European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 06, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday november 6. 1994 sports 7-1 aka to avoid the stars and stripes Page 31 preview by the associated press the last time the san Diego chargers were this Good they ended up being awfully bad. The chargers reached the Halfway Point in the nil season with a 7-1 record two games ahead of Kansas City in the acc West and feeling pretty Good about things As they head into Atlanta for sunday s Gam against the 4-4 Falcons. For those with a sense of history though the chargers fast Start guarantees nothing. In the strike season of 1987, they opened at 8-1 and then went into an awful tailspin losing their last six a ii games and missing the playoffs. Against Atlanta the fal cons May be without regu Lar quarterback Stan Humpheries who dislocated his Elbow last week. Gale Gilbert is the replacement. Running Back natron Means is healthy though and comes in Riding a string of four straight 100-Yard games. The Falcons have dropped two straight gaining just 509 Yards. The game in Atlanta begins a three game Road trip for san Diego the league s Only undefeated Road team at 4-0. When they return from this trip the chargers finish with four of their final five games at Home. In other games sunday Chicago is at Tampa Bay Detroit plays Green Bay at Milwaukee Indianapolis is at Miami new Orleans is at Minnesota Pittsburgh is at Houston Arizona is at Philadelphia san Francisco is at Washington new England is at Cleveland Buffalo is at the new York jets Cincinnati is at Seattle Den ver is at the los Angeles rams and the los Angeles raiders Are at Kansas City 8 . The new York giants Are at Dallas on monday night. / ,. " ". / if san Diego plans to pass against Atlanta it could be a problem. The Falcons Lead the pfc with 15 interceptions five by . Johnson who is tied for the con Ference Lead and four by Vinnie Park. All those pick looking of 87 offs however came in Atlanta s first six games with none in the last two. The chargers continue to get Brilliant place kicking from John Carney we o has missed just one of 23 Field goal tries and is Riding a Streak of 18 straight he Lead the league with 84 Points. Atlanta coming off a Bye trails pfc West Leader san Francisco by two games. Minnesota also has a two game Lead Over three 4-4 teams Chicago Green Bay and Detroit in the pfc Central where the Lions and packers meet in a matchup crucial for both teams. With Barry Sanders carrying the Load Detroit has the leading Rushing offence in the league. Sanders gained 146 Yards a week ago pushing his season s total to 1,035. The problem for the Lions comes when they try to throw the Ball. Their passing game is no. 27 with free agent quarterback Scott Mitchell continuing to Strug  packers face Sanders with the no. 1 defense in the league and have allowed just two Rushing ads All year. Defensive ends Sean Jones and Reggie White have combined for 13 sacks. Chicago the third team in the pfc Central Trio of 4-4 clubs has an easier task facing stumbling Tampa Bay. At least the bears can count on better weather in Tampa than the Monsoon they played in when they lost to Green Bay last monday night at Chicago. The bears started out at 4-2, but have dropped two straight to fall Back and Are expected to use Steve Walsh at quarterback in place of Erik Kramer. Walsh was 3-0 As a Pinch hitter earlier this  bucs continue to Drift and Hope for some stability with top draft pick Trent Dilfer who threw his first to pass last week. They be gotten Nice production in the last two games from Lawrence Dawsey with nine catches for 138 Yards after missing 17 games with knee injury. To -.v.  a the Bottom line for the bucs though is they lost both  ,. A pirates on nip Shreveport la. A Bjorn Pittmo kicked two late Field goals As Shreveport withstood a furious Ottawa comeback and the pirates edged the rough riders 28-24 Friday night. 7 the Victory before a season High crowd of 32,011 was Shreveport third in their last four games and let the team finish with a 3-15 record in inaugural season in the Canadian football league. Ottawa 4-14 can still reach the playoffs if Saskatchewan were to defeat Hamilton saturday night. Working with a Strong wind at their backs the pirates took a 7-0 Lead in the first Quarter on Ryan Benja min s 9-Yard touchdown run. On the ensuing Kickoff they stretched the Lead to 8-0 when the kick bounced into the end zone and was downed for a single. Ottawa answered with a 15-Yard touchdown pass from Danny Barrett to Dean Noel Early in the second Quarter. However after rough riders return Man Nick cowboys Williams pleads no contest Dallas a Dallas cowboys offensive lineman Erik Williams has agreed to plead no contest to a Misdemeanour drunk driving charge ending a grand jury investigation into an oct. 24 Accident. Irl Exchange for the plea Williams at Torney said Friday Dallas