Chargers : Some Eyes of Texas to Be on San Diego: Tolliver Will Start
Not all of Texas will be rooting for the Dallas Cowboys Sunday in their nationally televised exhibition opener against the Chargers.
Not with Billy Joe Tolliver, the pride of Boyd (pop. 1,100), starting at quarterback for the Chargers.
Tolliver figures to have a few new-found Charger fans hiding out deep in the heart of Texas.
“A very small corner, they’ll probably all be in my mother’s house,” Tolliver said.
Tolliver, the second-round pick from Texas Tech, was named the starter Friday over veterans David Archer and Mark Malone by Coach Dan Henning.
Henning said his decision was based on a belief that, as a rookie, it was best to give Tolliver his playing time early.
“We’re going to get him the work he needs at the most straight time of the game, when the score is nothing-nothing,” Henning said. “That is what he is ready for right now.
“To put him in another situation that we haven’t had enough time to prepare him for wouldn’t be fair to him; it wouldn’t be fair to the team.”
Henning said he planned to use his other two quarterbacks later in the game. Archer would play in the second and fourth quarters when two-minute drill situations could arise; Malone would start the second half.
“There are some very valid reasons in doing it that way,” said Malone, who started eight games last year after being acquired from Pittsburgh in the off-season. “I don’t think it reflects any advantage by one or the other. I don’t find it disheartening, a positive or a negative at this point.”
Archer, a free agent who started 22 games in 1985-86 for Henning when both were in Atlanta, also said he did not read too much into the choice of Tolliver.
“I don’t feel slighted by the situation at all,” Archer said. “Billy is the guy they want to see get a chance to play.”
Still, Tolliver said he was surprised when Henning told him Friday morning.
“I was expecting to get a little time later in the game,” Tolliver said. “(But) it is a situation where they want to see how far along I am.
“The other two guys have both started games in NFL. They know what they can do under the pressure. They want to see me in there and how I react to it.”
Tolliver is behind the other two quarterbacks in preparation, in part because of a contract holdout that kept him out of camp until July 30. He has spent the past two weeks working to catch up.
“I’m familiar with all the plays,” Tolliver said. “It’s just the experience I don’t have. The offense is not second hand to me like it is to Dave and Mark.”
Does that mean Tolliver is nervous about starting the noon game at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium? “You probably need to ask me that question in about 48 hours, then I could give you a truer statement,” he said. Tolliver’s task is not made any easier by the opponent. Boyd is 65 miles northwest of Dallas.
“It will be mixed emotions,” Tolliver said. “Everybody I grew up with are all Cowboy fans. When football season rolled around, we were all Roger Staubach and Drew Pearson.”
But blood is thicker than Texas crude, even when it comes to the Cowboys. Let the rest of the state argue the relative merits of first-round draft picks Troy Aikman and Steve Walsh in their Cowboy quarterback debuts. Folks in Boyd can root for the hometown boy.
“Let them get all the attention,” Tolliver said. “Hopefully, I can sneak in and get a win.”
It will be Tolliver’s second confrontation with the team of his boyhood dreams. He had the first in a scrimmage in Thousand Oaks last weekend.
“It is a different situation than what I pictured,” Tolliver said. “You grew up watching them play and being fans of theirs. Then all of a sudden you’re playing them in a scrimmage. To look across the line and see Too Tall Jones, that is a very big deal for a guy from Texas.”
That is as close as Tolliver would like to come to Jones on Sunday.
“I would just as soon say hello, how you doing, before the game,” Tolliver said, “and then not meet him any during or after.”
Charger Notes
The game is not a sellout and will be blacked out locally. . . . Kicker Chris Bahr, the free agent who was signed after being left unprotected by the Raiders, will be used in field-goal situations at the end of the first half and late in the game, Coach Dan Henning said. . . . Henning said that Marion Butts, a seventh-round draft choice from Florida State, will start at running back. He also said he planned definitely to use four other running backs--rookie Victor Floyd and veterans Lionel James, Napoleon McCallum and Tim Spencer. Henning said veterans Barry Redden and Timmy Smith would suit up, but he doubted either would play. Smith has been slowed by a sprained ankle and Redden has missed practice time because of a leg muscle strain. . . . The Chargers figure to divide playing time between their three injured centers--rookie Courtney Hall (ankle), and veterans Don Macek (ankle) and Dennis McKnight (knee). All three practiced but Henning said a starter has yet to be named. “I don’t believe that any one of the three guys can have extended work because of the injuries,” Henning said. “(The starter) will depend on how their legs feel come Sunday morning.” . . . Wide receiver Dana Brinson, the eighth-round draft choice from Nebraska, has returned to practice after sustaining a hip pointer in Wednesday’s early workout. Henning said he would like to play Brinson against the Cowboys if he is ready.