CHARGER REVIEW : NOTEBOOK : Injuries Couldn’t Keep Tolliver Out

Quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver fought back from a pulled groin muscle, strained knee and banged-up elbow to play on.

Tolliver injured his groin and knee as he was sacked in the second quarter. He stayed in the game and made a pair of handoffs, and when John Kidd was brought on to punt, he went to the sideline for treatment.

When the Chargers went back on offense, Tolliver raced over to Henning with his helmet on but was told Mark Vlasic would replace him. Vlasic threw a pair of incomplete passes, and then a pass that was intercepted.

Tolliver opened the third quarter as the starting quarterback, and while limping, played on.

“He’s sore with the groin pull,” Henning said, “but I’m more concerned about his knee.”

When Tolliver was asked about his knee, he said, “No, I’m fine. Did I play? Then I’m fine.”

After being pressed, and reminded that his coach had said he was hurt, he said, “It’s just bruised. It’s nothing big. The guy just hit me in the knee, it’s a little sore.

“The docs checked it out, there’s no damage. It’s just sore. No, it’s not hurt. It’s just sore.”

Defensive lineman Burt Grossman happened by, and said, “He’s slow either way, what’s the difference?

“At least it will give you an excuse,” he told Tolliver, “tell them the damn knee hurts.”

As for his sore elbow, Tolliver said, “I got a couple of shots on it, so I got tired of getting hit and put a pad on it. The game’s designed for contact, and you get sore.”

Is everyone watching the same game?

In the third quarter Sunday, Tolliver zipped a two-yard touchdown pass to tight end Derrick Walker.

After Walker caught the ball, he turned and was belted by Kansas City linebacker Percy Snow.

Walker struck back, but in almost docile fashion, then spiked the ball in front of Snow.

A flag was thrown, and the Chargers were penalized 15 yards for “intimidation.”

“He’s a Michigan State player, and I’m from Michigan,” Walker said. “We’re friends, but he kind of shoved me and I just retaliated. It was out of instinct. It was bad judgment on my part.”

Snow and Walker played against each other in college for four years and were together at the NFL scouting combine workouts earlier this year. “We had a couple of banquets in Chicago and hung out together,” he said.

“He hit me after I caught the ball, and I thought that was a little cheap. I knew it was him.”

The officials, however, charged Walker with the crime.

“That call is completely wrong,” Henning said. “It should be the opposite if it is anything.”

That call, however, was not nearly as poor as a pair of offsetting penalties called on the Chargers for being offsides and the Chiefs for being in illegal motion.

If the Chiefs are in illegal motion, that is what prompts the Chargers’ defense to move.

“I’ve never heard the call before,” Henning said. “I’ve never heard where you have illegal motion and then offsides.”

With 14 seconds remaining in the first half, the Chiefs appeared to call timeout at the San Diego 14-yard line.

However, the officials measured for a first down, and after awarding the Chiefs a first down, announced to the stadium that Kansas City would not be charged for a timeout.

At the same time referee Dick Hantak started the game clock rolling.

The Chiefs went about their business unaware that the clock was running and quarterback Steve DeBerg overthrew Emile Harry in the end zone. Time ran out on the play, and without waiting for an explanation, the Chargers raced off the field.

“As soon as the clock said zero, about 20 of us started running in,” Chargers linebacker Billy Ray Smith said. “We knew if we got in the locker room they wouldn’t get another chance.”

The Chiefs protested, but after the game Hantak explained the call.

“There is a rule that says that if there is a stoppage or an official act, such as a measurement, the time out is not charged the team that calls it, and the clock will start when on the ready.

“I told Steve DeBerg that the clock will run. He misinterpreted. He thought I meant the 25-second clock instead of the game clock. I can’t tell him to call timeout again.”

Had the Chiefs called timeout, kicker Nick Lowery would have been able to attempt a 31-yard field goal. Lowery is 12 of 13 in field-goal attempts between the 30- and 39-yard lines.

Tolliver’s streak of passes thrown without an interception ended at 141 when Kevin Ross intercepted a third-quarter pass.

DeBerg, however, has now run his streak to 135. DeBerg has not thrown an interception in nine of the Chiefs’ 10 games this season.

Running back Marion Butts gained 40 yards on 14 carries, while his counterpart, Christian Okoye, had 43 yards on 15 carries.

However, the Chiefs also got 90 yards on 17 carries from Barry Word.

“They got us out of our game plan,” Butts said. “They weren’t really playing sportsmanlike ball. They were shooting at the mouth and trying to start a fight.

“You got to ignore it and keep striving for success. They were keying on me and I had tough time, we play them again.”