Chargers Might Give Reveiz the Hook

Fuad Reveiz still believes in himself, but that probably doesn’t matter.

In all likelihood, the Chargers will have a new kicker by the time they take the field next Sunday.

John Carney, keep your answering machine on.

Reveiz, who has connected on only two of seven attempts this season, hooked two more in Sunday’s 17-7 loss to the Houston Oilers at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. The second, which sailed left from 27 yards out with 2:49 to play, flew the last few feet of its journey to the accompaniment of hoots from the Oilers and boos from the fans.

“He should have made it, and he knows he should have made it,” said Larry Pasquale, the Charger special teams coach. “I’m totally shocked that he didn’t.”

What happens now? Well, instead of missing from the field, Fuad Reveiz will simply be missing from the team.

Asked if a change was in order, Charger Coach Dan Henning said: “I would think that we would consider that, yes.”

Asked if this was it for Reveiz, Pasquale said: “It could be. I don’t know. I’m not going to be making that decision. It’s Coach Henning’s decision.”

General Manager Bobby Beathard would say only that if Reveiz was replaced, it would be with Carney, cut by the Chargers in exhibition season, picked up by the Rams when Mike Lansford was hurt, then cut by them last week.

All Reveiz can do is wait.

“It’s frustrating, but it’s not something that you throw your hands down and say the heck with it,” he said. “You’ve just got to stand up and come back the next day and do the best you can. I’ve never lost confidence in myself.”

But because confidence doesn’t count for three points, Reveiz appears to be on his way out. If he is expecting the worst, he’s keeping it to himself.

“It’s something I can’t control,” he said. “The only thing I can control is making those kicks.”

Reveiz rescued himself last Sunday, making a 42-yarder against Cleveland and helping extinguish Eric Metcalf and the Brown return team with his kickoffs. He was voted the special teams player of the week by his teammates, and all seemed well. Until Sunday.

Reveiz missed left from 45 yards in the first quarter and then wrapped up the Chargers’ chances and threw them away in the fourth.

The thing that gnaws at him is that most of the kicks have been hit cleanly. Misses are a matter of inches, not feet.

“Everything’s been so close this year, it’s disgusting,” Reveiz said. “If they were just flat out 10 feet away, it’s time to retire. It’s frustrating when you see you’re so close, but you can’t quite get over that hump.”

Reveiz, who kicked for the Miami Dolphins from 1985-88, missed all of last season recovering from a thigh injury he sustained in 1988. That was tough. This is tougher. He feels strong and capable, and the ball sails off his foot with a nice zip. But it never seems to go quite where he wants it to.

“It’s something that is just the hardest thing that I’ve ever gone through career-wise,” he said. “This has definitely been the four toughest weeks of my career. It’s something that you’ve got to take in perspective and say ‘Hey, you’re much better than that. Don’t listen to what anybody tells you. Just step up and go.’ ”

Problem is, the questions are hard to avoid. Everybody wants to know why a kicker in the NFL can’t kick field goals.

“It’s just something you keep on talking about, and you’ve got to answer questions, obviously,” he said. “And it’s something you’ve got to go home and hear, too. It’s a situation, obviously, that you don’t want to get into, but it’s just the game of pro football.”