Times-Advocate from Escondido, California • 15

to Du ft Chandler breaks nails, Joiner jams fingers and Winslow cuts his hand Associated Press Photo as the Chargers dropped another one in Denver Sunday. An Ed Luther pass bounces off Wes Chandler, who broke two fingernails trying to catch Luther's bullets, By John Maffei The Times-Advocate DENVER day. For 37 games he had waited sometimes impatiently for the indestructible Dan Fouts to show a sign of weakness. Finally, on a bright, sunny day in Denver, Luthers Chance came. For the first time since November of 1979, Fouts couldnt answer the starting call.

He was sidelined with a sore muscle in his throwing shoulder. The quarterback assignment on Sunday against the Broncos fell to Luther. But the results were less than storybook. He completed 22 passes. But he attempted 48.

He threw for 193 yards. But he had two passes intercepted. He threw several good passes. But he threw several others behind receivers and had several bullets dropped. He converted on six third-down situations.

But he failed on 11. 7 He engineered drives that resulted in a pair of Charger field goals. But for the first time since the Chargers were shutout in Denver on Oct. 7, 1979, San Diego failed to score a touchdown. The result of Luthers frustrating day was a 14-6 loss to the Broncos a loss which drops the Chargers to 3-5 on the season.

Its a loss, that coupled with the Raiders victory over Dallas on Sunday night, pushes San Diego three games behind in the AFC West at the seasons halfway point. "Ed will do better in the future, was the best Chargers Coach Don Coryell could say of his quarter-'1 backs performance against Denver. He had a tough assignment because we were limited in our personnel. The Chargers played the entire game without running Chuck Muncie and tight end Eric Sievers. They played part of- the game without top wide receiver Wes Chandler.

Running back James Brooks played but was less than 100 percent. But the biggest personnel move was the absence of Fouts. "On Thursday, Dan couldnt practice, Coryell said. On Friday, he couldnt even lob the ball. Thats when we told the press there was a good chance Dan wouldnt play.

"In all honestly, the decision not to play Dan was made on Friday. But we held out hope that he might be able to play just in case he felt better by game time. But even without Fouts, the Chargers held out hope of beating the Broncos. They held out hope because of Luthers brilliant performance three weeks ago when he relieved an injured Fouts in the second half and engineered the team to a victory over the New York Giants. But while Luther and his offensive mates looked sharp and snappy against the Giants, they looked disoriented and sloppy against the Broncos.

Three times the Chargers were called for delay of game. More times than they want to count, receivers dropped Luthers passes. The worst of the delay calls came late in the third quarter with the Chargers on the Bronco 7. The Chargers were leading 3-0 and a TD would have put the Chargers in a commanding position. Please see Luther, page C2 Adit CoiryeOO shoots bBanks By John Maffei The Times-Advocate DENVER On a day when they were playing shorthanded, on a day they had to overcome 74,500 screaming fans and a sea of orange, on a day they needed a break, the San Diego Chargers were beaten by a broken play.

As feared, the Chargers were forced to play without their field general quarterback Dan Fouts. He sat and watched as the Denver Broncos beat the Chargers, 14-6, Sunday. A sore shoulder knocked Fouts out of a game for the first time since 1979. Fouts never came out for pre-game warmups. His non-starting status had been determined before the Chargers left their hotel for Mile High Stadium.

As feared, the Chargers also had to do without three of Fouts top officers running back Chuck Muncie, wide receiver Wes Chandler and tight end Eric Sievers. Muncie, who has a pulled groin, warmed up briefly before the game, but told the coaches he couldnt play. Sievers, who sprained an ankle in last weeks lost to New England, didnt warm up and didnt play. Chandler, the teams top wide receiver, was knocked out of the game early in the third quarter when his foot was stepped on. He had only one reception for one yard on the day.

But despite those setbacks and the hostile surroundings of a frenzied crowd on Orange Sunday, the Chargers played well enough to win with the exception of one play. The play came early in the fourth quarter. It wiped out a 6-0 Chargers lead and broke San Diegos back. On third and seven from the Charger 30, Denver quarterback Steve DeBerg went back to pass. Under pressure from a rush that shoved the pocket back on top of him, DeBerg broke to his right with defensive end Gary Johnson chasing him.

As Deberg neared the line of scrimmage, he pulled up and lobbed a pass to a wide-open Rick Upchurch in the area that should have been occupied by linebacker Linden King. Upchurch stepped out of a tackle and into the end zone. That play negated what had been a superior effort by the much-maligned San Diego defense. "We were in zone coverage, said Chargers Defensive Coordinator Tom Bass. "Our guys saw De-Berg scramble, thought he was going to run and lost containment.

DeBerg lobbed the ball over the defense and the wrong guy caught it. It was a good play by Deberg and a super play by Upchurch. King, to his credit, didnt deny his error on the big On the TD, all the defensive backs and all the linebackers started to move up when DeBerg started to scramble, King said. Thats a fundamental mistake, elementary football. Its something you don't do, but we all did it.

