Bills Have a Backfield in Motion

Here’s the scenario, quite routine in the NFL: Starting quarterback gets hurt.

Backup steps in and wins games.

Should the starter get the job back when he’s ready to play again?

He should if he’s Kurt Warner. (He will).

He should if he’s Troy Aikman (He did).

Rob Johnson?

Because he hasn’t come close to taking a team to the Super Bowl, that’s a judgment call.

Buffalo Bill Coach Wade Phillips has made his, picking Johnson to start ahead of Doug Flutie, who went 3-1 as Johnson’s stand-in.

Because Johnson is only 3-3 as the starter, that raised the hue and cry from the vast Flutie fan club, pointing to the record.

The record, though, isn’t as persuasive as it first seems.

With Johnson starting, Buffalo beat Tennessee, Green Bay and San Diego and lost to the New York Jets, Indianapolis and Miami.

With Flutie starting, the Bills beat the Jets, New England and Chicago and lost to Minnesota.

So Flutie had the easier schedule, facing teams with a .450 winning percentage versus .550 for Johnson.

Now Johnson comes back from a shoulder injury to face the teeth of the schedule: Kansas City, Tampa Bay, Miami and Indianapolis in the next four games. That isn’t exactly a recipe for success.

Debate all you want, but here are the numbers that seem to matter most:

Johnson is 27, is 6 feet 4, and signed a five-year, $25-million contract in 1998.

Flutie is 38, is 5-10, and didn’t.

If that makes all the Flutie fans angry, so be it.

The bottom line is that as long as Phillips will switch back to Flutie quickly during a game if Johnson isn’t doing the job, his decision is defensible.

“You’ve got to make a decision who you think you can win with,” Phillips said. “I think we can win with both of them, so it’s not a hard decision. We went into the season thinking that Johnson was the guy that would carry us all the way. He got hurt. Doug came in and did a real good job, like we knew he would. Now, Johnson’s well.

“I don’t think there’s any big, monumental decision here. This is the decision we went with to start with. Not a whole lot has changed.”

Records aside, the number people focus on with Johnson is how often he has been sacked: 25 times in 188 passing attempts. Flutie has been sacked only five times in 38 fewer attempts. Rumblings out of Kansas City this week are that the Chiefs will be relieved if they don’t face Flutie’s scrambling ability after being taken apart by Oakland’s Rich Gannon and San Francisco’s Jeff Garcia.

Johnson’s problem is that he holds onto the ball too long, resulting in more sacks and contributing to his injury-prone history.

But Johnson has the edge in other statistics, with a 90.5 passer rating--eighth in the NFL--to Flutie’s 77.4.

Flutie has a reputation as a winner and a scrambler. The winning is documented, but you might want to check out the rushing stats: Johnson has 216 yards in 29 carries for a 7.4 average, and Flutie has 52 yards in 16 carries for a 3.3 average.

Despite the locker room factions and Johnson’s wasting energy on whether Flutie was the source of anonymous Sports Illustrated quotes, Johnson gets his job back--little surprise when you remember Phillips made him the starter over Flutie just before the playoffs last season, a clear indication of his mind set.

As he said, not a whole lot has changed.

“[Phillips] had indicated to me that when I was healthy, I was the guy,” Johnson said. “I know it didn’t come across that way in the media at first, and I didn’t know how to take that, but he always said that to me.”

That’s the way it is--until Johnson gets hurt again. Kansas City, Tampa Bay, Miami? Chances are, he will.

In the meantime, Johnson said he’ll just play and not worry about Flutie.

“It really doesn’t bother me whether he’s there or not, or whether they have a quick hook or not,” Johnson said. “I’m going to go out to play my game, and if I play as well as I think I can play, I’m not going to come out.”

MR. EXEMPLARY

If you want to know how quarterbacks should act, look no further than Trent Green.

Green was the starter who never got to start last season after injuring his knee in an exhibition.

Warner took the St. Louis Rams to the Super Bowl, and Green knew the score when he came back this season, never suggesting he should have a shot at the job.

He got it back when Warner broke his finger, but even though he has done a very good imitation of Warner, he’ll lose it again when Warner returns, probably Dec. 3 against Carolina.

“You know, I try not looking at it in terms of, ‘You’re just going to be back on the bench soon,’ ” Green said.

“I look at it more as I have an opportunity, whether it be three games, four, five games, whatever. . . . I have an opportunity in that time frame to go out and, one, help this team win, and, two, prove to my teammates and to other people around the league that I can play, that I have overcome the injury and that I’m back to playing well.”

Green, who signed a four-year, $16-million deal before last season--and will face his former team, the Washington Redskins, on Monday night--probably will be traded this off-season because the salary cap makes it prohibitive to carry two quarterbacks at starters’ salaries.

“You know what, I really don’t see myself back in St. Louis,” he said. “I just think that’s going to be hard to pull off, but also in terms of what the team’s going to be able to do in terms of draft picks, what’s offered around the league.”

He’s a mature quarterback who doesn’t make many mistakes, understands offenses, and doesn’t let his ego get in the way of the team.

Seattle and probably San Diego should get in line and start offering packages of draft picks.

The Chargers, by the way, originally picked Green in the eighth round in 1993--at the moment a much savvier quarterback selection than their first-round pick in 1998.

COWART COUNTY

Buffalo linebacker Sam Cowart has 112 tackles, two interceptions, three sacks and two fumble recoveries.

But Cowart, a third-year player from Florida State, ranks fifth in Pro Bowl voting, led by Miami’s Zach Thomas, even though Thomas has played in only six games.

Cowart’s mother, Harriet, responded with an e-mail to fans on the Bills’ web site mailing list.

“I am e-mailing you today to make you aware of some very serious voting irregularities currently taking place in the state of Florida and elsewhere,” she wrote. “Of course, I’m referring to the Pro Bowl balloting at the AFC’s inside linebacker position.”

AINTS NO MORE

Running back Terry Allen, signed this week to bolster the New Orleans rushing attack after the injury to Ricky Williams, managed to praise the Saints’ turnaround and rip the New England Patriots in the same quote.

“If my agent had called me last year and said he wanted me to sign with the Saints, I’d have fired him,” Allen said. “But this year, man, what an opportunity.

“Everybody here’s on the same page. They build each other up instead of tear each other down. That’s something I haven’t experienced in a long time.”

Former USC tailback Chad Morton and Jerald Moore--more of a power back--are expected to share the job Sunday against Oakland. Allen, new to the team, isn’t likely to play.

WOULD YOU BELIEVE . . . ?

On the NFL’s web site, a link is provided to “Latest news from the Carruth trial.”

Opening arguments are scheduled to begin Monday in the trial of former Carolina receiver Rae Carruth--facing a possible death sentence in the alleged murder-for-hire of his pregnant girlfriend.