CHARGERS ARE CATCHING ON : New Coach Takes New Approach to Curing Receivers of the Drops

The Chargers have a new coaching staff and innovative ideas for success in 1992.

“They are showing us things we never heard of before,” said wide receiver Nate Lewis.

Indeed, the Chargers intend to have their wide receivers catch the ball this season.

This dramatic departure from last year’s plan, however, reportedly will not include hand transplants, trading for Benito Santiago, the use of super glue or an announcement that Charlie Joiner, Wes Chandler and Kellen Winslow are coming out of retirement.

“We need Anthony Miller, Nate Lewis and Shawn Jefferson to be the guys that make the difference,” said Jerry Sullivan, the team’s replacement for Joiner as wide receivers coach. “We need to be able to hit the home run.”

This will no doubt help the Chargers this season when they move into the seventh, eighth and ninth innings down by only a run. Fortunately, they don’t count errors in football, but throw one hundred footballs to a baseball player wearing boxing gloves and he doesn’t drop as many passes as the Charger receivers did last year.

Starting pitcher John Friesz had a good season, but imagine how flashy his statistics would have been had he been throwing to someone who could catch. Imagine how many passes might have been caught had the brass not waited 10 weeks before cutting Arthur Cox.

“I think that you would have to say that there were more drops last year than you would ever like to have,” Sullivan said.

So the new wide receivers coach talks like Al Saunders. It’s been a tough first two months on the job--he’s been on the practice field three times a week with the Charger receivers. His livelihood depends on these guys, and remember what happened to Al Saunders.

“My goal is to have these guys see themselves in a very positive light,” Sullivan said. “Once they begin to make plays, their self-esteem will increase, and then they’ll make more plays.”

It’s too early to say if Sullivan’s “feel-good” campaign has taken root, but Sullivan has caught the attention of the front office. He got that as soon as he plugged in the pitching machine.

Last year General Manager Bobby Beathard grew weary of watching his wide receivers drop the ball. He kept waiting for someone to do something about it.

When practice ended each day, however, the players raced from the field. They were not stopped to work overtime on their shortcomings. When Beathard suggested to the coaching staff that they might want to have the receivers catch footballs thrown from a pitching machine, the machine was wheeled out onto the field.

Three days later it went back into storage.

That idle machine became a symbol for Beathard for all that was going wrong in 1991 for the Chargers. He believed the coaches were not paying attention to detail. He felt discipline was lacking, and when a mistake occurred on the field, he did not see it immediately corrected.

Enter Coach Bobby Ross and his new staff of teaching-minded assistants. Project No. 1: The Chargers’ corps of wide receivers.

“You gotta see them,” Beathard said. “You can already see the difference in them. They’re getting off the line of scrimmage and they’re catching the ball.”

Sullivan has eliminated the stutter-step at the line of scrimmage to try and avoid pass coverage. “Attack the defense up the field,” he has told them.

He has placed an emphasis on body position and hand placement to enhance their chances of catching the ball. He has had them running pass routes over and over. “You can’t catch the ball if the quarterback doesn’t know where you’re going to be,” he said.

Two months ago Beathard maintained that one of the Chargers’ most pressing needs in the upcoming draft was at the wide receiver position. That need might no longer be so glaring. Lewis has excelled under Sullivan’s tutelage, Jefferson has impressed the front office and Yancey Thigpen has volunteered for the additional practice time.

“Nate is really a neat person to be around,” Sullivan said. “He’s got a lot of running ability. His biggest problem is kind of like a pitcher who gets a little wild. The pitcher starts aiming the ball. When Nate started dropping some passes he began to almost fear the ball and it negated his running ability.”

Jefferson, who missed the opportunity to participate in training camp because of the timing of his trade from Houston, jumped to his feet and began demonstrating the techniques that Sullivan has taught him.

“I’m going to be the No. 2 guy,” he said. “I’m very confident in my ability and when training camp rolls around you guys are going to see that I belong here.”

Meanwhile, the ball machine remains plugged in.

“When people go to a game they don’t give a damn about all the things you did to get ready to play, they just want to see you catch the ball,” Sullivan said. “If you and I go see a Broadway show and 20 dancers are all in step except for one, you’ll notice the one out of step and not the other 19 in step.”

Speaking of Miller, he still hasn’t caught on. Miller, never a breakaway threat in anyone’s media relations competition, has watched his performance sour as his attitude curdled.

Miller last season dropped passes with regularity, continuing a trend that disturbed the team’s hierarchy. He caught 75 passes in 1989, 63 in 1990, but finished 1991 on injured reserve with a quadriceps muscle injury and 44 catches.

When it came time this week to discuss Sullivan and the emphasis the team has placed on catching the ball, Lewis and Jefferson were most enthusiastic.

Miller is supposed to be the Chargers’ designated home run hitter, but last season he struck out. He failed to draw Pro Bowl notice for the first time in three years, but he recently declined to discuss his slump.

“I don’t really think about last year,” Miller said. “That’s over with. It’s ’92. What do you want to talk with me about? Tell me.”

He did not wait for a reply.

“I don’t want to talk about last year,” he said. “That’s bull. I can catch the ball. I’m not worried about that. I know I can play. That’s all I have to say. I know I can play. Put it that way.”

Tell it to Dan Henning, Joiner & Co.

“Looking at film I don’t think any of the receivers caught the ball consistently last season,” Ross said. “But I don’t think any of them have bad hands. It goes back to the mental aspect. Concentration.

“Lewis has speed, Jefferson has shown us some really good things and Thigpen has some things to learn. As for Miller, I think he has a helluva future.”

Put it this way: The Chargers still need a dependable catcher and the Padres want another home run hitter.