By Mike Kahn
CBS SportsLine Executive Editor
Sept. 8, 1998

One week into the NFL season and seven starting quarterbacks failed to complete what they began Sunday. The dangerous life of an NFL quarterback almost requires Secret Service protection.

What's a coach to do?

Peyton Manning better get used to sacks. (AP)

Nothing. There's nothing they can do but try and maintain the best three quarterbacks possible on the roster. They must hope these enormous, overstuffed college products actually know how to pass block and have quick enough feet to create a moving pocket.

Who would have believed it was a generation ago that each team was fine with just two quarterbacks per team? Nowadays, it has become essential to have three.

The good news about Sunday is no team lost two quarterbacks. But you can bet on that happening before season's end. Defensive players attack at full speed and hit with their helmets, in full guided missile form. Those vulnerable guys releasing the passes are bound to become an endangered species.

Ironically, the only quarterback who might be out for the season -- New Orleans Saints starter Billy Joe Hobert -- tore his Achilles' tendon and went down untouched. Blame it on the turf ... or just an act of mother nature.

AS BUFFALO WAS BLOWING ITS TRADITIONAL game with a missed field goal, you had to wonder if it would have come down to that were it not for quarterback Rob Johnson getting knocked out on the first play of the second half in San Diego. As it was, the Chargers barely won. Meanwhile, Johnson will battle the cobwebs of a concussion all week and be vulnerable for many weeks.

There were concerns Tennessee Oilers quarterback Steve McNair broke his elbow on the rock-hard turf of Cincinnati . Instead, it's just a bruise, and he should be just fine.

Then you have Jim Harbaugh leaving the game for the Ravens because he injured his ring finger after being tackled. He didn't return.

And then you have Washington's Gus Frerotte, adding injury to insult. Frerotte badly bruised his shoulder attempting to tackle Conrad Hamilton after the New York Giants star intercepted a pass. Frerotte returned, only to hurt the shoulder further. Now he has lost his job to third-string Trent Green, who got the job only because Jeff Hostetler is out with a knee injury.

In Kansas City's surprisingly easy victory over Oakland, Chiefs quarterback Elvis Grbac also suffered a shoulder injury -- going down on the final play before intermission -- and didn't return. It was just a sprain ... but you never know.

And a thigh bruise chased Tampa Bay quarterback Trent Dilfer, who had been chased all day by the Vikings to the point of distraction.

SO WHERE DOES THAT LEAVE US? WELL, IT DOESN'T mean there won't be other changes next week. Things went so badly for third-year quarterback Bobby Hoying in his first NFL start (38-0 to Seattle), Philadelphia Eagles coach Ray Rhodes already has discussed the possibility of a change. Veteran Rodney Peete might not have the physical tools, but he's a wise old head who can help a team win.

The oddity is the way 38-year-olds like Dan Marino and John Elway play game after game, year after year and rarely miss one. Oh, they've been patched together with tape, gauze, needles and thread -- wearing flak jackets and pads on every part of their body and walking as if their legs are made of wood. But they play and they're setting new records every game, becoming the first players in NFL history to throw for more than 50,000 yards.

The same goes for the even more remarkable Warren Moon, who will be 42 next month. If you add his first six seasons in the CFL to his NFL experience, he has thrown for more than 68,000 yards.

So it is feasible to be a quarterback in the NFL, stay healthy and set records.

The answer to the riddle is vague. The aforementioned trio just happen to be very special people. Will this highly publicized rookie duo of Peyton Manning and Ryan Leaf manage to stay healthy and chase the records set by those guys?

The possibility is there, as long as there is some luck and their teams build exceptional offensive lines and have a slew of fleet receivers and at least one great running back who can block and catch the ball out of the backfield.

If that sounds like a lot, it is. That's why those guys are special, although it isn't as if Elway, Marino and Moon have always had all of the above -- it comes and goes. Often they settle for a decent, or at least consistent, supporting cast.

It might be this season or next, or the one after, whether we know if Manning and Leaf are coming or going. Come to think of it, the chances aren't very good we'll be talking about it 16 years from now.

Here's hoping they make it through next week.