Chargers Drawing a Blank : Football: They ‘played stupid’ in mistake-plagued, 17-7 loss to the Houston Oilers.

They were just sitting there expressionless in front of their lockers, as if they had been told to wait for someone to pass out the dunce caps.

The Chargers failed their latest exam, 17-7, to the Houston Oilers, and Sunday’s lesson in defeat was so elementary: Don’t be stupid.

“The teams that have beaten us haven’t been any better than we are,” Charger quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver said. “They’re just smarter.”

Many of the 48,762 fans who were left to contemplate the latest slapstick routine in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium apparently agreed. As the Chargers (1-3) filed off the field, the fans in the stands filled their earholes with all sorts of not-so-nice suggestions.

“We played stupid, there’s no doubt about it,” linebacker Gary Plummer said. “To jump offsides as many times as we did to give them second chances, you can’t win in the NFL like that. If you’re a dominating team like the 49ers, maybe you get away with it.

“We’re the San Diego Chargers,” he said, “and right now we’re a team trying to find ourselves.”

If they had a penalty box in football, that would be the first place to look for the Chargers.

--A first-quarter unsportsmanlike penalty on linebacker Junior Seau on a missed field-goal attempt by Tony Zendejas allowed the Oilers to regroup and score two plays later on Warren Moon’s nine-yard pass to Drew Hill.

--A second-quarter offsides call on defensive lineman Lee Williams on third and 10 from the Chargers’ 27 gave Moon another play to complete a 22-yard touchdown pass to Ernest Givins.

“You make those kind of mistakes in the NFL, and you’re going to lose,” Plummer said. “There’s no doubt in my mind that we can beat the Houston Oilers. The final score is 17-7, and you take away seven of those points because of a stupid play, and it’s an awful close game. Anything can happen.”

And it did. It was the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Seau, and it was called for taking a running jump and trying to block Zendejas’ 40-yard field goal try.

Coach Dan Henning said he was advised by the officials that a player cannot taking a running jump to try and block a field goal. But he checked the NFL rulebook and said it indicates instead that a player should not use his hand or hands on a teammate to gain additional height.

“He didn’t do that; he didn’t touch anybody,” Henning said. “But he shouldn’t have been jumping in the first place. He was supposed to be back there spying for a fake.”

But Seau jumped, and down went the Chargers.

“It’s a stupid penalty, and it directly turned into seven points,” Plummer said. “That’s something that’s basic. It’s something Larry (Pasquale, special teams coordinator) has gone over. It just so happens Junior was holding out and wasn’t here to hear it.

“But you’re a professional and that’s your job. That hurt us.”

The Oilers (2-2) advanced from the Chargers’ 23 to the 12 on the penalty. After Moon ran for three yards, he waited for Hill to get behind safety Lester Lyles and then connected for the touchdown. It was the first time the Oilers had scored in the first quarter this season.

The Chargers, meanwhile, went scoreless on their first offensive possession in four games when Fuad Reveiz went wide right from 45 yards.

“We need to have field goals kicked from inside the 20-yard line,” Coach Dan Henning said after Reveiz went on to also miss from 27 yards in the fourth quarter. “I would think that we would consider changing kickers.”

The Oilers could be forgiven for thinking the same thing. Although Zendejas was granted a reprieve on his miss from 45 yards by the penalty on Seau, he came back in the second quarter to miss from 36 and 27 yards.

That kept the Chargers in striking distance, and with time running out in the half, Tolliver went 27 yards to Anthony Miller to tie the game.

But Moon still had 1:41 remaining. He took his team to the Chargers’ 27 on third and 10 and threw incomplete into the end zone to wide receiver Bernard Ford. But Williams was caught tiptoeing offsides.

“It’s just a stupid play by a veteran ballplayer that shouldn’t happen,” Williams said. “There’s no excuses for it. It’s just something that shouldn’t have happened.”

On the next play, Givins split the coverage of Martin Bayless and Lyles, and Moon beat the blitz to complete a 22-yard scoring play and build a 14-7 halftime advantage.

“They did a lot more to hurt themselves than we did to hurt ourselves,” Houston Coach Jack Pardee said. “We respected their pass rush a lot; we threw the ball quickly, and Warren did an excellent job of recognizing the blitz.”

In contrast, Tolliver was not so good. On his team’s first possession in the third quarter, he tried to go to H-back Craig McEwen, only to fire the ball into the hands of Houston cornerback Cris Dishman.

Tolliver opened the fourth quarter throwing a second interception. With the ball on the Houston 37, he tried to squeeze a pass into Anthony Miller, but safety Bubba McDowell was on the spot.

“On the first interception, I thought it was a good throw,” Tolliver said after completing 14 of 25 passes for 174 yards. “On the second I didn’t see the coverage. It was a good decision but a bad throw.”

The Oilers continued to chew up yardage in the second half behind the passing of Moon, who completed 27 of 46 for 355 yards, but they were thwarted by a stubborn defense near the goal line.

Cornerback Gill Byrd intercepted Moon’s pass intended for Givins in the end zone to stop a third-quarter scoring chance, and the Oilers were forced to settle for a 34-yard Zendejas field goal in the fourth quarter after failing to push the ball in.

The Chargers, while trailing, 17-7, made it to the Oilers’ three-yard line with more than three minutes to play. But Tolliver was sacked for a loss of seven, and after a pair of incomplete passes, Henning elected to send Reveiz on for a 27-yard field-goal try.

Reveiz’s kick off the infield dirt was wide left, and the Oilers went on to run out the clock.

“It’s frustrating,” Chargers General Manager Bobby Beathard said. “They have to believe they have to overcome some of these mistakes. I think we’re better than this, but even the good teams can’t afford to make the mistakes.”

* CHARGER REPORT

Fuad Reveiz believes in himself, but that might not matter. C13A

* Billy Joe Tolliver has the arm but is still learning how to use it. C13A

* Review, Report Card C13A