovering from an ankle sprain, so guard Dan Rosado could also play there.
Cedric Figaro, who started the final five games as a rookie last season after recovering from a back injury, should start in Plummer’s place.
As for his choice of quarterbacks, Henning has said he will reserve that decision until Thursday night or Friday.
The choices are David Archer, the free agent who started for Henning with the Atlanta Falcons in 1985 and 1986; incumbent Mark Malone, who started eight games last year, and rookie Billy Joe Tolliver, the second-round draft pick from Texas Tech.
Dallas Coach Jimmy Johnson also is undecided about which quarterback he will start against the Chargers.
“We haven’t structured anything as of yet,” Johnson said in a conference call from the Dallas training camp in Thousand Oaks. “All three will play. We really won’t identify who start at quarterback until right at game time.
Johnson’s choices are a little more high-profile than the Chargers’: Troy Aikman, the former UCLA star and first player selected in the draft; Steve Walsh, Johnson’s quarterback at the University of Miami for the past two season and the first player taken in the supplemental draft last month, and Babe Laufenberg, the fourth-year journeyman who started the Chargers’ 1988 regular-season opener.
Charger Notes
Dana Brinson, eighth-round draft choice from Nebraska, sustained a hip pointer in the morning practice and did not participate in the afternoon workout. Coach Dan Henning said he did know when Brinson would return. Brinson, who was drafted as a wide receiver, is being looked at as a running back in third-down situations, Henning said. . . . Steve Ortmayer, Charger director of football operations, said he has talked in the past two days with representatives of the team’s three holdouts--rookie defensive end Burt Grossman and veterans Gary Anderson and Joe Phillips. Grossman, the first-round draft choice from Pitt, said he has been playing a lot of golf around Pittsburgh and looking forward to watching the Chargers’ nationally televised exhibition with Dallas Sunday. “I’d prefer to be there,” Grossman said. “But don’t hold your breath.” . . . At least a half-dozen players and Chet Franklin, the director of player personnel, left after the morning practice to attend memorial services in Los Angeles for Stacey Toran, the Raider safety killed in an automobile accident Saturday night. Most of the players were former teammates of Toran’s with the Raiders. Franklin is a former Raider defensive backfield coach. They returned in time for the afternoon workout.