Thursday, September 17, 1998

Bjornson, Sanders may be inserted as third quarterback

By David Moore

The Dallas Morning News

(KRT)

DALLAS - It's not a quarterback controversy in the traditional sense.

But if the Cowboys are forced to dig deep into their depth chart and use a No. 3 quarterback in Monday's game against New York, who would it be - tight end Eric Bjornson or cornberback Deion Sanders?

"If I've got to go in at quarterback, it's going to be pretty ugly," Bjornson said. "I hope everyone realizes that.

"The odds of it happening are pratically zero. And if it does, I'm just trying to get out of there alive and save face and not totally fall apart."

Bjornson and Sanders practiced their handoffs and threw a few passes after Wednesday's practice. The verdict?

"They handed it off well," Cowboys' Coach Chan Gailey said. "Eric is obviously more comfortable, having done it (play quarterback) in college.

And Sanders?

"It would take a lot to play Deion at quarterback," Gailey said. "That probably is not in the forseeable future."

That didn't dampen Sanders' enthusiasm for the position.

"I want to be the option quarterback on third-and-one," Sanders said. "It's automatic."

The Cowboys hope putting either Bjornson or Sanders into the game at quarterback is an option it doesn't have to run.

"My arm feels terrible," Bjornson said after throwing four passes. "I'm going to have to ice it down."

(c) 1998, The Dallas Morning News.

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