CHARGERS HOPING TO GET WELL TODAY.

Byline: Jim Cour Associated Press 

In Bobby Ross' five seasons in San Diego, he's never experienced such a rash of injuries to key players.

It got so bad that when his Chargers lost at home to Oakland on Monday night, Ross wondered if he was going to have enough players to finish the game.

``I'd never experienced that before,'' he said. ``We didn't have enough guys to line up a couple of times.''

Today, the Chargers (4-3) will be without starting quarterback Stan Humphries and may be without six-time Pro Bowl linebacker Junior Seau when they face the Seattle Seahawks (2-5) in the Kingdome.

San Diego will be trying to break a two-game losing streak against a Seahawks team that is 0-3 at home this year and 0-4 against AFC West opponents.

A 29-7 winner over Seattle in the season opener, San Diego tries to sweep the Seahawks for the third consecutive year. The Chargers have won nine of their last 10 games against Seattle.

With Humphries sidelined with a dislocated left shoulder and Seau possibly out with a right knee sprain, that string of success is in serious jeopardy.

Center Courtney Hall and cornerback Dwayne Harper, both starters, and backup guard Troy Sienkiewicz are out, along with Humphries. Seau is listed as questionable - which means he has a 50-50 chance of playing - as are starting tight end Alfred Pupunu and backup linebackers Glen Young and Dwayne Gordon.

``We're pretty banged up,'' said Sean Salisbury, who will start in Humphries' place against the Seahawks. ``But who isn't banged up in the league at this point in the season? That's just the way it is.''

Salisbury, 33, will be making his first start in nearly two years. He was out of football last season.

After Humphries was hurt, Salisbury came off the bench and completed 22 of 35 passes for 252 yards and two touchdowns. He was intercepted once and lost a fumble in a 23-14 loss to the Raiders.

Salisbury, who began his pro career in Seattle in 1986, will be making his 11th NFL start; the other 10 were for Minnesota.

``I expect to play well,'' the 6-foot-5 Salisbury said. ``I don't feel rusty and I'm not really concerned about being rusty. On Monday night, I felt pretty good.''

The Chargers liked the way Salisbury played against the Raiders.

``In a lot of ways, he reminds me of John Friesz,'' Ross said of Seattle's new starting quarterback, who started six games for San Diego in 1993.

In the first San Diego-Seattle game this season, Humphries was 20 for 38 for 195 yards and one touchdown to Tony Martin and John Carney kicked five field goals. Rick Mirer had a 251-yard passing day. He was intercepted twice and the Seahawks also lost two fumbles.

Friesz replaced the mistake-prone Mirer two games ago and threw three touchdown passes in a victory at Miami. The Seahawks lost at Kansas City in their last start, when they completely lost their poise. Linebackers Winston Moss and Dean Wells were ejected, and Seattle was penalized 13 times for 118 yards. The Seahawks looked like a team on the verge of collapse.

``I'm not condoning what happened out there by any means,'' coach Dennis Erickson said.

After missing the first seven games, the Seahawks will get back their top tackler from last season, linebacker Terry Wooden, back. Wooden injured his right hamstring in the final exhibition game.

``We've been playing without our best defensive player,'' Erickson said.

Three consecutive games in Seattle offer hope the Seahawks can turn around their lost season.

``We're starting to run out of time,'' Friesz said. ``We have to win from here on out.''

Doing that will be a lot easier if Seau is out. He leads the Chargers with 60 tackles. He also has three sacks, one against the Seahawks.

Seau was injured against the Raiders when he collided helmet-to-helmet with fellow linebacker Kurt Gouveia, also suffering a bruised left knee.

``It's very doubtful that Junior will play,'' Ross said. ``His knees are very sore and swollen.''

Still, the Seahawks expect to see Seau.

``I know one thing,'' Erickson said. ``OK? And I truly believe this: No. 55 will be there. So I don't even want to hear that one. I've seen him crawl off the field and be back two plays later.''

Friesz, Seau's former teammate, agreed with Erickson and said Seau had a special reason for wanting to play.

``It'll be strange to get hit by Junior,'' Friesz said. ``But I'm sure he's looking forward to that, because he never was able to hit me in practice.''

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Photo

Photo: Chargers' starting quarterback Stan Humphries, who h as a dislocated left shoulder, will not play this week against the Seahawks.

Associated Press