PRO FOOTBALL REPORT : WEEKDAY UPDATE : CHARGERS : Phillips May Play if Playoffs Possible

Charger Coach Dan Henning said he would consider asking nose tackle Joe Phillips to come back off injured reserve if the Chargers are still in the playoff hunt when they play the Raiders in the season finale.

Phillips has been on injured reserve since he was assaulted in Mission Beach on Sept. 26. Phillips has been working out at the stadium the past several weeks. Henning said he hasn’t yet received word on when Phillips will be cleared by doctors to play football.

Rookie tight end Derrick Walker has been more than adequate as a replacement for Joe Caravello, who is out for the rest of the season with a knee injury.

“You would have no idea . . . that this guy is a rookie,” Henning said. “He has played the way you would expect a veteran to play at that spot.”

Rookie cornerback Donald Frank, who was beaten badly on a 37-yard pass from Ken O’Brien to Rob Moore in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s victory over the Jets, may have to put in some extra time in front of the chalk board this week. Henning said Frank should have covered the outside on that pattern, but instead went toward the middle of the field where he would have had help from the safety.

“We’ve got to go back and lay the law down and tell him what the philosophy of that particular coverage is,” Henning said.