Charger Receivers Trimmed : Football: Bob Gagliano remains the starting quarterback, but his targets have been reduced.
There is no cause for concern.
Monday’s announcement that Bob Gagliano has been named the Chargers’ starting quarterback has nothing to do with the team’s decision to release most of its wide receivers.
The Chargers say they still will throw the ball this year, and after they finish juggling their roster today, they say they will field a full complement of wide receivers.
It also is a coincidence in timing, but the Chargers announced Monday that season-ticket sales for 1992 are lower than 1991.
The decision to start Gagliano appeared to be a particularly painful one for an organization that had its heart set on making Stan Humphries the starter.
After putting off the decision for a few days, Coach Bobby Ross concluded: “(Gagliano) has won the position clearly.
“He will be backed up by Stan Humphries,” Ross said. “It’s a good problem. I didn’t think it was a difficult problem in any way, shape or form, I just simply wanted some time to reflect.”
Ross recited Gagliano’s statistics, saying, “I don’t think you can ask for a guy to play any better than he’s played.”
Ross then praised Humphries.
“Stan Humphries in the same light has done extremely well,” Ross said. “In eight drives he scored five times. His completion percentage is about 57% and four of his drives have been in excess of 50 yards. His (quarterback) rating is around a 57.1 or 57.2%”
If it took this long to decide, it’s probably not a good time to point out Pat O’Hara’s quarterback rating is 57.8 and Humphries’ rating is 83.6.
“I think (Gagliano and Humphries) have played extremely well,” Ross said. “I wanted time to sit back and think on it, reflect on it and to do a little analyzing and make sure that we were right and accurate with what we wanted to do. I feel very comfortable in what we’re doing.”
Gagliano, 7-5 as a starter, threw for three touchdowns in a 40-27 victory over Denver in his last starting assignment on Thanksgiving Day, 1990.
“I’m excited,” Gagliano said. “I just want us to get ready and build towards Kansas City.”
Humphries’ last appearance in the regular-season game was against the Eagles on Nov. 12, 1990. The Redskins traded Humphries to the Chargers on Aug. 13th for a fourth-round pick in next year’s draft--a third-round pick if Humphries takes more than 50% of the snaps this season.
“I think in all fairness he earned the job,” Humphries said. “I think I’ve done everything asked of me, but I’m still a little unsure of things, so it was best for him to be named the starter. Hey, I’ll be right there behind him and rooting for him, but we’ll still have a competition on the field in practice.
“I told Coach Ross I’ll be ready at any time if you need to call on me. But I don’t think it should be to a situation where a quarterback throws a pass and then always look over his shoulder to see if (the other guy) is going to be coming in. I don’t think that’s fair to Bob.”
General Manager Bobby Beathard, who took issue with the perception that he favors Humphries as the starting quarterback, endorsed Ross’ decision.
“It’s wrong to think that,” Beathard said. “I talked with Bobby and I told him I’ll feel comfortable with whatever decision he makes. When he told me today the decision he made, I said, ‘Great.’ I think it’s the right decision. Bob earned it.”
Gagliano will start Sunday’s regular-season opener with the Kansas City Chiefs, but how long before Humphries replaces him?
“What do you think?” Gagliano said. “I’m not going to be looking over my shoulder. You can’t play like that, and I think they’re making it a situation where it will be comfortable enough to do that. I’m not going to be worried about anything. It’s not my style anyway.”
Two years ago the Chargers reluctantly announced they were starting Mark Vlasic rather than Billy Joe Tolliver, but after jerking Vlasic from the season-opener, Tolliver went on to start the next 15 games.
“It’s like any other position,” Ross said. “If you felt like instinctively things weren’t working out well, if you got a good reliever, you go to him. I think Stan is a good reliever.”
Ross said if such a change is made, he would make it and yet allow the starter to come back the next week. “Sometimes people have off days.”
The Chargers began preparing for the Chiefs by reducing their roster to 47. The team released wide receivers’ Yancey Thigpen, Johnnie Barnes, Robert Claiborne and Walter Stanley, and allowed Shawn Jefferson, who is recovering from a sore hamstring, only limited practice time.
“The big thing right now is still the wide receiver situation,” said Ross. “We’ve got to have four.”
Nate Lewis, who missed most of training camp with a quadriceps muscle, and Anthony Miller, who is coming off off-season knee surgery, will start at wide receiver.
The Chargers remain hopeful that Jefferson will be healthy enough to play, but Jefferson said he took only two turns in practice and his hamstring remains tight.
The Chargers continued to have Claiborne and Stanley practice Monday, although they had been released earlier in the day. The team intends to re-sign one or both today.
Claiborne said he’s been told he will be placed on the team’s practice squad today.
The team would have preferred to bring back Thigpen, but word came that Green Bay was likely to claim him.
Beathard said the team will place cornerback Marquez Pope (virus), safety James Fuller (knee) and tackle Eric Jonassen (neck) on injured reserve.
Beathard said the team was preparing to make a claim on an “offensive player” who was released elsewhere Monday. The Chargers are also expected to resign defensive lineman Tony Savage.
It’s known as, “stashing,” and the Chargers look very, very guilty.
The team announced that rookie defensive end Kevin Little was placed on the “Reserve-Injured” list. Ross explained later that he was placed there because of tendonitis in his knee.
Little looked very healthy in Thursday’s exhibition finale against the Rams. On the following day Ross was asked to detail the medical status of all his injured players and he made no mention of Little.
“He’s had it a pretty good while,” Ross said. “If you went back and checked, he’s missed some time. He has.”
By placing Little on injured reserve, the Chargers lose any opportunity for him to play this season. However, it prevents another team from claiming Little, while at the same time allowing Little to attend all team meetings in preparation for next season.
The Chargers raised ticket prices this year, and season-ticket sales have dropped.
The Chargers said that they have currently sold 36,040 season tickets for the 1992 season. Last year the club sold 38,217, a drop from 40,026 in 1990 and an all-time high of 56,600 in 1984.
The Chargers said they have distributed 39,500 tickets for Sunday’s season-opener with Kansas City in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.
Charger Moves
Moves made Monday by the Chargers as they pared their roster to the NFL limit of 47:
RELEASED
Pos Player WR Johnnie Barnes G Terry Beuford WR Robert Claiborne LB Greg Clark HB Tony Lenseigne CB Cedrick Mack OL James Parrish DT Arthur Paul DT Tony Savage WR Walter Stanley WR Yancey Thigpen RB Peter Tuipulotu G Jeff Walker
PLACED ON INJURED RESERVE
Pos Player DE Kevin Little
