PRO FOOTBALL / BILL PLASCHKE : Chargers Scrambling for Answers

The San Diego Chargers had long since left their practice facility one recent afternoon--all but the head coach, who was spotted at the far reaches of a deserted parking lot.

Bobby Ross kicked at the gravel and squinted.

“This ain’t physical,” he said. “This is mental.”

Even with the sun high and his khakis long and dark, he began a long, solitary run around the outside of San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

Ross does this after every practice, more intensely with each passing day, as his mediocre team struggles under the burden of great promise.

Ross needs these daily jogs so much that when a college football game caused the parking lot to fill one afternoon last week, he closed the tarp-covered gates of the practice field behind him and ran alone in there.

“I know everybody is down on us, but we don’t need panic,” he said. “We just need to prepare.”

The preparation by the defending AFC West Division champions for Sunday’s important game at Pittsburgh has taken the form of changing quarterbacks, from sore-shouldered Stan Humphries to John Friesz. But there are questions whether that will be enough.

The Chargers (2-2) have been beset by such misfortune that even the players can’t argue with their critics.

“People talk about us playing bad, and I don’t have a problem with that,” linebacker Gary Plummer said. “I agree with them.”

Even though the Chargers were 0-4 at this point last season, last year’s defense actually gave up 255 fewer yards during the four games.

After the Chargers lost by 17 points at Seattle last Sunday--their worst loss to the Seahawks in six years--those wishing to assess blame could have looked many places.

But they should focus on only one--Philadelphia. That is the new home of Broderick Thompson, a former Charger tackle who has not given up a sack or been called for holding while helping the Eagles to a 4-0 record.

Thompson, a solid blocker but considered an unstable influence in the locker room, was traded by General Manager Bobby Beathard this spring for a draft choice who turned out to be backup guard Joe Cocozzo.

What the Chargers wouldn’t give to have Thompson back.

So far, Thompson’s replacements have been involved in plays that have led to Humphries’ shoulder injury and a possible career-ending knee injury to guard Eric Moten.

Humphries, who signed a $12.35-million deal this fall, suffered a bruised right shoulder in the exhibition season when he was hammered to the ground by linebacker Martin Harrison of the San Francisco 49ers. Eric Jonassen, Thompson’s first replacement, missed the block.

Last week, Friesz fell on Moten’s knee after being nailed by defensive end Michael Sinclair of the Seahawks, who had beaten Stan Brock, Thompson’s current replacement.

“Everybody thought we would win every game this year and go to the Super Bowl,” defensive end Burt Grossman said. “But things just aren’t as easy around here as they used to be.”

THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HIS HOME

William Roaf, a 299-pound tackle for the unbeaten New Orleans Saints and the most impressive rookie in the NFC so far, wears tiny wire-rimmed glasses on the sidelines that make him look like a professor.

“That’s good, I wish he was a professor,” said Andree Roaf, his mother and a lawyer. “I told him, ‘Son, you better be glad I’m not God, because I would wave a wand over you and football would be history. You would be a nuclear physicist instead.’ ”

Perhaps no young player came into the league this season with stronger parental influence than Roaf, of Little Rock, Ark., who credits his family’s stability for his quick success.

His father is a dentist. One sister has degrees from Harvard and Princeton. Another sister has a degree from Georgetown.

And his mother uses her skills as a lawyer to make sure he doesn’t stray.

“There are examples of young athletes who succeed from one-parent families, but thousands of them don’t,” Andree Roaf said. “With two parents, you have more help on those little decisions that can change your life.”

Like when Roaf wanted to renege on his verbal commitment to Louisiana Tech. Andree wouldn’t let him.

Or when Roaf wanted to leave college a year early. Andree advised against it, a good call, because he was a first-round draft pick this spring, the eighth selection overall. His parents made sure he signed a contract before missing any training camp.

“What really stands out about Willie is that he is smart,” guard Chris Port said. “After a couple of days, we all knew that this was a player.”

TIME TO BE LIKE MIKE

On Tuesday night, two Atlanta Falcon assistant coaches phoned Eric Dickerson to inform him that Coach Jerry Glanville wanted him gone.

As Dickerson’s friends, they were hoping to convince him to retire or seek a trade before he was formally waived.

Dickerson was so upset, he immediately phoned a local reporter and claimed that he was waived.

When the Falcons read the story Wednesday morning, they panicked. It doesn’t look too good firing a potential Hall of Fame running back through assistant coaches without giving him the chance to even speak to the head coach or his agent.

Claiming that the firing was a misunderstanding, Glanville told reporters: “We told (Dickerson) his playing time wasn’t going to be what he wanted . . . and that the choice was his.”

