PRO FOOTBALL REPORT : WEEKDAY UPDATE : CHARGERS : Tollner Pleased With Tolliver

Ted Tollner, Charger assistant head coach, not only pronounced Billy Joe Tolliver healthy for Sunday night’s game with Seattle, but gave him a ringing endorsement.

“You’re not going to believe this because we lost,” Tollner said, “but I honestly believe he made a step forward. He made some throws in the game when we were behind when he was under duress and physically hurt and couldn’t move.

“He handled us falling behind, and he has an ability to not lose his cool under pressure. He has an ability to play when he’s hurt and he has an ability to perform when eveybody else is all over his case. He can focus and do those things, and what he doesn’t do now, he doesn’t do it all the time. And that’s what a big-time player will do.”

Tolliver suffered a pulled groin muscle, and injured his knee and elbow in Sunday’s 27-10 loss to Kansas City.

“A lot of guys would have wanted out of there,” Tollner said. “There was no way he was going to come out of that game unless Dan (Henning) took him out. He wanted to prove in that third-quarter drive by taking us 80 yards.

“If we didn’t score then, Dan might have made a move then. He knew he was hurt, but that was more than a little bit of a courageous effort because he was dragging pretty good. Never once when he’s been banged up has he responded in any other way, than ‘I am OK,’ but he told me in that game, ‘I’m hurting, Ted, and I want to play.’ ”

In the past six games Tolliver has completed 53 % of his passes (85 of 159) with five touchdowns and two interceptions.

“I still believe he’s progressing in every fashion,” Tollner said. “I don’t see it as a setback (his performance against the Chiefs). I see it as him performing in a positive fashion, and we lost for a lot of reasons . . . in the end I think we’re going to be happy with him.”

The Charger ticket office will remain open Thanksgiving Day from 8 to 5, but Jack Teele, the club’s assistant to the president, said he does not expect the television blackout for 5 p.m. game Sunday to be lifted locally.

Teele said the team distributed 47,000 tickets, and expects a crowd of 50,000 Sunday. The team would have to distribute 60,000 tickets by 5 p.m. Thursday to lift the blackout.