PRO FOOTBALL REPORT / WEEKDAY UPDATE : CHARGERS : Tolliver Seeking Advice From Experienced Friend

Charger quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver wants to get a few words of advice from his friend John Elway, the Broncos’ quarterback, but the timing is never right.

“I was going to call him, but he lost against Buffalo, so I didn’t,” Tolliver said. “And then I was going to call him the other night, but they lost against Cleveland. Nobody wants to talk about other people’s problems after a loss.”

These are Tolliver’s two biggest problems: The Chargers are 1-4, and he has completed only 46.8% of his passes for an average of 5.81 yards per attempt. The frustration swells with each loss, each interception and each bad decision.

“I want to win worse than anybody in this organization,” he said. “It’s frustrating as hell when you go out and you don’t perform well, or you do something that’s against what you’re taught to do. All I can do is just keep working through it.”

Isn’t this what all inexperienced quarterbacks go through?

“Could be,” Tolliver said. “We’ll find out when I’m experienced.”

Receiver Walter Wilson, never one to mince words, isn’t planning to let his sprained ankle and sore knee prevent him from getting in on Sunday’s action against the New York Jets.

“I told them that they better use me,” Wilson said. “I ain’t coming to watch nobody else play, that’s for sure.”

Wilson has been walking around all week with a mile-long Ace bandage wrapped around his leg. Coach Dan Henning is a little less sure that Wilson should be playing than Wilson is.

“We’re going to be very cautious about putting him in there,” Henning said. “He hasn’t worked in practice, and we’ve got to be careful. He’ll be there for emergency purposes.”

Because the Chargers are also without wide receiver Nate Lewis (thigh), Quinn Early will make his first start since the season opener at Dallas.

A group of Charger players had the second team meeting in as many days. Nobody would say exactly what it was about.

“Team stuff,” linebacker Steve Hendrickson said.

Tolliver didn’t attend. He did let on he knew the subject matter, but he chose to keep mum.

“You mean I missed a meeting?” he said, grinning. “I was having lunch.”

Defensive end Burt Grossman wasn’t exactly doing handstands over his cover story in this week’s issue of Sports Illustrated.

His critique: “It was all right. It kind of repeated a lot of stuff that I’d seen already.”

Things aren’t getting much easier for linebacker Junior Seau, the Chargers’ No. 1 draft pick. His inauspicious NFL debut has been filled with mishaps, and he still doesn’t think he has a handle on his role.

“I’m just barely getting the grasp of it,” he said. “You can’t feel comfortable when you’re getting the grasp of things.”

Seau says his biggest adjustment is learning how to help the secondary with pass coverage, which isn’t as much fun as smashing into the quarterback.

“It’s not a matter of what I like,” he said. “It’s just something that’s got to be done.”

Homecomings:

Larry Pasquale, the Chargers’ special teams coach, will be making his first appearance against the Jets since he defected during the off-season. Pasquale was a Jet assistant for 10 seasons. Safety Lester Lyles played for the Jets from 1985 to 1987, but this is his second appearance at the Meadowlands since leaving. He was back in 1988 as a member of the Phoenix Cardinals.