So Dickerson is back to work, where, for him, there is no work. In his last two games, he has rushed for four yards.

Remember when he used to gain four yards in two milliseconds?

His best move now would be to call it quits.

GO FIGURE

--Joe Montana hasn’t thrown an interception since 1990. Of course, he has played only six games since then. He is not expected to start this week for the Kansas City Chiefs against the Cincinnati Bengals because of his hamstring injury. He has played in only eight of 16 quarters so far.

--A horrible thought: Jim Harbaugh needs 22 completions Sunday at Philadelphia to become the Chicago Bears’ all-time leader in that category, surpassing Sid Luckman.

--Terry Kirby, the exciting young running back of the Miami Dolphins, might not even be the best rookie in his family. His brother, Wayne, an outfielder who was stuck in the Dodgers’ farm system for eight years before finally receiving his chance with the Cleveland Indians this season, batted .269 with six home runs and 60 runs batted in.

--No team with as many as five games played has fewer fumbles (one) or penalties (14) than the Rams.

--The Dallas Cowboys, who committed eight turnovers in two games without Emmitt Smith, have not committed a turnover in two games since his return.

--The Raiders racked up more penalty yardage in one game Sunday (168) than 12 other teams have accumulated all season.

WE KNOW YOU LIVE FOR THIS STUFF, SO HERE’S MORE

--Rick Mirer of the Seahawks has already thrown 83 consecutive passes without an interception. The Seahawk record is 153.

--The Philadelphia Eagles are the first team in the 73-year history of pro football to win three consecutive games while overcoming deficits of at least 10 points in each game.

--Strange but true: With wide receiver Fred Barnett sidelined for the season because of a knee injury, the Eagles have been practicing with a wide receiver named . . . Herschel Walker.

--In John Elway’s first four games in the Denver Broncos’ new offense, he completed more than twice as many passes (92-42) for nearly twice as many yards (1,093-573) as he did after four games last season.

--Over the past 16 games, the Falcons’ winningest starting quarterback is Billy Joe Tolliver (2-3).

--The 31 points scored by the Seahawks last Sunday in their fifth game was more than they scored last year in their fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th games combined .

--Could be worse, she could have worn Giorgio: Tyji (Tie-Jay) Armstrong, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ improving young tight end, was named after a cologne favored by his mother.

QUICK KICKS

* A TEAM WITH A HEART: Even though cancer forced Jim Finks to resign as the New Orleans Saints’ general manager, the team will not allow anybody to sit in Finks’ chair in his former Superdome luxury box.

Jim Miller, vice president, sits on one side of an empty chair. Bill Kuharich, director of player personnel, sits on the other.

“Jim was with us before, and he is with us now,” Miller said.

Finks, who was also stricken with a blood clot in his brain on Aug. 6, was released from the hospital Monday.

* OUR FAVORITE ROOKIE: While the Seattle Seahawks’ Rick Mirer is winning football games worth $3 million--a bonus he earned last week--Drew Bledsoe of the New England Patriots can’t believe he’s making any money at all.

Because his $5.75 million in salary and bonuses for this season have been directly deposited into a bank account, Bledsoe has never actually seen most of the money. So he phones the bank at least once a week to ask how much he has.

According to officials, when he is read the new figure, he giggles.

* WHEN IN DOUBT, TRY BRIBERY: Whenever the New York Jets’ offensive linemen don’t give up a sack, Coach Bruce Coslet rewards them with four hours of free limousine service. Also, every Thursday night, Boomer Esiason buys all the linemen pizza and beer.

Then there are those designer sunglasses that Esiason purchased for the linemen, which will go nicely with those leather jackets he has ordered for them.

Don’t laugh, it works. The line, which will face the Raiders on Sunday, hasn’t given up a sack in three consecutive games for the first time since 1972.

* MAYBE HE WAS CALLING BOOMER FOR A LOAN: Mike Keim, backup tackle for the Seahawks, showed up for work with a black eye after his wife tossed him the telephone and he missed it.

* WE DON’T BLAME YOU: David Klingler will start at quarterback again for the Cincinnati Bengals this week, but only after announcing that the coaches would “have to fight me and tie me to the bench,” if they wanted to play Jay Schroeder instead.

* OH, BROTHER: Sterling Sharpe of the Green Bay Packers set an NFL record with 108 receptions last season, but this season he isn’t even the leading receiver in his family. Shannon Sharpe, the H-back for the Denver Broncos, who play at Green Bay on Sunday, has caught as many passes as his older brother, 23, in four games.

But there is no question who has has more common sense. Shannon bet Sterling $20,000 that he would catch more passes this year.