Chargers Not Awed by Saints’ Success : Pro football: Team ready to prove that it’s better than its 2-8 record.

The New Orleans Saints are 9-1 and the Chargers are not impressed.

They look at the Saints in preparation for today’s game in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, and they see themselves--minus a major chunk of good luck. They are aware of the gap that should separate a 9-1 football team from a 2-8 disaster, but, “I just don’t see it,” said linebacker Leslie O’Neal.

Guard David Richards said, “I think they’re 9-1 by the same margin we’re 2-8. The difference between winning and losing here has been just one play. We’ve been kicking everybody’s butt and coming up short.”

O’Neal said, “You take out a couple plays in every game we’ve played and we could very easily be in that same situation. This a good chance for us to get some people off our back and prove how good of a team we have.”

The Saints, who allow an average of 10 points a game, are 5-1 this season in games decided by seven or fewer points. They have the league’s No. 2-ranked defense and are two victories away from clinching the first division title in the franchise’s 25-year history.

The Chargers, however, believe the Saints are primed for the upset.

“We’ve been able to compete with people and they haven’t just torn everybody up,” Coach Dan Henning. “They’re winning the games that have been tight, but our team is not going to be intimidated by 9-1.

“These guys are going to come in here and think they have a smorgasbord. They’ll be in a feeding frenzy; they’ll look at us and they will say this team is 2-8 and we’re 9-1 . . . We’ll have to show them early that’s not going to happen.

“They just won a big game last week, the sun will be out . . . maybe they’ll think they are on vacation.”

If all goes well for the Chargers on this sunny Sunday, the Saints will wonder what hit them. The Chargers are going to run the ball, like they did last year and earlier this season, and when the defense begins stacking extra defenders on the line of scrimmage, John Friesz will go deep to Anthony Miller.

“We’ve got to out there and prove to them that we can move the football on the ground,” Henning said, “and possibly get them in a position where we may be able to hit a big play. Somebody’s got to cover Anthony Miller and I think Anthony may be a mismatch against some of those guys.”

To set up that mismatch, the Chargers must effectively pound the ball.

“That’s what we do best,” tackle Broderck Thompson said. “We can run the ball on anybody. They put an eight-man front up and that’s nothing new to us. We’re finally getting back to that this week.

“We’ve gotten away from that the last five weeks. This is like a breath of fresh air; we feel more comfortable running the ball. There’s nothing to hide. We’re going to try and run it.”

The Saints, however, rank No. 1 in the league stopping the run. They have allowed an average of only 67.6 yards per game on the ground and a league-low two rushing touchdowns.

“Kansas City came out in first half and decided to try and finesse them, which is not the Chiefs’ thing,” Thompson said. “They are a power football team. It didn’t work, but in the second half they came out and just did what they do best, and it worked.

“That’s what we’re going to do; let the big man (Butts) find the holes, have him run over a couple of people and get ahead in the game.”

The Saints took a 17-0 first-half lead over the Chiefs, but Kansas City mounted a second-half rally before losing 17-10. The Saints’ only defeat this season came against Chicago, and the Bears ran for a season-high 142 yards against New Orleans.

“That’s how the Bears kept it tight enough to win it; they ran it,” guard David Richards said. “Teams have had success running the ball when they have determined that’s how they’re going to attack them.

“We haven’t done it in five weeks, and when we get it going there’s a feeling that it cannot be stopped. You can even see it in the faces of the defenders when we got it going. They just get that hopeless look.”

The Chargers have allowed Friesz to open the offensive attack, but they are concerned about the Saints’ highly destructive pass rush. Linebacker Pat Swilling leads the league with 13 1/2 sacks, and linebacker Rickey Jackson has eight sacks.

“It’s like going against Kansas City, who has Derrick Thomas, only these guys have another guy comparable to Thomas on the other side,” Friesz said. “What we did with Derrick Thomas was put him in a 2-on-1 situation and take him out of the game. When you got two guys rushing like that, you can’t do it.

“There’s going to be a number of 1-on-1 situations with our tackles and tight ends and they just need to rise to the occasion. If they don’t get their job done on both sides every time, there’s not going to be a passing play.”

The Chargers will pass, but they prefer to make a hero out of Butts this week. Butts had defenders ducking for cover last season on his way to running for a club-record 1,225 yards. Five times he gained more than 100 yards in a game.

Butts, however, began this season as Rod Bernstine’s backup. A training camp holdout took the wallop out of his game, and although Bernstine resides on injured reserve with a sore back, Butts is still without a 100-yard rushing effort this season.

“I haven’t lost my form,” Butts said. “What are you talking about? What do you see different? We’ve been trying to balance things out.”

Butts’ top effort this season came last week against Seattle, when he carried the ball 20 times for 86 yards and two touchdowns. He was a shoestring tackle away, however, from breaking loose for another long-distance touchdown.

“That’s where everybody is going,” Butts said. “I don’t have any power down there, so they’re trying to hit me low. A man without his legs is like a chicken without a head.”

Speaking of the New Orleans Saints’ offense, it will continue to play without quarterback Bobby Hebert (shoulder) and running backs Craig Heyward (foot) and Dalton Hilliard (arch).

The Saints rank 20th on offense, last in the league in first downs gained and 26th with 3.2 yards per rush. Their best chance of scoring often comes when their defense is on the field.

“They’re not tearing the league up on offense, but they do a steady job,” Henning said. “They’re probably down about the fact they don’t have those running backs and the quarterback, but these other guys have been playing for a couple of weeks.”

Steve Walsh, who has thrown for five touchdowns with four interceptions, will start at quarterback, and Buford Jordan and Fred McAfee will carry the ball.

“I’d enjoy a close defensive struggle with us coming out on top,” nose tackle Joe Phillips said. “You can say all you want about us being the best 2-8 team, but the bottom line is we’re 2-8.

“They’re 9-1 and that all goes to their execution and performance. They got it done. We’ve been competitive in every game we’ve played, and to go out and play tight with these guys and lose will only confirm what we already know: We can swing it out, but when it comes time to make it happen, we don’t.

“To play tight and win, I think it would take us to another level and we could say: Yeah, we do have talent, we can take care of business and when it comes to win it, we can. That’s the difference between winning and losing in the NFL.”

And that’s been the difference this season between the Saints and Chargers.

“It’s a situation where we feel good about going into this game,” Friesz said. “They’ve had a couple of injuries and we feel we’re better than our record states.”