McMahon Rescues Chargers at Last : But Tolliver May Have Broken Bone, Anderson Talks in Trouble
Two months ago, the Chargers were a team in search of quarterbacks. For most of Friday night at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, they were two quarterbacks in search of a team.
In the end, they found themselves. Charger starter Jim McMahon completed nine of 17 passes for 144 yards and two touchdowns, including a dramatic four-yard scoring flip to Quinn Early with no time remaining to give the Chargers a 21-20, come-from-behind victory over the Phoenix Cardinals.
It was McMahon’s only play of the second half. He had entered the game only because rookie Billy Joe Tolliver (13 of 23, 165 yards) injured his left collarbone scrambling on the previous play. Charger Coach Dan Henning said he expected X-rays to show that the collarbone is broken. If so, Tolliver will miss at least six weeks.
The rest of the downside was the normally reliable Charger defense. It defended the run poorly early on. The Chargers’ special teams were mostly horrible all night. Nevertheless, the Chargers wound up their exhibition season with two victories in their last three games, a near miss against the defending world champion 49ers and a landslide of momentum. Phoenix finished 1-3.
The Chargers had begun their comeback when rookie Marion Butts ripped one yard for a touchdown with 4:23 remaining to cut the lead to six points.
“It was hectic,” Henning understated.
Said McMahon: “I react a lot better when I don’t have time to think.”
McMahon’s debut in his new home temporarily shifted the attention away from rapidly worsening relations between the Chargers and running back Gary Anderson.
Anderson, 28, led the Chargers in rushing last year and is seeking a contract estimated in the $1 million-per-year range. The Chargers are offering considerably less.
Early Friday, a source close to Anderson said Anderson, his wife and his agent--Peter Johnson--were considering “options that had nothing to do with the Chargers.”
Pressed, the source said Johnson and Anderson may inform the Chargers as early as this weekend that Anderson is prepared to sit out the year if the Chargers don’t trade him to another team in time for the 1989 season.
Pending litigation filed by the NFL Players Assn. against the league has encouraged Johnson and Anderson to the point that they believe if Anderson sits out the year, he will become an unrestricted free agent--one who could sign with another team for 1990 without that team having to compensate the Chargers.
Johnson works for the International Management Group in Cleveland. IMG represents athletes in a variety of sports. But the man who oversees all their football contract negotiations is Ralph Cindrich of Pittsburgh.
Cindrich hasn’t directly involved himself in the Anderson talks. But he hasn’t liked what he has seen or heard. Contacted by phone Friday, he offered no encouragement about the Chargers chances of signing Anderson.
“I’m not the best of friends with Steve Ortmayer,” Cindrich said of the Chargers’ director of football operations. “I always thought I had a better rapport with him until this year. To me he (Ortmayer) has been derelict in his duties. He commits one boner after another.”
Ortmayer is already on record as saying Anderson will either play for the Chargers this year or “not play at all.”
Cindrich ticked off a long list of Anderson’s statistical accomplishments, including the 1,119 yards Anderson rushed for last season, third highest in the AFC. Cindrich also said Anderson should have a higher public profile around the league.
“Gary Anderson really isn’t a big name in the NFL,” Cindrich said. “He has to get the hell out of there (San Diego).”
Cindrich also said IMG recently received a letter from Anderson and his wife, Ollie, directing IMG to “exercise patience and expertise” in the negotiations.”
The Cardinals scored Friday night’s first points by exercising patience of their own in a 12-play, 62-yard drive that ended on a two-yard, play-action touchdown pass from Gary Hogeboom to tight end Walter Reeves. Reeves beat strong safety Martin Bayless and inside linebacker Gary Plummer on the third-and-goal play.
The drive started on the Cardinal 38 after a 32-yard punt by Lewis Colbert dribbled out of bounds. Lusty boos greeted Colbert’s effort; earlier this week, the Chargers traded former Pro Bowl punter Ralf Mojsiejenko to the Redskins. A 15-yard face mask penalty against Charger defensive back Lester Lyles kept the Phoenix drive alive on third and 11.
McMahon wasted no time bringing the Chargers right back up the field. On the very next possession, he found wide receiver Anthony Miller on a post pattern at the Phoenix 30. Miller bounced off Cardinal defenders Cedric Mack and Lonnie Young, regained his balance and raced into the end zone to complete a 49-yard scoring play.
It was McMahon’s first touchdown pass as a Charger and wouldn’t have been possible if rookie Butts hadn’t gained two yards two plays earlier on a fourth-and-one from the Charger 44.
Phoenix took a 14-7 lead into the locker room at halftime when Earl Ferrell cut back against the grain for a five-yard touchdown run with 2:39 left in the second period.
The score should have been 14-10 after Lyles intercepted a Hogeboom throw and a 28-yard McMahon-Miller pass gave the Chargers a first down at the Cardinal seven.
But on the last play of the half Chris Bahr’s 25-yard field goal attempt hit the left upright and bounced away. Later in the game, Bahr missed a 43-yarder, also wide left.
Earlier in the week the Chargers cut kicker Steve DeLine, who has a more powerful kicking leg. Their explanation: Bahr is more accurate.
The Phoenix advantage grew to 10 points early in the third quarter on Al Del Greco’s 29-yard field goal. Del Greco added a 31-yarder in the fourth period after the Cardinals blocked a Colbert punt.
Defensive end Burt Grossman, the Chargers’ No. 1 draft pick, got credit for half a sack in the second period. It was Grossman’s first game since signing eight days ago.
Charger linebacker Jim Collins, a starter, pulled his left hamstring in the first half and didn’t return. Offensive lineman Dennis McKnight tore a quadriceps muscle and may be out for two months.
*BROWNER SUSPENDED
The NFL suspends linebacker Keith Browner for a substance abuse violation. Page 11A.