Chargers Put Friesz in the Fire

The oddsmakers raised the Raiders from an eight-point choice to a 10-point favorite after the Chargers announced they would start rookie quarterback John Friesz.

Kansas City General Manager Carl Peterson has complained that the Chargers will be starting “a sixth-round draft pick who hasn’t taken a snap in an NFL game” rather than a game-tested Billy Joe Tolliver.

And for the Chiefs to win the AFC West Division title, they will need the Chargers (6-9) to beat the Raiders (11-4) today.

If they took a vote in the Chargers’ locker room, Friesz wouldn’t even be the team’s unanimous choice to start against the playoff-bound Raiders.

“I don’t want to come out and second-guess the front office, but me personally, I’d rather go with Billy Joe Tolliver and try and win the game,” said Broderick Thompson, the Chargers’ starting right tackle. “I’ve seen so much improvement in him all year. Why do something to possibly damage his confidence going into next year? That’s not good.”

Said starting left guard Courtney Hall, “I’d rather see him (Tolliver) in there, but that’s the way the game goes. I’d like to be paid a lot more, but that’s the way things go.”

So imagine if you were John Friesz.

“I wouldn’t want to be in his position,” cornerback Gill Byrd said.

With the benefit of three days of practice, Friesz will begin his NFL career against a Raiders team that has to win to receive a bye in the first round of the playoffs--a Raiders’ team that needs a victory to claim the AFC West crown.

The Raiders have won four games in a row. The Raiders, who are No. 2 in the league with 47 sacks, are ranked No. 5 in defense. The Raiders are big and bad, and oh, how they like rookie quarterbacks.

“John Friesz will find out real quick about the Raiders’ pass rush,” Peterson said.

“We’re real worried about what Carl has to say,” replied linebacker Billy Ray Smith. “All we want to do is please Carl. Carl can kiss our butts at this point in time. Carl’s team should have taken care of business weeks ago. We have things we have to prepare for next year.

“Just because John Friesz is starting the game doesn’t mean it’s going to be a wash. We’re still putting out our starting defense, our first-team offensive line, John Carney is kicking and John Kidd is still punting. The only thing different is we’re just going to see how this kid does.”

The kid is 23. The Chargers traded a third-round pick in the 1991 draft to obtain the first pick in the sixth round of the 1990 draft to select Friesz.

Friesz, 6-foot-4 and 209 pounds, came to the Chargers with 24 school, 18 conference and five NCAA Division I-AA records. He guided the University of Idaho to a 27-5 mark as a starting quarterback and three NCAA playoff appearances.

But now he’s playing the Raiders.

“I just don’t think the Raiders have any respect for us any ways,” Byrd said. “I think they’ll just want to come out and prove without a shadow of a doubt that they are a better football team, and that we shouldn’t even be in the same stadium with them.

“Whether it was Billy Joe, Mark Vlasic or John Friesz, nobody expects us to win. Nobody outside this locker room believes we can win. The decision to play John Friesz is a coaching decision, and we have to live with that.

“What we all have to understand is the NFL is a very transient business, and it’s ‘what have you done for me lately?’ in this league. If you don’t go out and perform, the front office is going to remember it in the offseason.”

The Chargers’ replacement team in the 1987 strike defeated the Raiders in the Los Angeles Coliseum, but the Charger regulars have failed to win there since the Raiders moved to Los Angeles in 1982.

Earlier this season, the Raiders came to San Diego and won, 24-9.

“Regardless of who is in there, it’s going to take a total-team effort,” Friesz said. “Billy Joe’s got some experience, and mistakes he made real early, I might make in this game. But for whatever reason, this is what the front office has decided to do.”

The front office likes Friesz’s accuracy. In practice, he was on target pass after pass, and when given the opportunity to run the two-minute offense against the Chargers’ first defensive unit, he drove his team in for a score.

“Somebody upstairs has made a decision on what they want to do with this game,” starting guard David Richards said. “And it will be interesting to see what happens. Who knows, maybe the kid will go out there and throw three touchdown passes for 350 yards and just light the world on fire.”

Even Friesz, however, concedes “that 90% of the quarterbacks who have made their NFL debut have struggled.

“I’m in good shape as far as what I’m expecting of myself; I’m not expecting a ton,” Friesz said. “But I’m expecting a good solid performance.”

A good solid performance will have to include a big assist from the Chargers’ defense, special teams and running game. Marion Butts, who has gained 1,225 yards, will miss his second game in a row with a foot injury.

Rod Bernstine, who has run 97 times for 475 yards, will assume Butts’ duties.

“It’s up to us,” Richards said. “We have to make the running game work. We can’t get stuck in third and long because you know those defensive linemen in LA are licking their chops.

“The first time Billy Joe started (in Seattle) they blitzed the heck out of him. I don’t think any team in the league would do it any differently. You know they’re going to put the heat on him and force him to make mistakes.”

If the mistakes come, if the Raiders get to Friesz and rearrange his body and send him to the sideline, it will be up to Tolliver again to take command of the Chargers.

“Who knows if I’ll play,” Tolliver said. “They’re pretty good.”

Friesz, overhearing Tolliver’s response to the media, interrupted. “Billy Joe’s suffering from what Freud might have called quarterback envy.”

After the laughter subsided, Tolliver sent Friesz on his way (with expletives deleted): “Play a quarter first . . .”