ANALYSIS : A Hard Start to Ross’ Reign : Chargers: Rookie coach is learning on the job, and the result is four consecutive losses to begin the season.
Coach Bobby Ross, searching for an answer to what has gone wrong with the Chargers, pointed last week to the Oilers’ overwhelming edge in years of experience.
He talked about Houston’s advantage along the offensive and defensive lines, at wide receiver, at linebacker and at quarterback.
What he failed to mention was the sizable gap in NFL experience at the head coaching position.
Jack Pardee this year is in his ninth season as an NFL head coach; so far, Ross is in over his head.
Ross is learning on the job, and although he one day might graduate with honors, the Chargers are paying a high price now for his professional education.
The Chargers are 0-4. Early returns on the offensive coaching staff Ross hired are shaky. His tardiness in addressing special-teams woes is reflected in continuing miscues. The Chargers have been outscored 61-10 in the third and fourth quarters, suggesting a failure to adjust at halftime.
The use of timeouts has been suspect, although lost in the background of one-sided defeats. Penalties and more penalties. Dropped passes and more dropped passes. He came billed as “Boss Ross,” a man who pays great attention to detail, but it has proven to be a myth.
The Chargers’ marketing department apparently did not consult with Ross when they raised prices and sold tickets with the promise of the “Return of the Lightning Bolts.” How about simply the return of the touchdown?
He’s only four games into a five-year contract, but Ross has apologized and made excuses, and his body language has spoken of defeat. His team has reflected his depression, and it went so far as to surrender in the fourth quarter to Pittsburgh two weeks ago.
“I have no magic words,” Ross said. “If they are waiting for me to say something that will get them there, I’m not very good at that. OK?”
Leadership. There were nine new head coaches brought into the league this year. Six currently direct teams with a record of .500 or better. The only coach still winless is Ross.
Rookie mistakes. Before training camp opened, Ross told the media: “To me the biggest question marks are here on defense.”
When he’s wrong, he’s wrong.
Maybe there were concerns on defense, but an experienced defensive coordinator, Bill Arnsparger, went to work and assembled one of the game’s finest defensive units. He did it without the help of starting nose tackle Joe Phillips and received no measurable assistance from first-round pick Chris Mims or second-round pick Marquez Pope.
Ross, meanwhile, took control of the Chargers’ offense and special teams, and the results have been horrible. The offense has scored two touchdowns; the special teams have made too many mistakes.
It didn’t figure, as veteran linebacker Gary Plummer said recently.
“We had 50 to 55 workouts in the off-season,” Plummer said. “Having the number of workouts we had and the intensity of those workouts, I didn’t foresee the transition from one coach to another being as difficult as it has been.”
It really didn’t figure. Despite some new twists, Ross kept much of deposed coach Dan Henning’s offensive attack in place. A record number of players were paid to participate in the Chargers’ voluntary off-season program. All draft choices were signed for the opening day of training camp. All veterans, with the exception of Phillips, were under contract 11 days before the Chargers’ first exhibition game.
Dan Henning and Al Saunders should have had it so good.
Ross’ offense, however, was not prepared for its exhibition opener in Phoenix. The Chargers trailed 28-0 before John Friesz was hurt. While that game didn’t count, it can be argued that a season-ending knee injury to Friesz already has had a tremendous impact on the outcome of the 1992 season.
Ross promised a two-back approach on offense, but the formation has been used infrequently and with little impact. Has the offense been any more innovative that Henning’s? On the opening play in all four games, Marion Butts has run right.
It took three games before running back Rod Bernstine caught a pass, and wide receiver Anthony Miller is still looking for his first touchdown. The Chargers have never had such a thick playbook, and yet Ross’ offense has been not only unimaginative, but ineffective.
There has been a philosophical clash on offense. Quarterbacks coach Jack Reilly, who is the team’s play-caller and lone holdover from Henning’s staff, has not always been on the same page with Ross. It will not come as a surprise at the end of the season if it’s announced Reilly has moved on.
Ross studied the Chargers when he took command, and he contended an improved passing attack could convert a team that lost close games into a team that won consistently.
When he’s wrong, he’s really wrong.
The Chargers do not have a big-league receiving corps, but they are passing. They do not have a quarterback with much experience, but they are passing--and Stan Humphries has eight interceptions and one two-yard touchdown pass. They have an offensive line that excelled in blocking for the run, but the Chargers have them blocking differently to enhance the passing attack.
The offensive line’s self-esteem was tied to its ability to knock opponents off the line of scrimmage and spring Butts and Bernstine. They finished as the team’s most improved unit last year.
This year they look as if they are waiting to be introduced to each other.
Ross, meanwhile, agreed privately with General Manager Bobby Beathard that Humphries provided the Chargers the best opportunity to win once the regular season began, but he could not make the tough decision to take the job away from Bob Gagliano.
He waited for Gagliano to play himself out of the position--as he expected him to do--and although Gagliano was no worse than anyone else on the offensive unit in the opener, Ross quickly turned to Humphries.
In recent weeks, Ross has pointed to that change in starting quarterbacks as a reason for his offense’s sputtering start.
At the same time he provided his team with mixed signals. When he anointed Gagliano the regular-season starter, he announced that Gagliano would not have to look over his shoulder in fear of being replaced by Humphries. He even said that if Humphries did relieve Gagliano, the starting job would still belong to Gagliano the following week.
College coaches say such things because they are concerned about hurting the feelings of their young athletes. A week later, Ross made Humphries the team’s starting quarterback and said he could not recall his earlier remarks. Both college and pro coaches do that.
