If everybody?s favorite player is the back-up quarterback, what do they think of the third stringer? That depends on whether the coach decided to keep a third passer. For those teams that don?t they may want to reconsider. A lot of guys expected to hold the clipboard for the season are no longer bored as they must clutch the pigskin in place of the starter. The latest passer elevated is Gus Frerotte in St. Louis, replacing an ineffective and injured Marc Bulger. When the team is 0-4, there are plenty of reasons to make changes. In Bulger?s case, he was playing with two broken ribs as well, giving more reason to make a change. Bulger is a Pro Bowl quarterback when healthy. Whether the injury hampered him any, a little rest to heal the broken ribs doesn?t hurt. Actually, broken ribs do hurt, but it wouldn?t get better while playing. Alex Smith doesn?t have the option to play or not. But the San Francisco franchise QB exercised his option to get a second opinion on his separated throwing shoulder. Smith was knocked out of the game against Seattle when Seahawks defensive lineman Rocky Bernard flattened Smith on a sack. Usually losing your starting quarterback is depressing, but the San Fran fans are optimistic. Into the starting role comes Trent Dilfer. One of his relief stints culminated into a Super Bowl win with Baltimore in 2000. 49er fans are hopeful now. What Matt Leinart hopes for is to remain the starter. For the past two weeks he experienced the quarterback shuffle, being exchanged during the game for Kurt Warner. Arizona head coach Ken Wisenhunt said he will use his passers based on situations: Warner for no-huddle while Leinart runs the regular offense. There?s an old saying that if you have two quarterbacks, then you have none. Warner won a Super Bowl and a MVP award. Leinart won the Heisman Trophy and a college National Championship. If the old saying is true, then what do other teams in the league have with less decorated signal callers? In Chicago the answer would be not much as Brian Griese replaces the turnover-prone Rex Grossman. Sure the Bears reached Super Bowl XLII, but that was in spite of Grossman, not because of him. In a full season as the starter, Grossman threw 20 interceptions. This year he was on pace to shatter that mark, having thrown six in three starts. Griese, in his first start since 2005, added three picks of his own, quickly making up ground on Grossman. If you think the Bears have it bad, it gets no worse than in Miami. The Dolphins said good-bye to the rejects they collected from Detroit and Minnesota in 2006 and traded for Kansas City?s refuse, Trent Green. Many wondered what was Miami thinking trading for a player just recovered from a severe concussion. So far Green hasn?t answered the question well for the ?Fins, throwing seven picks against five scores. To top it off, one of those QBs Miami didn?t want came back and danced all over their field. Daunte Culpepper, who began the season behind Josh McCown, accounted for all of the Raiders? touchdowns. After one of his three touchdown runs, Culpepper pointed to the knee (torn ACL and MCL while playing for Minnesota) he hurried through rehab to play for the ?Fins last year. The knee is fine now, much to Miami?s detriment. It isn?t a injury, but a player getting his head right can make a huge difference in performance as well. Joey Harrington crumbled under the pressure in Detroit. He wasn?t used to losing and being blamed for it. The change in scenery to Miami helped, but his relief work didn?t impress the Dolphins? new coaching staff. Maybe Harrington?s play does now. In his last two games Harrington threw for 584 yards and four TDs. Most rewarding is Joey led the Falcons to their first win of the season. It?s vindication for Harrington after Miami doubted him. That win for Harrington was especially rewarding because he beat the guy Atlanta fans wished was still with the Falcons. Matt Schaub sat for three years behind Michael Vick. Schaub got his chance thanks to a trade to Houston and got the Texans to their first ever 2-0 start. It was an accomplishment that David Carr never did in five seasons with the Texans. Like Harrington, Carr needs mental rehabilitation for five consecutive losing seasons and 249 sacks over that time. His first appearance for Carolina didn?t feel much different from his years with the Texans as Carr threw an interception and absorbed three more sacks. His performance in place of Jake Delhomme will be closely watched. Just don?t expect it to last forever. When Delhomme recovers from his injury, Carr will return to the bench. That doesn?t look to be the case for Cleveland?s Derek Anderson. In his two wins, Anderson passed for 532 yards and seven touchdowns. This turnaround came as chatter to start first round draft pick and savior Brady Quinn was getting louder. If Anderson and the Browns keep winning, Anderson won?t have to look over his shoulder. Other starters around the league shouldn?t be as comfortable. New York Jets? injury-prone Chad Pennington might be his next injury away from permanently losing his job to Kellen Clemens. Buffalo?s Trent Edwards led the Bills to a win, something starter J.P. Losman hadn?t done this year. The elderly Steve McNair hasn?t stayed healthy for Baltimore, opening the door for Kyle Boller to unseat McNair. And Tavaris Jackson has been so bad for the Vikings, his continued poor play could convince the coaching staff to stick with Kelly Holcomb. Not all back ups are expected to revive their teams. New England?s Matt Cassel enters games to run out the clock. Seattle?s Seneca Wallace has a more interesting method for action: He?s played receiver, running back and thrown a pass. By the end of week five, 10 back up QBs will have started a game and one will regularly see action. At this rate, fans will run out of favorite players to root for. This could lead to a change in philosophy: Root for whomever?s in the game because he might not be in the game for long.