MVP is back - Warner takes reins from Bulger

LANDOVER, Md. -- Kurt Warner is back. So is Danny Wuerffel.

Oh, well, let's compare them anyway.

Warner? He's a two-time MVP who has taken the St. Louis Rams to two Super Bowls and is on pace to become one of the all-time great quarterbacks. He's returning after missing six games with a broken right pinkie, coming back to a team that has won five straight.

Wuerffel? He's been an NFL bust since winning the Heisman Trophy in 1996, having not even taken a snap in a regular-season game for two years before his old college coach, Steve Spurrier, brought him to the Washington Redskins this year. He hurt his shoulder in the first series in his one start seven weeks ago.

If that's not one-sided enough, consider the possibilities if something goes wrong for either quarterback when the Redskins (4-6) host the Rams (5-5) today.

If Warner struggles -- and he did early this season before he got hurt -- the Rams can call on Marc Bulger, who led St. Louis back from 0-5 with one of the best debut runs since, well, Kurt Warner in 1999. Bulger also has a finger injury (sprained right index), but he'll be in uniform.

A Redskin mess at QB

If Wuerffel can't produce, all Spurrier can do is pick between rookie Patrick Ramsey and Shane Matthews, who along with the coach are exhibits A, B and C why the Redskins have made four starting quarterback changes and are ranked 26th in offense.

Even Wuerffel admits the other team is better off.

"I'm sure they're a lot more comfortable with their quarterback situation than we are with ours right now," Wuerffel said. "They're in a very unique situation, but it's a great one for them to be in. They've got two great players."

Ramsey called the Rams' quarterback position a "win-win situation," an interesting choice of words because Warner says he's in a "no-win situation." There have been calls for St. Louis coach Mike Martz to ride Bulger's hot hand, especially considering Warner is 0-4 with one touchdown and eight interceptions on the season.

"I'm in a no-win situation," Warner said. "You go out and play well, and it's like, 'We expect him to play well because he's always done in the past.' But you go out and you don't play well, and of course it's a huge controversy and it's a big mistake.

"But I don't play this game to not fail. I play this game to play at the highest level possible, to be a perfectionist. That's the way I approach life. That's the way I approach football."

Network lost faith

Way back when, this was a highly anticipated game, matching The Greatest Show on Turf against the Fun 'n' Gun. A few weeks ago, when both offenses were neither Great nor Fun, Fox took it off the 3 p.m. national telecast and moved it back to noon.

Since then, the Rams have done their part to make it interesting, becoming the second team in NFL history to go from 0-5 to 5-5. Notably, the Redskins were the first to do so, a year ago.

But last year's Redskins took a breath at 5-5. They hit a plateau and never got above .500, finishing 8-8. If something similar happens with the Rams, especially as they start a string of three straight road games, they won't be going back to the Super Bowl.

"If just getting back to .500 was your goal, I think you'd have to be concerned about that," Martz said. "That's never been our goal. We've got so many other things we'd like to achieve."