Quarterback Controversy

Ravens quarterback Vinny Testaverde was diagnosed to have a slight ligament strain and a bruised bone in his left knee yesterday, but he is expected to start Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks at Memorial Stadium.Testaverde hurt the knee in the second period of Sunday's 29-27 loss to Jacksonville when running back Bam Morris blocked safety Travis Davis into the quarterback. Eric Zeier, the third-year quarterback out of Georgia, replaced Testaverde for the rest of the game.According to team trainer Bill Tessendorf, an MRI yesterday morning revealed Testaverde had a contusion on the bone near his shin and a mild stretch of the posterior cruciate ligament.

There is no quarterback controversy in Washington.Not yet, anyway.Everybody connected with the Washington Redskins has spent the past six days calling Gus Frerotte's three interceptions in a 14-13 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers last Sunday a major aberration.They fully expect him to bounce back today with the type of steely-nerved, razor-sharp performance that was common almost every Sunday last season, when Washington started 7-1 before fading to 9-7 behind a defense that virtually collapsed.

One thing is certain about the Cleveland Browns last season: They were mired in controversy. In addition to the announced move to Baltimore, Vinny Testaverde was benched in favor of Eric Zeier, sparking questions at quarterback.One thing is certain about the Baltimore Ravens this season: There is no more quarterback controversy."Vinny's the guy," quarterbacks coach Don Strock said. "It's not going to take one bad play or one bad game. He's the guy. He knows that so he's not looking over his shoulder."

TC Barring an unthinkable upset of Florida State tomorrow, the Maryland Terrapins will finish the season with a 6-5 record that raises several questions. What went wrong? And is head coach Mark Duffner on the way to saving his job?Maybe it is a tad harsh to ask what went wrong instead of what went right after a season in which the Terps produced a winning record for only the second time since 1985. The Terps certainly raised their play a few levels after winning only nine of 33 games in Duffner's first three seasons at College Park.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Quarterback controversy? What quarterback controversy?Brian Cummings is 4-0 as a starter for the Maryland Terrapins and 1-0 in relief after replacing an ineffective Scott Milanovich in the second quarter and leading the Terps to a 9-6 win over Wake Forest last night.Milanovich? He has a better arm, better credentials and an 0-1 record. And he was working on 0-2 and a horrifying upset loss last night before Maryland coach Mark Duffner finally yanked him out of desperation and Cummings bailed him out.Does anyone out there see this as a tough decision?

COLLEGE PARK -- The Maryland Terrapins are undefeated, ranked in the Top 25 and getting ready for a huge game against Duke this weekend, but a critical issue hangs over them: What happens at quarterback when Scott Milanovich returns next week from his suspension for gambling?It was an easy call for coach Mark Duffner until the Terps went 3-0; Milanovich is the superior talent, more experienced, the kind of quarterback a coach would be foolish not to use. But Duffner's call is suddenly and pleasantly muddled now that sophomore fill-in Brian Cummings has led the surprising Terps to their first national ranking in nine years.

MIAMI -- What is this, a death wish? It isn't enough that Nebraska has lost seven straight bowl games. Coach Tom Osborne is so comfortable playing the martyr, he's going to ensure the Cornhuskers lose one more.A quarterback controversy in a national championship game. Who ever heard of such a thing? Even Mark Duffner figured it out -- you play one quarterback or the other. Maybe Osborne should give the Maryland coach a call.Think about it: What if Phil Simms had recovered in time to replace Jeff Hostetler for the 1991 Super Bowl?

The last thing a football team needs is a quarterback controversy.When no one is sure which quarterback is No. 1, it does a lot of things, all of them bad. Among them:It deprives the team of a true leader on offense, which a quarterback naturally is."The quarterback is your guy," Baltimore Colts coach Weeb Ewbank once explained to a young sportswriter who looked amazingly like me, only with dark hair instead of gray."The quarterback calls the plays in the huddle," Ewbank went nTC on. "He handles the ball on every play.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- These guys are going to be dangerous if they ever play a full game.Mark Duffner got three solid quarters yesterday from the Maryland football team that didn't show up for its opener and led the defending national champions at the half in Week 2. The Terps spotted West Virginia a 10-point lead, then owned the last three quarters in a steady rain for a 24-13 non-conference win.Duffner, who has been criticized in recent weeks on radio talk...

There will be at least three quarterback changes in the NFL this week, but there is really only one quarterback controversy.The controversy is in -- where Notebookelse? -- Philadelphia, where Eagles coach Rich Kotite's decision to return to Randall Cunningham after a week of Jim McMahon did nothing to calm the controversy that has been front page news.Cunningham did his best to fan the flames this week when he said he didn't want to be yanked again."If they want to put in Jim, that's their decision.