SPORTS EXTRA / SPECIAL SECTION: FOOTBALL ’99 * NFL PREVIEW : AFC : GREAT EXPECTATIONS : Griese, Testaverde and Brunell Face That and More as Quarterbacks Expected to Lead Their Teams to the Super Bowl

Three quarterbacks are at three markedly different stages of their careers, but all shouldering huge expectations.

One man is replacing a legend, as if that is ever possible, and another is, surprisingly, playing like one. The third is on the brink of superstardom.

With the dawning of another NFL season, the heat index is sure to skyrocket for Brian Griese of the Denver Broncos, Vinny Testaverde of the New York Jets and Mark Brunell of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

They are expected to guide their teams to AFC division titles and deliver them to the Georgia Dome for the Super Bowl on January 30.

For Griese, in particular, that’s no small order.

When John Elway packed it in after last season to flash his toothy grin on beer commercials, leaving the Broncos with consecutive Super Bowl titles and a massive hole to fill, Coach Mike Shanahan tabbed 12-year veteran Bubby Brister as the worthy successor.

The decision seemed logical, if only to Shanahan. Brister, 37, knew Denver’s system and had efficiently backed up Elway for two seasons. He threw for 986 yards and 10 touchdowns last year, and had a 4-0 record as a starter while Elway was sidelined because of injuries.

But Brister has struggled and Griese, 24, has flourished in exhibition games, forcing Shanahan’s hand. On Monday, Shanahan promoted Griese to starter.

“If I didn’t feel like Brian could take us all the way, I wouldn’t have ever made this decision,” Shanahan said.

Griese, two seasons removed from leading Michigan to a Rose Bowl victory and a share of the national championship, has completed 56 of 84 passes for 605 yards and six touchdowns in four exhibition games. His quarterback rating is 106.5.

If Griese’s sizable task is to replace a future Hall of Famer, Testaverde’s is to outdo himself, or experience the wrath of Coach Bill Parcells.

“I know what you can do now and I’m expecting more out of you,” Parcells recently told Testaverde at camp.

There’s not a whole lot more Testaverde, 36 in November, can do statistically, except win it all and complete Parcells’ three-year reclamation project with the Jets.

After years of throwing the ball to the wrong guys--he did it 35 times with Tampa Bay in 1988--Testaverde last season came up with the fourth-best touchdown-to-interception rate in NFL history.

He passed for 3,256 yards with a club season-record 29 touchdowns, threw only seven interceptions and his 101.6 rating trailed only the league-leading 106.0 by Minnesota’s Randall Cunningham, another retread.

Testaverde, in fact, carried the Jets to their first AFC East Division title and to the conference championship game, where they lost to Denver, 23-10.

Jacksonville’s Brunell, who turns 29 on Sept. 17, is rapidly ascending to the top level.

Despite missing the last three regular-season games because of an ankle injury, the left-hander last year passed for 2,601 yards and 20 touchdowns and had an 89.9 rating, ninth-best in the league.

After winning the AFC Central Division last year, the Jaguars “have as good a shot as anybody in this league to go to the Super Bowl,” Brunell said.

At Denver and New York, they are thinking the same thing.