"First, we had a communications problem on who had outside containment on DeBerg. Then we foolish- Please see Chargers, page C2 'OH. HTogcgoss The envelope please and the winner is. The National Football league will officially be at its midway point tonight when ABC offers its thrilling matchup of the Giants and the Cardinals, If you have problems sleeping this evening between 6 and 9, just tune this one in. Nonetheless, in honor of the halfway point of the season, we offer you a few awards.

Team Most In Need of a Psychiatrist: Line up the couches in Green Bay. The Packers beat the Rams and Super Bowl champion Washington Redskins and then lose to clubs like Detroit and the Giants. You figure em out. Man Youd Least Want to Hold Your Newborn Baby: James Brooks. Its rather obvious that while Brooks is an excellent runner from scrimmage, he simply can't catch the ball out of the backfield.

Which raises an interesting question. Why do the Chargers even throw to him? Team Most In Need of a Spanking: Your favorites. the Chargers, win here. The Chargers are 3-5, but from listening to them, its never their fault. The refs robbed em against Cleveland.

They got a bad spot in New England, where Brooks sobhed that he fumbled because he was used too much. And they lost in Denver because Ed Luther threw too hard in the high altitude. Wa-wa. Wa-wa. Give this team 45 pacifiers, and send 'em to bed without dessert.

Best Substitute: O.J. Simpson for Howard Cosell. Have you noticed how much more enjoyable and entertaining ABCs Monday night games have been with The Juice filling in for Howard? Simpson and Don Meredith seem to have a natural chemistry, while a more compatible mate for Cosell would be someone along the lines of Mr. T. Best Team That Wont Wind Up in the Super Bowl: The Dallas Cowboys.

Tom Landry must have bought all the mirrors at Neiman Marcus. Look for Washington or San Francisco to represent the NFC in January. Teams Most Likely to Be in the Super Bowl: Defense still wins in this league, and the team that's playing the best defense in the AFC is the Pittsburgh Steelers. Here's an early vote for them to end the season in Tampa Bay. Washington gets the NFC vote.

Most Disappointing Team: We have dual winners here the New York Jets and the Chargers. These teams have been more disappointing than the opening series of Dallas." Most Surprising Team: If someone had told you that the Minnesota Vikings would lose Tommy Kramer the third week of the season and would still be 6-2 at the halfway pole, would you believe 'em? Neither would I. Best Command Decision: Don Shula's choice to go to rookie Dan Marino over David Woodley at quarterback. After having a terrible senior season at Pittsburgh, Marino is busy guiding the Dolphins to another AFC East title. See what a little coaching will do.

Best Rookie Performance: Just as he does with most defenders, Eric Dickerson runs away with this one. Biggest Rookie Disappointment: John barely gets the nod here over Jets first-year Coach Joe Walton. Elway's woes only punctuate how much more remarkable Marinos accomplishments are in Miami. Please see Norcross. page C2 Jerome Whitehead 6-foot-10 Center IU icliccl Harper 6-foot-10 Forward Was selected by Dallas in the dispersal draft of 1980.

Was traded by Dallas to Cleveland in '80 for Bill Ro binzine and two first round draft picks. Was waived by Cleveland in '80 and signed by the Clippers. Started 63 games for the Clippers and played in 72 in '81 82 and aver aged 13.8 points and 9.2 rebounds. Slowed by injuries last season and played in just 46 games. High games are 31 points, 23 rebounds and 6 assists.

Background: Began his collegiate career at Riverside City College and then transferred to Marquette. As a junior at Marquette, he tipped in the winning basket against UNC Charlotte in the NCAA semifinals. Born: September 30, 1956 in Waukegan, III. Lives: El Cajon. Single.

Current Status: Is being groomed as a back up center to Bill Walton, will start on the nights Walton cant and will play some power forward. Professional History: Originally drafted on the second round by the Buffalo Braves in 1978 the 41st player chosen. A few weeks after he was drafted. the club moved to San Diego. After playing 31 games for the Clippers in the 78 79 season and 18 the next year, he was waived and Claimed by the Utah Jazz.

Appeared in 32 games for the Jazz in 79 80. assist game is 5. Career high point game was 20 in 29 minutes against Phoenix. Spent last season playing for the Bic Lambrosco team in Italy. Was signed to a Clippers' con tract by new Head Coach Jim Lynam who was an assistant coach in Port land when Harper played there.

He was a free agent when the Clippers signed him. A versatile performer, he can play forward, center or even small guard because of his running ability. Background: Earned Division III All America honors three straight seasons at North Park College in Chicago. North Park won the NCAA Division III championship all three of those sea sons. In college, he shot .573 from the floor.

Born: December 9, 1957 in Chicago. Lives: Portland, Ore. Single. Current Status: Michael appears to have the inside track in his battle with Willie Jones for a spot on the roster as a back up forward. Professional History: Was originally drafted on the third round by Portland in 1980 the 56th player chosen.

Played 55 games his rookie season, averaging 2.7 points and 1.4 rebounds. Improved his scoring average to 6 8 as a sophomore and ranked third in rebounding on the club. In his final 20 games of the '81-82 season, Harper made .557 percent of his shots from the floor. Best rebound game is 11 and top V. 'll.