He’s the New Leader of the NFL’s Sack Pack : Pro football: In only his second pro season, Chief linebacker Derrick Thomas is being compared to Giants’ Lawrence Taylor.

Ask Derrick Thomas about his role model, and he doesn’t even have to mention the man’s name.

When the question came up the other day, Thomas said, “There’s only one person I can chase, and he’s in New Jersey.”

That person is Lawrence Taylor, and Thomas placed him in New Jersey because that’s where Taylor and the New York Giants play their home games.

This is no more than fitting since, in only his second pro season, Thomas already is being mentioned in the same breath as Taylor. His record seven sacks against the Seattle Seahawks last week underscores the impact he has had since the Kansas City Chiefs made him the fourth pick in the 1989 draft.

Charger quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver, who will be Thomas’ target in Sunday’s game in Kansas City, summed up the general feeling about the Chiefs’ sack man:

“Five years from now, he’ll be the guy all outside linebackers will be measured against, like L.T. is today. Thomas is just phenomenal. He gets a lot of his sacks on sheer desire, and the other half on his great athletic ability.”

Thomas is 6 feet 3 and weighs 232 pounds, yet he has 4.5-speed in the 40 and quickness to match.

“He’s the quickest guy at that spot I’ve ever seen,” Charger Coach Dan Henning said. “When he gets to moving, he’s like a wide receiver.”

Though rating Thomas quicker than Taylor, Henning said Thomas “doesn’t have as much strength as Taylor at the point of attack.”

But remember, Thomas is only 23. Remember, too, that he won almost every honor in sight in his first season as a pro. He was elected a starter in the Pro Bowl, made some all-AFC and all-pro teams and was voted the AFC’s defensive rookie of the year.

At the time, Charger defensive end Burt Grossman thought that he, not Thomas, should have been named defensive rookie of the year last season. He has mellowed since, but only to a degree.

“It depends on what side you take,” Grossman said. “He was a good choice, but I thought I had as good a year as he had. We each had 10 sacks, and he got all his in the first 10 games. I had mine in the last eight or nine games.

“We both held out. He started the season better than I did, but I ended it better.”

Grossman then grinned and added, “He’s obviously a better athlete. I’ll give him that.”

Whatever the relative merits of the two as rookies, Thomas has opened a big lead over Grossman in the sack race this year. He now has 15 in nine games to Grossman’s 8 1/2 in 10 games. Bruce Smith of the Buffalo Bills, Jeff Cross of the Miami Dolphins and Charles Haley of the San Francisco 49ers share second place with 10 each.

Thomas’ seven-sack attack against Seattle bettered by one the record set in 1983 by San Francisco’s Fred Dean, a former Charger. Ironically, Thomas finished the day on a low note, when Seahawk quarterback Dave Krieg averted what would have been Thomas’ eighth sack and threw the winning pass as the game ended.

“I made up my mind to get free on that final play,” Thomas said. “I got free, but I got too aggressive. When Krieg stepped up in the pocket, I couldn’t regain my balance and he made the throw.”

But even that last-second miss didn’t lessen the luster of one of the most remarkable feats of this NFL season.

Thomas was on a mission that day, motivated by a pregame tribute that marked the observance of Veterans Day. His father, a helicopter pilot, was killed in Vietnam, and the officer in charge of an aerial demonstration gave him a yellow headband inscribed with black fighter planes.

“I get a special feeling whenever a plane flies over,” Thomas said. “That inspired me into playing my best game this season and, as it turned out, the best of my NFL career.

“I knew what the record was, but I had no idea I’d get that many. I had about three, and I had worked hard for them. Then they started to come, and it was easy after that.”

Kansas City Coach Marty Schottenheimer said of Thomas’ performance: “It was amazing. From the standpoint of production, it was the greatest I’ve ever seen.”

The Chargers were able to handle Thomas in sweeping their two meetings last year, and Thomas became so frustrated in the fourth quarter of the second game that he kicked Charger tight end Arthur Cox in the face. For that, he drew an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty and was ejected.

Tolliver was so angered by Thomas’ actions that he pushed Thomas in the back. Tolliver, too, was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct but was allowed to stay in the game.

Despite the Chargers’ success against Thomas a year ago, Ted Tollner, their assistant head coach in charge of quarterbacks, warned not to assume more of the same on Sunday.

“We ran at him last year,” Tollner said. “Now he has improved in that area, and he has made himself a more complete player.

“We’ve had to do a lot of extra planning to try to contain him. He creates a real concern, not only because of the pressure he can put on a quarterback but because of his pursuit when you try to run away from him. We’ll try blocking him with different people, and sometimes with more than one man at a time.

“We can’t leave him on an island all day, and we can’t use the same scheme all the time. He’s too quick.”

Tollner noted that Thomas’ seven-sack day could make him a finer player than ever.

“He’s at a high-flying confidence level now,” Tollner said. “Sometimes a game like that puts a guy on the elite level. He thinks, ‘Look what I did today. I can do this every week.’ I saw it happen with Andre Reed in Buffalo. He was a good wide receiver, but not a great one. After he had one big game, he jumped to Pro Bowl level.”

Tollner said he spotted Thomas as a budding star when Thomas was a freshman at Alabama. Tollner was then the coach at USC, which played Alabama in the 1985 Aloha Bowl in Honolulu.

“Cornelius Bennett (now a star with the Bills) was a senior and played on the other side,” Tollner said. “After the game, I asked somebody, ‘Who was that opposite Bennett? He’s going to be even better.’ ”

Thomas is the Chiefs’ right outside linebacker, so most of the responsibility for keeping him off Tolliver’s back will fall on the players who man the left side of the Chargers’ offensive line.

Here is how they feel about the task:

* Joel Patten, tackle: “He’s a great young player with a great desire to be one of the best in the league. He’s gifted with speed, the knack of getting to the passer. We can double-team him in certain situations, but not in others. You don’t want to free up other players who are good in their own right. Rotating guys will help, plus it will change up on what he’ll see from one play to the next.”

* Leo Goeas, tackle: “He’s similar to Junior Seau. He’s very fast and athletic. We’ll have to be at our best, but we’re not going out of our way for him. It’s going to be a great challenge for us.”

* Eric Floyd, tackle/guard: “He’s on the verge of being a great player. Hopefully, he can be blocked.”

* Courtney Hall, guard: “Maybe we’ll try to put all five linemen on him at the same time.”

Hall was kidding, of course, but Thomas does pose big problems, and the Chargers are catching him at a bad time.

“I was down on myself last week,” Thomas said. “I hadn’t put any input into the Raider game (Nov. 4). The ceremony last Sunday gave a boost to my momentum and my team’s momentum.

“Last year I was feeling my way, and I tailed off toward the end. The other teams learned things about me, so I had to learn how to counteract what they were doing. Now I’m more aware of the things happening around me. I’m at the point where I can dictate what goes on.”