Off the field? There, the critical words fly.

"At that position, everybody has an opinion about your job," Theismann said. "Then it transcends you, it gets to your family. I have had my children in school have to defend my honor. If things are going great, you get all the credit, if they go bad, you get all the blame."

So how do you handle that?

Chad Pennington is now a Dolphin, and Sunday he had his best game in years, completing 85 percent of his passes. Before relocating to South Florida, he spent most of seven seasons on one of the hottest seats in sports: starting at quarterback for a New York-area team.

He learned that every day would present some unforeseen obstacle, either on or off the field. He learned not to take himself too seriously, or worry much about what was out of his control. He learned not to beat himself up.

And he learned this:

"You cannot read, listen to, or watch any type of media," Pennington said. "Period. You can't do it. Because we're emotional beings, and your emotions get involved. And you just can't do it. I learned that pretty early. If you do that, that takes away some of the pressure."

He started to view the press as merely his conduit to the fans.

"You think about what the fans are thinking about and listening to, and you try to present yourself in a way where you are looked at as someone who has character and integrity and handles things the right way," Pennington said.

So he never checked the back page of the New York tabloids, to see what sort of clever derogatory puns the headline writers had created with his name?

"I did my second and third year, and I quit," Pennington said. "It's self-preservation. The toughest experience for me was when I was playing with a torn rotator cuff and labrum and nobody knew about it and I couldn't tell anybody. And I had to just sit there and take the criticism, about lack of arm strength and lack of consistency, knowing that my shoulder was about to fall off. That's tough, because you don't want to give your opponent an edge. So here I am taking unfair criticism, knowing that I am hurting. Bad. Really shouldn't be playing."

He wasn't the first to play through injury, and won't be the last. Quarterbacks play through pain because the alternative — getting replaced — would hurt more.

"To me, the job is very sacred," Theismann said.

So he played with a broken nose, with broken ribs, with a broken hand. So he rarely let the backups take a snap in practice. He would tell a coach that he wasn't sure about the depth on a route, so he had to keep working on it.

"There are a thousand ways to protect yourself," Theismann said.

There are just as many ways to fail.

Young's situation in Tennessee is one of countless examples.

He dominated the BCS Championship game for Texas in 2006, beating USC with his arms, his legs, his leadership, his poise. The Titans drafted him No. 3 overall three months later, he became the starter as a rookie and took them to the playoffs in his second season.

Less than a year later, things changed. Now there are serious questions about whether Young can handle the pressure of starting in the NFL.

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"I think Vince's biggest problem is he doesn't have anyone around him to sit him down and say, 'Vince you're older now, you have to walk and talk a different way, carry yourself a different way,'" King said. "I really think the biggest part of being successful at professional level at quarterback is having someone show you how to be a professional quarterback. That is a very overlooked, pertinent part of the equation."

King believes that many NFL quarterbacks simply try to repeat what they did in college. But life in college is easier. There are fewer distractions. The NFL is a business. More money brings more problems. And before you can win games, you must win over teammates. Even after you mature enough to disregard the media and fans, you still must convince them that you're worthy, and that nothing is more important to you than winning a title with them.

"What is teammates' perception of your preparation?" King said. "You have to show them. Regardless of what comes out of your mouth, they know what time you get there, what time you leave. They know how quick you respond when they ask you something in the huddle. You have to know the offense to the point where, if anyone in the huddle asks what his job is, you have to be able to tell him."

Then you must do your own job. Exceedingly well. Play after play. Week after week.

"The one thing about that position, there are no curtains," King said. "It's like living in a glass house. If you play right guard, the only person who knows you made a huge blunder is the offensive line coach. If you play quarterback and do something wrong, everybody knows."

Even your wife, who just might send you for glasses.