county prosecutors agreed to halt the grand jury s investigation which included a subpoena for a blood alcohol test Given to Williams at a Hospital. Prosecutors also agreed to recommend probation for Williams who is out for the season because of torn knee ligaments suffered in the Accident. Williams attorney Donald Godwin said the tackle agreed to the no contest plea in part to spare himself the time expense and unwanted publicity of fighting the charge. Williams has maintained his inno Cence but was willing to acknowledge that he made a mistake Godwin said. Canadian football league Mazzoli fumbled a punt Shreya part capitalized with a 1-Yard touchdown run by Martin Patton. Two plays later the pirates pushed the Lead to 22-7 when defensive end Ray Savage jarred the Ball Loose from Barrett and Alex Mash picked it up and ran 25yards for a touchdown. Ottawa started its comeback in the third Quarter when Barrett teamed with Noel on a 4-Yard touchdown pass cutting Shreveport s Lead to 22-14. Shreveport answered with a 12-Yard Field goal by nit to but an interception a Short time later by Ottawa s Brett Young set up a 23-Yard touchdown pass fro Barrett to Mazzoli. A Ottawa s Terry Baker made it a one Point game with a 15-Yard Field goal with 3 11 left but Pittmo answered with a 55-Yard Field goal a minute later. Patriots head coach Bill Parcells. Passes Hospital tests Parcells expected to coach sunday despite dizzy spell Foxboro mass. A the new England Patri ots Are training their sights on sunday s game against the Cleveland Browns. They can t help but keep one Eye on coach Bill , hospitalized thursday after suffering from a dizzy spell returned to the teams training facility Fri Day. He was due Back on the practice Field saturday Parcells who has a history of heart problems under went a series of vigorous exercise tests Friday an the results looked excellent or. Adolph Hutter the patriots cardiologist said. I found him to be in great health said team owner Bob Kraft who met with Parcells 53, for about an hour after Parcells returned to the stadium. Our focus is now on the Cleveland  said parcels would coach sunday when the patriots 3-5 play at Cleveland 6-2. New England has lost its last three games including a 23-3 setback last sufi Flat against Miami that Parcells called Embarrass tag. V a pm sure the fact that we Haven t been winning games probably has a lot to do with his condition quarterback Drew Bledsoe said. When you re not win Nin games the stress level is extremely High there were no cardiac related symptoms no cardiac related information that came from the tests said Don Lowery the patriots director of Public and Community re lations. All the tests turned out to be  in Parcells absence Friday s practice was run by offensive coordinator Ray Perkins. During his eight years As coach of the new York giants Parcells won two super bowls before he resigned in May 1991, partially for health reasons. Retire los Angeles a James worthy May be contemplating retire ment Atter 12 seasons with the los an Geles lakers. Worthy 33, was t with the team As it opened the season Friday night with a 115-98 Victory at Detroit. He was placed on the injured list thursday because of Patella tendinitis in his left knee. The new York Post reported Friday that worthy who played on three Aba championship teams and was the my of the 1988 finals will announce his retirement monday. Worthy s agent Frank k. Wheaton acknowledged Friday that it s possible worthy has played his final game. Certainly James after the sudden death of the his Mother on oct. 22, is in contemplation of Many things with regard to his life Wheaton said from Nassau Bahamas where he is attend ing a sports lawyers conference. Certainly his future in basketball is Only one of those concerns Wheaton said. It would be improper to speculate As to whether or not retirement is  worthy missed the team s final three exhibition games following the death of his Mother in North Carolina. He aver aged 7.0 Points and 11.4 minutes in five exhibition games. Being on the injured list mean worthy must miss a minimum of five games meaning he would t be eligible to play until nov. 12 when the lakers play at Golden state. Apparently James is contemplating retirement and we have had a Dis Cussion with him about that lakers spokesman John Black said Friday. There is no news conference scheduled monday or any other time concerning  the Post reported the lakers had been trying to buy out worthy s con tract offering him $5 million up front while he was seeking $8 million. Tomy knowledge that s not True Black said. Worthy has played with he lakersfor912 seasons since being selected As the first pick in the 1982 draft out of North Carolina. He has two years left on a contract that Calls for $12.4 Mil lion $7.2 million this season and $5.2 million in 1995-96. Worthy played in 80 games last sea son averaging a career Low 10.2 Points