Secondary’s Mistakes Hit Charger Coach Hard : Pro football: Mora feels the pressure that is a direct result of errors by defenders Shelton and Richard.

Each time the Chargers’ young safeties, Anthony Shelton and Stanley Richard, make a mental error, the mental strain on secondary coach Jim Mora intensifies.

Mora tries to ease his mind by telling himself, “It’s not your fault. They’re young. They’ll learn.”

But each week, as the errors become more costly and the losses mount, Mora wonders if they will learn quickly enough.

“It’s incredibly frustrating,” Mora said Monday after a four-hour meeting with his bewildered secondary. “Because our expectations are higher than this. We feel like we’re better than this. We have too much talent to be doing this.

“I’m a perfectionist. It kills you when you spend so much time on little things, and then you don’t do them right.”

Mora said both long touchdowns Sunday were caused by Shelton’s brief mental lapses.

“It was just a slight hesitation, but that’s all it takes,” Mora said. Against Pittsburgh, cornerback Sammy Seale also hesitated slightly. The next thing he knew, Steeler Dwight Stone was running down the sideline for a touchdown.

“We’re making mental mistakes and the problem is, it’s happening to key players, at key positions at key times,” Mora said. “They’ve been made out to where they’re more apparent because they’ve cost us.”

Mora says there are no minor miscues in the secondary.

“Anytime a defensive back makes a mistake, it’s a touchdown,” he said. “That’s because these guys are professionals. They’re getting paid to beat you.”

Opponents have beaten the Charger secondary for 610 yards and five touchdowns in two games. After two weeks, the Charger pass defense is league’s worst.

“I’m as much responsible as they are,” Mora said. “I know we keep saying this, but we need to get together and correct it.”

But until Shelton and Richard, who only have started two games in the NFL, become more comfortable and confident, Mora said the mistakes might continue.

“A lot of times Anthony and Stanley see something happen in a game, it’s the first time they’ve seen it,” he said. “If an offense is giving them a new look, they have nothing to go on. But they have to make it click right away.”

Mora and defensive coordinator Ron Lynn said they hadn’t determined whether Shelton would get another opportunity to make it click. In meetings Monday night and Tuesday, they will decide on Martin Bayless or Shelton as the strong safety for Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons.

Even if Bayless does start, Shelton figures to play a lot against Atlanta’s ‘Red Gun’ or four-receiver offense.

“Anthony loves to run around and chase those receivers,” Mora said. “He excels in the Red Gun.”

Mora said it was unfortunate that Shelton had become the week’s scapegoat.

“It’s everybody making errors, it’s just that his were more glaring this week,” Mora said. “He’s taking the entire loss on his shoulders. But he’s taking it well. His errors are not for lack of effort. No one has spent more time studying and working with me than Anthony.”

But Lynn said some players evidently were not studying enough.

Neither Mora nor Lynn blames the secondary’s problems on the defensive line, which has registered just three sacks.

“The mistakes that occurred have not been ones where they’ve had to cover for long stretches of time,” Lynn said. “Against San Francisco you’re going to get five or six legitimate sack opportunities a game because of the nature of their passing game. You can rush 15 and you’re not going to get there.”

Said Mora: “In order to get a pass rush, you have to have coverage. We have to do our job. We’ve can’t depend on the defensive line to make plays.”

Former Valhalla High kicker Brad Daluiso was waived by the Atlanta Falcons days before his homecoming. Daluiso, a rookie from UCLA, missed a 26-yard field goal Sunday in the Falcons’ 20-19 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. The Falcons replaced Daluiso with veteran Norm Johnson.

After being the No. 3 quarterback in Atlanta for the first week of the season, former Charger Billy Joe Tolliver was promoted to No. 2 last week. Rookie quarterback Brett Favre was deactivated before the Falcons game, leaving Tolliver and starter Chris Miller as the Falcons’ two active quarterbacks.

The Chargers are expecting 45,000 fans for their home opener Sunday against Atlanta at 1 p.m. The game, to be televised by CBS, will be blacked in the San Diego area if it is not sold out by 1 p.m. Thursday.

Coach Dan Henning had mixed feelings about quarterback John Friesz’s 14-for-33, two-touchdown, three-interception performance Sunday.

“John makes the plays that are designed, but I’m afraid if he had 11 on his back that the general consensus would be that he wasn’t a very good player now,” Henning said. “I think the consensus is that there’s more patience now with him because he is young, but if we continue to go through that we’ll never get anywhere.”

Henning said two of Friesz’s interceptions could be attributed to poor decisions and a good 49er pass rush.

“I don’t think he’s ready to go through his reads and make great decisions with that kind of pressure on him,” Henning said.

Right tackle Broderick Thompson has started the past 50 games for the Chargers but that streak might be in trouble Sunday. Thompson suffered a groin injury against San Francisco and missed the second half. Henning said he didn’t expect Thompson to play against Atlanta. Henning said Leo Goeas, Eric Floyd or Mark May would start in place of Thompson.