PRO FOOTBALL REPORT / WEEKDAY UPDATE : CHARGERS : Phillips Makes Appearance at Meeting of Defensive Line

For the first time since being attacked outside a Mission Beach restaurant Sept. 26, nose tackle Joe Phillips met with his teammates Thursday at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

“He was apprehensive about walking back in,” defensive line coach Gunther Cunningham said, “but he came in, and God, he looked like a million dollars. We talked for 20 minutes and I was the happiest guy I’ve been in the last six weeks.

“Dan (Henning, coach) brought him into the team meeting, which was great, and he came into our defensive line meeting, and within two seconds, it was like old home week. I mean I hadn’t laughed that much in a long time.”

Phillips suffered a variety of injuries, including a fractured eye orbit, after allegedly being accosted by three men in the early hours of Sept. 26. Legal proceedings continue, and Phillips advised a Chargers’ spokesman that he could not discuss the matter.

Phillips, considered the team’s strongest player, worked out in the weight room Thursday. He remained to spend part of the morning in defensive team meetings.

The club said Phillips returned to the stadium to begin working with trainer Keoki Kamau. At the time of his injury, physicians indicated that it would be eight to 10 weeks before Phillips could return to practice. He is not expected to return this season.

“It’s like I said about Leslie O’Neal in 1986,” Cunningham said. “Joe Phillips will be back playing. I know that guy, and he needs this, like all of us do. He didn’t say that, but you could feel it.”

Les Miller, who replaced Phillips in the starting lineup, was poked in the eye in the Chargers’ 31-14 victory over the Seattle Seahawks. Although his eye is red, and beneath his eye it is black and blue, he will play against the Denver Broncos on Sunday.

“I’ll wear a visor like Leslie O’Neal,” Miller said. “The eye doesn’t bother me at all. My sight’s fine. I don’t even notice until someone stares at me, and either they are looking at me because I’m so big and ugly, or it’s the black eye. I can never tell.”

The Chargers announced that KNSD-TV (Ch. 39) had purchased the remaining 2,000 to 2,500 tickets for Sunday’s game with the Broncos to ensure the lifting of the local television blackout.

The home game will be shown at 1 p.m. with Don Criqui and Todd Christensen calling the play. The Chargers’ home contest with the Raiders three weeks ago was also a sellout.

Jack Teele, assistant to the president, said, the television station paid about $22 a ticket.

Marion Butts, the NFL’s leading rusher, missed practice for the second day in a row because of a bruised thigh, but Henning said he expects the running back to play. Butts was downgraded from questionable to doubtful on the team’s injury report.

“It’s a bruise between where the knee pad and the thigh pad come,” Henning said. “At this point, I would start (Rod) Bernstine. If he doesn’t start, I would expect Bernstine to get a great deal of the work.”

Butts said he’s not “injured,” just “hurt.” He said you can play, “when you’re hurt.”

Starting strong safety Martin Bayless was disappointed after failing to practice effectively on his injured calf.

“If I had to play today, I couldn’t,” he said. “I can run, but any time I got to plant and go . . . if I can’t do that, I can’t play.”

Starting free safety Vencie Glenn did not participate in team defensive work, but ran through seven-on-seven drills. Glenn has been hampered by a hamstring injury since playing against the Jets Oct. 14.

Glenn was downgraded from questionable to doubtful Thursday. “This is one of those lingering things and may not heal properly all season long,” said Glenn, who had hopes of making a run for the Pro Bowl this season. “Just got to go out every week and do what you can.”

After Thursday’s practice, quarterback John Elway pronounced himself healthy enough to start Sunday against the Chargers.

“It went pretty good,” Elway said. “It was a lot better than it was yesterday. I anticipate things will be pretty good by Sunday. I’d probably say I’m 75% right now. I just got to get some confidence back into it, see what I can do with it.

“I’m still protecting it quite a bit. I got to try and get out of that.”

Elway went through practice wearing a shoe with a hole cut out for his injured big toe. The club is trying to figure out how it will pad his injured toe and strained arch.

The Broncos did lose running back Steve Sewell for Sunday’s game after a weight-room mishap resulted in a slightly separated shoulder. The team also added tight end Orson Mobley to their injury report as questionable with a hamstring injury.

The Chargers have listed defensive end Burt Grossman on their injury report as questionable with a “distal phalanx (fingernail)” injury. Grossman, however, said it was a joke.

“Look, I don’t have a messed up fingernail,” Grossman said while slapping his hands on his legs. “I’m hurt bad, but it’s an ankle.

“I was hurt last week, but came out in pads and nobody knew I was hurt. That’s why they put me on the injury report with the finger thing because they hadn’t put me on last week.”