St. Pierre gets his chance

[Laetitia]

Among the 14-hour days he’s been logging since signing with the Panthers last week, Brian St. Pierre managed to squeeze in a history lesson – courtesy of coach John Fox.

Fox told St. Pierre about another fill-in quarterback who was brought in to Charlotte in 2007 after a rash of injuries at the position.

“John Fox came up to me on Wednesday and said Vinny Testaverde did this three years ago,” St. Pierre said. “I said, ‘Well, Vinny has a little better resume than I do.’”

St. Pierre has done what would seem to be a statistical impossibility: hang around the NFL for seven years and attempt just five passes. On Sunday the 30-year-old from Boston will make his first career start against Baltimore, one of his stops in a career spent mostly as a No. 3 QB.

He will have gone through four practices – one with the practice squad -- when he takes the field Sunday at Bank of America Stadium.

“It’s a tough situation. I don’t know how many times this has ever happened,” St. Pierre said. “I appreciate them having enough faith in me to throw me out there. I hope I can reward them by holding my own Sunday and hopefully helping this team win a game.”

Fox chose St. Pierre over Tony Pike, the rookie from Cincinnati who was the Panthers’ sixth-round draft choice in April.

St. Pierre understands what he’s up against. He knows better than most how good the Ravens’ defense is.

“I’m not going to complain about it,” he said. “It’s an opportunity.”

Here’s hoping he lives to tell about it.

--Joseph Person

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