Before training camp began, a reporter speculated in The Sporting News that the Chargers were in for trouble on special teams this season. Under Henning, the Chargers had devoted extra time and extra money and had hired an extra coach while making Larry Pasquale special teams coordinator .
The Chargers hired a former Georgia Tech assistant, Chuck Priefer, with a limited background in special teams, and first impressions were not impressive.
The decline in special teams play was predictable. Ross, however, became angry and went on the attack. He said he was one of only two head coaches in the NFL to be blessed with special teams experience. He said he had the utmost confidence in Priefer, and in his own ability to oversee special teams.
On the opening kickoff of the season, the ball bounced off Ronnie Harmon’s hand at the two-yard line, and after the Chargers’ offense failed to climb out of the hole, the team punted. The ball was returned 46 yards for a touchdown, and the mistakes on special teams were only beginning.
The following week the Chargers wrapped up preparations for Denver with a playful special teams practice. The players laughed and joked and flopped around the field like a group of youngsters enjoying recess.
Ross stood to the side, whistle in his mouth, apparently oblivious to it all.
In preparing for Houston, safety Stanley Richard laid flat on his back with his head on his helmet at the 50-yard line while his teammates ran through special teams practice. Richard claimed later he was through with practice, but after taking his sideline siesta, he went back to work with Priefer on the opposite side of the practice field.
While Richard was on his back, Ross stood to the rear, whistle in his mouth, apparently oblivious to it all.
“Boss Ross” pays attention to detail, all right, but he is not always paying attention. He is intense and he is focused, but he does not always take into account the big picture.
It took him four weeks to notice exactly how poorly his special teams were performing, and now he has vowed to take a personal interest in their preparation. How long before he starts calling the plays on offense?
There have been improvements. The Chargers’ practices appear sharper. There is an emphasis on technique, on teaching. There are pep talks. Lots of pep talks. There are 45-second clocks, referees and chart-keeping staff assistants.
Ross’ manner is college-like, and while his naive approach to professional football is refreshing, it’s unclear if it will take root with these mercenaries.
Recently Ross suggested the media has contributed to his team’s woes, although he insists he does not read newspapers.
He said the media has sabotaged his attempt to keep things positive. The Chargers have lost 52 of their last 74 games--write something positive.
He told the media this week that one writer in particular has it in for him, and it has made his job tougher.
His memory, however, is short, if not selective. Before the Chargers began losing games this year, the media in San Diego portrayed Ross as the answer to what ailed the Chargers. His hiring was hailed. There were dozens of glowing reports. And they were unanimous in their praise.
The questions became tougher only after the debacle in Phoenix, and only after his answers made no sense. Ross, the former college coach who was not accustomed to such scrutiny, lashed out at the media the following week after a preseason practice against New England.
He told reporters they had no idea what was going on with the Chargers. He said they wouldn’t know a thing about the team unless told by Ross. His speech could have been written by former Charger executive Steve Ortmayer. He challenged a reporter to name the starting offensive line--as if reporters lay on the sideline at practice with their heads on their notebooks.
The reporter obliged, and Ross later apologized.
Ross is personable, accommodating and sensitive to the slightest slight. When XTRA’s Lee Hamilton introduced Ross to the Charger Backers recently, he borrowed a routine he had used a few years earlier to introduce Dan Henning:
“Remember that line from the Laurel and Hardy films: ‘Look at this fine mess you’ve got us in?’ Ladies and gentlemen, Bobby Ross.”
Ross walked to the podium and looked like a child who had just lost his puppy. He later told a reporter, “How do you think it would make you feel? I have pride.”
What happens when Ted Leitner starts taking aim?
Winning cures all, and it hasn’t happened yet. Parallels have been drawn to Washington’s Joe Gibbs, who began his own coaching career for Beathard with five consecutive losses. Looking ahead to Sunday’s game with Seattle, that isn’t encouraging for the 0-4 Chargers.
Ross might be the game’s next Joe Gibbs, but in the meantime the regular-season losses continue to pile up, and they have the look of setbacks folks had come to dread and expect while Henning was coach.
The pep talks have continued, but the players no longer listen so intently, and when the media take note, Ross thinks people are out to get him.
“We’re going to get better,” Ross said after the Chargers fell 27-0 to Houston.
You would certainly hope so. You would certainly think so.
The Chargers will play Seattle twice, Indianapolis twice, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Tampa Bay and Phoenix in the weeks ahead.
“Quote me on it,” owner Alex Spanos said upon his hiring of Ross. “I think we’re going to have a winning year, and maybe go to the playoffs. I want it this year. Quite frankly, we have the team to do it this year.”
If the Chargers are a team on the rise as Spanos has been led to believe, and if Ross is as good as Beathard has promised, these are the teams they will beat.
Who has better players? The Seahawks or Chargers? The Cardinals or Chargers? The Colts or Chargers? The Bengals or Chargers? Who has Bobby Beathard overseeing the entire operation?
The beginning of the season can be written off to tough competition and Ross’ naivete, but the excuses and apologies will ring hollow if the Chargers are unable to tame such lackluster outfits like the Seahawks, Colts and Cardinals.
“I don’t think we’re a bad football team,” Ross said last April. “I think we’re a fairly competitive team. Obviously, we were 4-12 last year, and there hasn’t been a lot of winning here, but I talked to a lot of people in the league and the consensus was this is a team that is not too far off.”
You live and you learn.
