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They are, at the quarter pole of the season, polar opposites. Quarterbacks Rex Grossman of Chicago and Daunte Culpepper of Miami are both coming off injuries that wrecked their 2005 seasons, but that's about where the comparisons for 2006 come to a screeching halt.

Grossman, who was limited to seven starts in his first three seasons because of injuries, has been one of the league's biggest surprises in 2006, rebounding from a broken ankle to provide the Bears the kind of quarterback production they haven't enjoyed in years. On the flip side, Culpepper, who is coming back from a catastrophic right knee injury in which he tore three ligaments, clearly has been a disappointment, ranking just 20th in the NFL in passer efficiency for a Dolphins team that has not lived up to expectations.

"For me," Grossman said, "the difference is pretty easy to [identify]. I'm healthy. No one knows just how frustrating it can be having to go through rehab the way I did it two years in a row. But it feels good to, you know, feel good again. And, hopefully, we can keep this up."

A first-round pick in the 2003 draft, Grossman has completed 78 of 125 passes for 1,061 yards, with eight touchdown passes and three interceptions. The eight scoring passes double the total of his first three years in the NFL and his passer rating, 100.8, ranks fifth in the league.

Culpepper has thrown just two touchdown passes, has three interceptions, and has been sacked a league-high 21 times. While he and Miami officials insist his surgically repaired knee is whole again, it's clear, when one sees Culpepper being chased down by 300-pound linemen, that he has lost some of his escape dimension and ability to make plays outside the pocket.

It remains to be seen whether the former Minnesota Vikings star, who only two years ago authored one of the best statistical seasons in NFL history, can regain his stature. Ditto on whether Grossman, whose career could best be described as star-crossed, can maintain his current pace. But at this point in the season, the two quarterbacks are certainly going in opposite directions.

They aren't the only players in the NFL, of course, whose first month was marked by either surprise or disappointment. Here's a look at some more veterans in those disparate categories.

Bernard Berrian

Wide Receiver Chicago Bears Profile

2006 SEASON STATISTICS Rec Yds TD Avg Long YAC 15 316 3 21.1 49 53

• WR Bernard Berrian (Chicago): In just four games, the third-year veteran has already tied his career best for receptions (15) and established new personal bests in receiving yards (316) and touchdowns (three). His 21.1-yard average per catch ranks second in the NFL among players with more than 10 receptions, and the former third-round selection has proven to be the perfect vertical complement to veteran Muhsin Muhammad. He has four catches of 40-plus yards and his average touchdown reception is for 43.3 yards.

• QB David Carr (Houston): The top pick in the 2002 draft, Carr spent the first four seasons of his career as a human piñata, sacked an average of once every 8.8 drop-backs. He was sacked 76 times as a rookie and 68 times last season. Carr is still getting sacked too often (15 times in four contests). But when he's been able to stay perpendicular, the former Fresno State star has been terrific, leading the NFL with an efficiency rating of 108.9, and throwing seven touchdown passes versus just two interceptions. If first-year head coach Gary Kubiak can figure a way to keep him consistently upright, Carr might yet develop into the Pro Bowl-caliber quarterback scouts predicted he would be.

• SS Kerry Rhodes (New York Jets): In the ESPN.com "observations" from Jets training camp this summer, we touted the second-year veteran as a player to watch. Nice to get one right every once in a while, huh? Rhodes has been a catalyst/instigator in first-year coach Eric Mangini's revamped 3-4 defense, and one of the primary reasons the Jets played so surprisingly well in the first month. He has 30 tackles, three sacks, one interception, two passes defensed and three forced fumbles. The coaches move him around a lot, much like Pittsburgh does with Troy Polamalu, and he's making a ton of plays.

• WLB Bart Scott (Baltimore): A onetime undrafted college free agent, Scott gained confidence last year, Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome suggested, when he started 10 games in place of the injured Ray Lewis. Scott is gaining attention in 2006 by tying for the NFL lead in sacks (five) after four outings. That's one more sack than he totaled in his first four seasons in the league. But he also has 33 tackles, one interception (on Sunday, when he roamed deep downfield to help blanket San Diego tight end Antonio Gates on a seam route), and four passes defensed, demonstrating his versatility.

