Quarterback Controversy

So far, the Raider camp looks like Marc Wilson's. Of course, the exhibition season won't open until Sunday in San Francisco. Is this like the man who falls off a building and is heard to say as he passes each floor, "So far, so good"? There was once speculation that Wilson's reappointment as No. 1 quarterback was cosmetic, done to minimize public furor, that it was essentially meaningless since the competition would be wide open. However . . .

All through the NFL preseason friends and acquaintances would walk up to Boomer Esiason or call him on the phone and ask, "What's the deal, are you going to start this year?" And Esiason, Cincinnati's second-year quarterback from Maryland, didn't know exactly how to answer. He understood the Bengals wanted to go with experience and not potential. And he knew that if the team got off to a good start, it would mean veteran Ken Anderson would remain in the lineup.

Kevin Feterik's journey as Brigham Young's quarterback took an unexpected turn, one that caught him off guard, something that never touched him during his high school days at Los Alamitos. Quarterback controversy. Not that there's much of a controversy today for Feterik, who will play Thursday in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tenn., when BYU takes on 11th-ranked Tulane. That's what a seven-game winning streak will do to the naysayers in Provo and elsewhere.

Miami (5-1) at New York Jets (5-1), Monday, 6 p.m., Ch. 7. What if the Jets played a big game at home and no one noticed? Who wants to watch Jay Fiedler pitch against Vinny Testaverde when Mike Hampton and Roger Clemens are on their minds? Where are Bob Griese and Joe Namath when you need them? The line: Jets by 3. UPSET OF THE WEEK Washington (5-2) at Jacksonville (2-5), 1:15 p.m., Ch. 11.

The quarterback for the Rams is tall--6 feet 5 inches--and throws hard enough to leave marks on your hands. He's young, born in 1963, is entering his second season, weighs about 216 pounds, was a star in college, wears his hair cropped short, has thin legs and is an eligible bachelor. So who is it, Jim Everett or Hugh Millen? The similarities are striking enough. Now, for some striking differences.

Here it was Wade Wilson's big chance, his first season-opening start at quarterback since knocking 'em dead at tiny East Texas State seven seasons ago, and, well, there were problems. In order of appearance: --His Minnesota Viking receivers, most notably Anthony Carter, were having some problems catching. Carter, usually reliable in such situations, kept dropping Wilson's passes as if the balls were coated with your favorite 10W-40 multi-grade.

A quarterback controversy just got dropped into the middle of Super Bowl hype week. Bad combination. The country's largest media gathering tempted with one of sports' juiciest topics. It'll be like a hive of angry bees swarming over a tank full of sharks in a feeding frenzy. It looked as if we were set for a heavy dose of the Tom Brady story. You know, backup comes in and leads team to Super Bowl. So Kurt Warner, so Y2K. Then Brady went down with an ankle injury and Drew Bledsoe came in for the last 311/2 minutes of New England's 24-17 AFC championship game victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.

Danny White will go into the Dallas Cowboys' training camp as the team's No. 1 quarterback, but that doesn't necessarily mean he'll keep the job next season, Coach Tom Landry says. "The guy that finishes the season starting, goes into training camp as the starter," Landry said last week. "Danny finished up the starter, and if nothing changes before camp, that's the way it will be." Landry added, however, that "it's not any different than always and doesn't necessarily mean Danny has an edge."

Neil O'Donnell suffered a broken leg during Sunday's game against Seattle, so now Bobby Brister is the Pittsburgh Steelers' starting quarterback again. Earlier, when O'Donnell was injured and replaced by Brister, Pittsburgh Coach Bill Cowher made it clear that O'Donnell would get his job back when he recovered. A reporter, pressing the issue, asked Cowher, "What if Brister plays like Sammy Baugh?" Cowher smiled and said, "I don't remember what Sammy Baugh played like."