One spent the autumn of 1997 unemployed, mostly watching the leaves turn on Long Island, a volunteer quarterbacks coach at Hofstra University who wondered if he would ever again cash an NFL paycheck. The other served that same fall as caddy for Brian Griese at Michigan, appearing in only four games and throwing just 15 passes, justifiably concerned about his football future.

	Jay Fiedler has the Miami Dolphins in first place in the AFC East.

So how is it that, when the Miami Dolphins visit the New England Patriots in a critical AFC East matchup on Saturday afternoon, Jay Fiedler and Tom Brady, respectively, will be at center stage in one of the marquee games of this 2001 season?

Blame it on the dearth of true "franchise" quarterbacks in a league where the talent pool has been diluted over the past decade. At the same time, credit Brady and Fiedler for being part of a subset of NFL quarterbacks who have demonstrated grit and gumption in their roller coaster careers, and who now have their teams either in the playoffs or poised to advance to postseason play.

With a trend that quietly began in the mid-'90s, but wasn't magnified until Kurt Warner crawled off the scrap heap and captured the most valuable player award in 1999 with the St. Louis Rams, orphaned quarterbacks who once would have been considered rejects are now finding homes. And once they are adopted, they have successfully adapted to the situation, fitting in characteristically as a solid complementary component.

In an era when the league's most important position has taken on a minimalist bent, Brady and Fiedler help comprise a group of starting quarterbacks simply trying to maximize their modest talents, and on occasion to overachieve. Truth be told, their collective profile is more typical of what has succeeded to this juncture of the season than that of more well-known quarterbacks.

"When you look around, and see the teams in first place, this is sort of the year of the journeyman quarterback," said Oakland starter Rich Gannon, who played for four different franchises before signing with the Raiders as an unrestricted free agent in 1999. "There aren't a lot of the big-name guys up at the top (of the standings)."

Added Warner: "There are certainly guys with some mileage on them."

	A Man Named Brady
	Tom Brady has come from nowhere and erased any doubt about his ability to throw the long ball. He has completed nearly 68 percent of his throws over 20 yards, compared to just over 63 percent of throws 20 yards or less. His quarterback rating is also noticeably higher when throwing deep. Here's a look at Brady's numbers for throws up to and over 20 yards.
		1-20 yds.	20+ yds.
	Comp pct.	63.2	67.8*
	TD/INT	10/5	6/5
	QB rating	86.5	91.7
	*78 completions of 20 or more yards

Consider this: Of the quarterbacks starting for current first-place teams, Donovan McNabb of the Philadelphia Eagles is the lone first-rounder still playing for the franchise that originally drafted him. In fact, McNabb is the only first-rounder who is still with the same team that drafted him and has a winning record for 2001.

Entering this weekend, there are 14 teams with winning marks and just three have "home grown" starting quarterbacks. The league's top 10 passers statistically include just three quarterbacks who are on the team with which they began their NFL careers, and that group includes Jeff Garcia of the 49ers, who actually got his start in the CFL.

The five other first-place starters -- Gannon, Kordell Stewart (Pittsburgh), Fiedler, Jim Miller (Chicago) and Warner -- have combined to play with 21 different teams in three different football leagues, and have been released, traded or been granted free agency an aggregate 25 times.

The eye-popping numbers offer a dramatic and graphic illustration of how the game has changed.

Just a decade ago, in the 1991 season, half of the teams that won division titles had first-rounders starting at quarterback. In 1981, it was the same, with three division champions boasting a former first-round choice at starting quarterback.

That the composition of the pool of current first-place quarterbacks has undergone such a facelift demonstrates how the game and philosophy have evolved in recent seasons. It is also a testimony, however, to the quarterbacks who have persevered against long odds and stayed the course even when times were bad. This year's class of first-place field generals certainly has earned its stripes.

Following the Pittsburgh Steelers' division-clinching victory at Baltimore late Sunday night, one member of the media pointed out to Stewart a tattoo that adorns the back of wide receiver Plaxico Burress, stenciled letters that read: "Everything happens for a reason." In the wake of the most prolific passing performance of his uneven career, Stewart flashed a smile, one that suggested he ought to have a similar message burned into his flesh.

"What's that old saying about what doesn't kill you just makes you tougher?" said Stewart, who is suddenly being considered as a viable NFL most valuable player candidate after not even being regarded as the most valuable player on his team until a couple weeks ago. "I can relate to that."

Virtually all of the first-place quarterbacks, including McNabb, have endured pitfalls and pratfalls in their careers. They hardly emerged unscathed from those incidents, many of them painful, but the shared wisdom of the group is that surviving some of those tough times has made these good times that much more meaningful.

Certainly returning this weekend to a part of the country where he made a reputation as a college starter with good credentials, while playing at Dartmouth, has special meaning for Fiedler. That he is returning as the quarterback of a first-place franchise, in a game with large ramifications, only adds to the significance.

	“	When you look around, and see the teams in first place, this is sort of the year of the journeyman quarterback. There aren't a lot of the big-name guys up at the top (of the standings). ”
		— Rich Gannon, Raiders quarterback

It has been four long years since he was tutoring the quarterback position, not playing it, but the experience isn't all that long ago that Fiedler still doesn't fall back on it to occasionally remind himself that the bumpy road to the top is more often lined with potholes than with gold. There was a time during that '97 season at Hofstra when former New York Jets coach Al Groh, now at the University of Virginia, advised Fiedler he might be a better coach than a player, and that he might consider pursuing the former job full-time.

Groh long ago apologized for that ill-advised analysis, but Fiedler bares no grudges, and is able to laugh about the incident now.

"When you've had to fight your way back, and you make it, remembering the difficulties can be more enjoyable than painful," Fiedler said. "It makes all the negative (stuff) seem worthwhile in a weird sort of way. You appreciate even more where you're at right now."

That certainly seems to be the case with the other first-place quarterbacks, who have shared some of their experiences with each other, and who can commiserate over similar tales of woe. "It's not like I'm the only guy who took the (circuitous) route to a starting job," said Miller, who despite leading the Bears to their first playoff spot since 1997, has no contract for next season and isn't yet sure where he will play in 2002. "There aren't many guys in the league right now who just had it handed to them, you know?"

Stewart went to training camp this year still having to compete with now-departed Kent Graham for the starting job. Only a year ago, coach Bill Cowher decided to keep Stewart out of the home games because the Three Rivers Stadium crowd was so derisive toward him. Miller has been cut five times, served a four-game suspension in 2000 for some substances contained in an over-the-counter supplement he used, had started but four regular-season games until this year.

Warner had to ply his trade overseas and in the Arena Football League, and only became a starter in 1999 when Trent Green sustained a season-ending knee injury. Gannon has been traded twice, including one deal that came only a month after he was drafted in 1987.

Until only two years ago, Fiedler was best known because he shared a surname and was distantly related to former Boston Pops conductor Arthur Fiedler. That he is making pretty good music of his own these days is more than enough to soothe his once-savage breast. And he serves as a good role model, for young players like Brady, of what can be accomplished by simply rolling with the punches and finally reaching a point where you can jab back.

"There are some good examples of quarterbacks out there who refused to quit," said Brady, who himself had to fight the urge to transfer from Michigan when he lost the competition for the top job to Griese in '97. "And who are successful now because they stuck with it."

Len Pasquarelli is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.