Chargers’ Kicker On Firm Ground

The Charger coaching staff has had many concerns during the first month of training camp--holdouts, injuries, question marks at key positions--but place kicking hasn’t been one of them.

John Carney has made sure of it.

Just in case the coaching staff forgot how consistent he was last year--19 of 21 in field goals--Carney reminded them last Saturday night when he drilled a 27-yard field goal with 2:04 remaining in the fourth quarter to give the Chargers a 31-29 victory over the Houston Oilers.

So when the Chargers play the Los Angeles Rams tonight at Anaheim Stadium (7 p.m.) in their second exhibition game, Carney will give special teams coordinator Larry Pasquale one less thing to worry about.

Last year at this time, Pasquale was worrying about who to keep--Carney or Fuad Reveiz.

Both kickers had excellent camps, but Reveiz nosed out Carney on a technicality.

With everything else being equal, Reveiz was kept because of his experience and reputation.

“Fuad was the fifth most accurate kicker in the NFL and since Fuad had done it before, we felt obligated to keep him,” Pasquale said.

But the Chargers no longer felt obligated to keep Reveiz after he began the season going 2 for 7 in field goals. He was released after the fourth game and Carney was re-signed--the rest is history.

Carney’s .905 field goal accuracy percentage was a Charger single-season record.

The Chargers showed their confidence in Carney by bringing only one other kicker into camp--free agent Tom Whelihan. And Whelihan, by his own admission, is only a ‘camp leg” and is not competing with Carney for the starting job.

In less than a year, Carney has transformed himself from a fringe NFL kicker into what Pasquale thinks is “one of the best in the league.” Until last year, Carney was just 2 for 5 in field goals during two brief trials with Tampa Bay in 1988 and 1989.

“I think he has established himself as an NFL kicker of very high quality,” Pasquale said. “I don’t think the organization sees any reason why he can’t be a long-term kicker in the NFL.

“He almost appears to have an underlying wanting to prove that he belongs in the NFL. It motivates him on a daily basis.”

Carney said he is constantly motivated by what veteran kicker Matt Bahr once told him.

“He said you’re only as good as your last kick,” Carney, 27, said.

If that’s the case, Carney is pretty good. Pasquale said Carney’s 27-yarder last week was not easy.

“The infield dirt is extremely hard,” Pasquale said. “Your cleats don’t dig in like baseball players’ cleats. There is a lot of sliding. It was a great kick to start the year off.”

Without any serious competition this year, Carney said he has been a lot more relaxed. So relaxed that he’s willing to help Whelihan in his quest to land a job with another NFL team.

“I help him as much as I can,” Carney. “You help out your competitors--to a point. But certainly it’s a dog-eat-dog world and there’s only 28 jobs in the NFL. You always hear the saying, ‘Teach him everything he knows, but don’t teach him everything you know.’ ”

In the Houston game, Carney and Whelihan alternated kickoffs and place kicks. Pasquale said they figure to do the same tonight.

For Whelihan, it may his last chance to show people he can kick in the NFL.

“You can do all the right things in training camp and kick 75 of 75 field goals in practice, but it doesn’t matter unless you do it in a game,” said Whelihan, who is the all-time leading field goal kicker in Missouri history.

Whelihan has been in NFL training camps the past three years, including the Chargers’ camp last year, but he was nothing more than a practice kicker.

“I was always gone before any other teams got a chance to look at me,” said Whelihan, who turns 25 Thursday.

But this year, Houston, Phoenix, the Rams and the Chargers have gotten a chance to look at Whelihan. Pasquale, for one, likes what he sees.

“Tom is not in the running for the starting job, although he has kicked outstanding,” Pasquale said. “He’s definitely a better all-around kicker than he was last year. As far as I’m concerned, I see no reason why he can’t kick in the NFL.”

Last year, Whelihan said he might not have been inclined to agree with Pasquale’s evaluation.

“When I was here last year, it seemed like I had a saw over my head every kick,” he said. “Every time I missed the knife would come down. I felt really relieved when they let me go last year.”

But after a year with the Frankfurt Galaxy of the World League of American Football, Whelihan came back to the Chargers with a different perspective.

“I know I’m not here to beat John Carney out,” he said. “I know it’s an honor just to be here. After the WLAF season, it would have been easy to sit on the couch this season and say ‘Damn, I can do better than those guys.’ ”