• OT Jon Stinchcomb and DT Brian Young (New Orleans): OK, so we're cheating a little, listing these two as an entry, but each has been key to the Saints' solid performances on both sides of the line. Stinchcomb has played in only 10 games his first three seasons, and missed all of 2005 with a ruptured patellar tendon suffered in training camp. He didn't even look that good in camp this summer, and there were suggestions the brainy Stinchcomb might soon be able to enroll in medical school much sooner than he had planned. But he has held off challenges to his starting job, played well, and just might earn himself a contract extension before the end of the season. Young is an undersized hustler who has 3½ sacks, the most since he registered 6½ sacks in 2001, and has consistently penetrated in run defense.

• OT Robert Gallery (Oakland): There are so many candidates on the Raiders' roster, it's difficult to single out one guy for dishonor, but Gallery certainly deserves some scrutiny. He's missed two of four games because of a calf injury, so in that regard, his grade should probably be an "incomplete." Alas, that same word pretty much describes Gallery's performance, not only this season, but over the first two-plus years of his career. Remember, the former Iowa star was the second overall choice in the 2004 draft, touted as one of the premier left tackle prospects in the last decade or more. But in his first two seasons, he wasn't good enough to beat out journeyman Barry Sims for the primary pass protection spot, and started instead at right tackle. When coach Art Shell shuffled the composition of the line this spring, and moved Gallery to the left side, he was overmatched. The Raiders signed Gallery to a contract with a maximum value of $54.75 million and $14.5 million in bonuses in '04, and haven't gotten much return on that investment.

Matt Hasselbeck

Quarterback Seattle Seahawks Profile

2006 SEASON STATISTICS Att Comp Yds TD Int Rat 125 77 742 6 7 74.6

• QB Matt Hasselbeck (Seattle): Because the Seahawks are 3-1, and still the overwhelming favorite to win their division and possibly represent the NFC in the Super Bowl for a second straight year, Hasselbeck's struggles have gone mostly unnoticed. And, of course, he's got some viable excuses, with injuries to tailback Shaun Alexander, wide receiver Darrell Jackson and tight end Jerramy Stevens. But the bottom line is that Hasselbeck, a legitimate most valuable player candidate a year ago, hasn't been nearly as sharp this season. He has more interceptions (seven) than touchdown passes (six), and threw only nine picks all of last year. Hasselbeck already has two multiple-interception outings, as many as he had for the entire 2005 season, and he's been sacked 13 times, after being dumped only 24 times last year.

• RB Edgerrin James (Arizona): It's not that the former Indianapolis star has lost his "Edge" in the desert, even though his critics point to his advancing age (28) and lack of big plays the last several years. Nope, James just can't find any creases provided by a Cardinals' offensive line that has been one of the franchise's deficiencies for too many years now. Any kind of hole for James is like an oasis. But mostly, given the line's struggles, the Arizona running game is more like a mirage. James has carried 88 times for 272 yards and two touchdowns. The good news is that his two touchdown runs are as many as the Cardinals managed for the entire 2005 season. The bad news is that James' longest run is for 14 yards, and his 3.1-yard average is the lowest in the NFL among players with more than 150 rushing yards.

• CB Ken Lucas (Carolina): A tough two-way defender who brought a physical mind-set to the Carolina secondary in 2005, when he had 72 tackles, six interceptions and 12 passes defensed, Lucas has not played well so far in 2006. In fact, last week, the six-year veteran was benched in favor of rookie Richard Marshall, in large part because he had missed too many tackles in the first three games of the year. In his defense, Lucas is trying to play through a shoulder injury, one that has clearly affected his performance. He has the ability to bounce back, if healthy, and the Panthers need him to regain his 2005 form.

• DEs Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora (New York Giants): The Giants' ends combined for 26 sacks in 2005 and both players, who provided New York an outside pincer-type pass rush, were named to the NFC Pro Bowl squad. Umenyiora's breakout year earned him a fat contract extension. Through three games this season, however, the pair has registered but one sack. Strahan and Umenyiora had 5½ sacks in the first three games last year, an auguring of what was to come the rest of the campaign. Strahan suggested last week that sacks are overrated, an unusual statement coming from a guy who is counting on his body of work in dumping NFL quarterbacks to get him into the Hall of Fame. Overrated or not, the Giants, who count on their ends to provide pressure, have just two sacks total. Given the team's shortcomings in the secondary, New York needs to generate more heat up front.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.