NFL | QB shuffle: Kansas City, Minnesota change starters

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Tyler Thigpen, the first player from Coastal Carolina selected in the NFL draft, will be the first to start at quarterback.

Thigpen, 24, will be under center Sunday for Kansas City when the Chiefs go to Atlanta. It will be exactly 11 months after the struggling young Chiefs (0-2) last won a game.

A 23-8 loss to Oakland on Sunday, in which Thigpen came off the bench when Damon Huard was injured, was the Chiefs' 11th straight regular-season defeat.

Huard, a former Washington Husky from Puyallup High School, is OK, but Thigpen will join several inexperienced young Chiefs who are getting a cram course in the NFL.

"He's another young player ... we want to look at, see where he's at. If he struggles, obviously Damon comes in," coach Herm Edwards said.

Brodie Croyle, the strong-armed but injury-prone young quarterback the Chiefs are hoping to build around, has a separated shoulder and will be out one more week and possibly more. Huard, a 12-year veteran and the only quarterback in Kansas City who has won in the NFL, made the start against the Raiders but came out in the first half with a sore neck.

Vikings bench Jackson,

turn to Frerotte

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — With the passing offense sputtering in two losses to open the season, Minnesota coach Brad Childress decided the Vikings can no longer afford to let 25-year-old quarterback Tarvaris Jackson learn on the job.

Childress turned to 15-year veteran Gus Frerotte to run the offense for the rest of the season.

"I'm just not seeing right now the aggressiveness from Tarvaris that I saw throughout the offseason, training camp, the two preseason games that he played in," Childress said. "And part of it may be experience. I know Gus will give us that. And I know his approach will also lend itself to that."

Jackson completed just 51 percent of his passes this season. He threw a game-ending interception at Green Bay that sealed the Packers victory and was partly responsible for the offense settling for five field goals and scoring no touchdowns in an 18-15 loss to the Colts.

"I could easily hold my head low, keep my head down, you know, be a cancer to the team," Jackson said. "I'm still frustrated and mad about the situation, but I'm going to use that as motivation to try to get better and just better myself for the future."

Frerotte, 37, has played with seven teams, including Minnesota twice, in his 15 years in the league.

Notes

• Buccaneers tight end Jerramy Stevens, a former Seahawk and Husky, was activated after missing the first two games of the season while serving a suspension for violating the NFL's substance-abuse policy.

• Falcons safety Lawyer Milloy, the former Huskies standout, said he was glad to be with his teammates for his first practice since his DUI arrest Monday. "I think I need to be here," Milloy said. "It's been tough just sitting at home and thinking about everything. Once I got here and saw my teammates, I think they realized they need to be here for me like I've been here for them."

• Colts safety Bob Sanders, the 2007 defensive player of the year, could miss up to six weeks after spraining his right ankle last weekend at Minnesota, and team officials are contemplating whether Sanders may need arthroscopic surgery on his knee, too.

• With his toe injury lingering, running back LaDainian Tomlinson sat out practice as the winless San Diego Chargers began preparing for their home game against Brett Favre and the New York Jets on Monday night.