CHARGER REVIEW : NOTEBOOK : Fantasy Calls Take Toll on Chargers

SAN FRANCISCO —  Memo to fantasy football fanatics: Leave Pat Rogers alone.

Rogers, the Charger public relations executive secretary, has been besieged on a daily--and sometimes hourly--basis by fantasy football fans who want to know if running back Marion Butts is going to start.

Forget it.

Butts stumbled in his first action last week after a training camp-long holdout, and Sunday against the 49ers he fumbled for the first time since Dec. 17, 1989. Butts had carried the ball 290 times without fumbling in that span of time.

Rod Bernstine started for the Chargers and averaged 4.9 yards a carry with 73 yards on 15 rushes. Butts relieved Bernstine in the first quarter and broke loose for 22 yards to set up John Friesz’s 1-yard touchdown pass to Craig McEwen.

However, on Butts’ second carry he was hit by linebacker Mike Walter, and he fumbled. San Francisco safety Dave Waymer recovered.

Butts returned to carry the ball only once the rest of the day.

“He’s rusty,” Coach Dan Henning said. “He expected to be rusty, and I expected him to be rusty. He’s a guy that thrives on repetitions in practice, and he hasn’t had that. He’s not clicking all the time.”

Injury update: Starting right tackle Broderick Thompson pulled a groin muscle early in the first half and then aggravated the injury on the final play of the second quarter.

The Chargers haven’t been happy with Thompson’s play and took advantage of his injury to try out a cast of thousands at right tackle. They used Leo Goeas, replaced him with Eric Floyd and then brought in Mark May.

Linebacker Gary Plummer left the game after aggravating a neck injury and was replaced by Billy Ray Smith. Plummer returned, but said, “My neck’s messed up.”

Friesz said he took no big hits in Sunday’s game, but he admitted he was bothered all week by rib cartilage pain.

Defensive end Burt Grossman injured his shin, but X-rays were negative and he returned to the game.

“I just spit on it,” Grossman said, “and it was better.”

Grossman was the bottom man on the pile on Tom Rathman’s aborted leaping attempt into the end zone on fourth and one from the Chargers’ two in the second quarter.

“It was funny; I made a goal-line stop against the 49ers in the preseason,” Grossman said, “and I actually got yelled at by our D-line coach (Chuck Clausen), saying that wasn’t the correct way to do it.

“So I did it the same way this time. The wrong way. But it worked right and I’m two for two.”

Last week 49ers receiver Jerry Rice criticized the run-oriented play calling of the team. The coaching staff apparently listened. Rice caught nine passes for 150 yards, and a pair of touchdowns.

Rice appeared to have caught a third touchdown pass in the third quarter, but the officials on the field ruled that he was down on the one-yard line. Instant replay supported their decision, and running back Keith Henderson went on to score the 49ers’ first rushing touchdown of the year on a six-yard draw.

“We stayed with the game plan,” Rice said. “We ran the ball well, and Steve Young just made some good plays. He was not looking for me as the primary receiver, but I just happened to be in the right place.”

Sure.

Wide receiver Anthony Miller was not on the field for the Chargers’ final drive, but it wasn’t because he was injured.

“There’s nothing wrong with Anthony,” Henning said. “We only had three wide receivers and he’s our No. 1 guy and I didn’t want to have him injured.

“Shawn Jefferson has only been with us 2 1/2 weeks and he’s one of the three and he needs the work. And we have to work Nate Lewis in both wide receiver spots, so we gave him an opportunity to play in that split end position at the end of the game.

“I didn’t feel like we were in great position to win the game at the time I took Anthony out of the game. And the way they play that defense at the end of the game, you’re not going to get the ball to the wide receivers that much. So I thought it was in our best interests to keep Anthony out of there.”