Earl Morrall, Jeff Hostetler and Tom Brady are the patron saints of backup quarterbacks.

Perhaps soon to join them is a group that has turned the 2002 NFL season into the year of the substitute.

Chad Pennington, Marc Bulger and Tommy Maddox already have stepped in to help their teams win, and next up might be Koy Detmer and Steve Beuerlein.

Those two are the most recent players boosted from second string to starter in a season that has ranged from difficult to dangerous for No. 1 quarterbacks.

By the end of this weekend’s schedule, 17 teams will have made quarterback changes because of injuries or poor performances.

Detmer, with six NFL starts on his resume, and the veteran Beuerlein take control of first-place teams this weekend, and all anyone expects them to do is keep winning – right into the postseason.

“It’s a huge difference,” said Detmer, who replaces a Pro Bowler and the Eagles’ top offensive force, Donovan McNabb (broken ankle). “Now you’re the guy out there trying to make things happen.”

The 29-year-old Detmer hasn’t made much happen in previous work for Philadelphia. A seventh-round pick in 1997, he was 1-4 as a starter in 1998. He won his only start in 1999, has thrown eight TDs and nine interceptions in six seasons, and has thrown just 17 passes since his last start.

And his first start of 2002 will be Monday night at San Francisco, hardly an enviable task.

Denver backup quarterback Steve Beuerlein heaves a pass during Sunday's game against the Seahawks in Seattle. Beuerlein is one of the most recent players boosted from second string to starter in an NFL season that has ranged from difficult to dangerous for No. 1 quarterbacks. By the end of this weekend's schedule, 17 teams will have made quarterback changes because of injuries or poor performances.

Beuerlein, 37, has a stronger history as a starter in a 16-season career with six teams. The Denver Broncos’ backup steps in for Brian Griese (knee), who could return early next month. Beuerlein missed last season because of an elbow injury but was on the verge of replacing Griese in the season opener.

Griese rallied and kept the job ” until he was hurt in Seattle on Sunday.

“I’ve been in this position so many times in my career I know how to handle it, I believe,” Beuerlein said.

Beuerlein has been a starter for the Raiders, Cowboys, Cardinals, Jaguars and Panthers. He knows how to deal with big-game pressure, and the Broncos (7-3), tied for the AFC West lead with San Diego, will experience plenty of that in the next six weeks.

“I love the game, that’s why I’m still playing it at my age,” Beuerlein said. “I will go into this game like any other game I’ve gone into in the past, believing in myself, believing in my teammates and expecting to score touchdowns.”

While injuries are forcing Detmer and Beuerlein to move up the depth chart, Bulger and Maddox are moving down. Bulger led the St. Louis Rams back from an 0-5 start with five successive victories in place of Kurt Warner, who returns Sunday at Washington from a broken finger.

To his credit, Bulger, the league’s leading passer, isn’t complaining. After all, Warner is a two-time league MVP who went from now-Chiefs QB Trent Green’s backup in 1999 to the Super Bowl title in five months.

That began a string of three straight championships won by quarterbacks who began the year on the bench: Trent Dilfer for Baltimore and Brady for New England followed.

Bulger might not get the same opportunity ” yet.

Philadelphia backup qb Koy Detmer fires a pass against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Jan. 6 in Tampa, Fla.

“I’m just happy to do what I did, and we have Kurt Warner coming back to be our starting quarterback,” Bulger said. “I don’t think anyone in this room is disappointed about that.”

Kordell Stewart’s return to starting quarterback probably doesn’t meet with such acclaim among his teammates in Pittsburgh. Maddox, who bruised his spinal cord and sustained a concussion, got a clean bill of health Tuesday, but won’t play Sunday against Cincinnati.

Maddox, the journeyman who was the XFL’s most valuable player, took the reins from Stewart in the third game. He guided the Steelers back from an 0-2 start to the top of the AFC North.

Now, it’s the starter-turned-backup-turned-starter’s turn again.

“Sitting on the side isn’t the easiest thing to deal with,” Stewart said, “but now the opportunity is here and it’s time to move on and help this team get back on the right page.”

That’s precisely what Morrall did for the Colts in 1968 in place of John Unitas, winning league MVP honors and the conference championship. And in 1972, when Bob Griese was injured, Morrall guided the Dolphins the rest of the way to the NFL’s only undefeated season.

Hostetler took over for injured Phil Simms and took the Giants to the 1990 championship. Dilfer was promoted in the middle of the 2000 schedule and went unbeaten as the Ravens won it all.

Then came Brady last year. And who now?

The NFL certainly isn’t lacking for candidates.