Soory, Charlie

When opportunity rang for Detroit Lions rookie quarterback Charlie Batch, he was screening his calls. On Tuesday of last week, after deciding to bench veteran Scott Mitchell for the rest of the year in favor of Batch, Lions coach Bobby Ross called Batch's apartment. But like a lot of people on their days off, Batch had switched on his answering machine and was ignoring the phone. By the time he got the message, it was too late to call back, so he had to wait until he was summoned to Ross's office inside the Pontiac Silverdome before practice the next morning to find out the news.

Partly because he was the third quarterback taken in last spring's NFL draft, almost 60 picks behind superstars-in-waiting Peyton Manning and Ryan Leaf, and partly because he played his college ball at Eastern Michigan (where he was the Eagles' MVP as a senior), Batch paid close attention to the wording of Ross's request for a meeting—once he finally heard it. "He didn't ask me to bring my playbook, so I knew, at least, I wasn't getting cut," he said. "Other than that, I had no idea what Coach wanted from me."

Ross wanted Batch to guide the winless, dysfunctional Lions, who nearly had a rumble in their locker room after losing in overtime to Cincinnati in Week 2, against undefeated Minnesota on Sunday before a Metrodome crowd that would be five times bigger than those Batch was accustomed to at Eastern Michigan. Predictably, Detroit lost, 29-6, but in the process it may have found a quarterback. "For a guy thrown into the fire, Charlie Batch did very well," said Vikings safety Robert Griffith afterward. "He's quick. He's smart. He's got a great arm, and he can run. He did a lot better than Leaf and Manning did in their first starts, that's for sure."

It was more like a three-way tie. Batch threw for half the yards Manning did in his debut, but the Lions rookie looked twice as composed. And while he put up better total numbers than Leaf, the Chargers' quarterback was the only one to win his first start. Batch completed 20 of 40 passes for 160 yards, with no touchdowns, one fumble and two inconsequential interceptions, one at the end of each half. He also nearly out-rushed Barry Sanders, gaining 63 yards on eight carries, a stat for which he paid dearly. In the locker room after the game, Batch's body looked like a 6'2" collage of contusions, swollen joints and turf burns. "It was definitely a thrill, but it was a rough experience," said Batch. "I'm anxious to get back out there. I'm ready for it. The only difference for me between Eastern and the NFL is that all these games are on TV."

One other tiling: Eastern Michigan might have been a better team. Although they seem set at quarterback, the 0-3 Lions still need replacements at most other positions. Detroit's defense and special teams gave Batch terrible field position; the offensive line jumped offsides five times (one time, Batch was to blame), gave up the same number of sacks and rarely allowed Batch to set up in the pocket and put full velocity on his throws. His receivers, including All-Pro Herman Moore, inexplicably stone-handed five routine catches, all of which could have resulted in first downs.

The one guy in Honolulu blue who wasn't rattled was Batch, even though his only extra preparation during his four days of practice as the first stringer was a half hour of drills with quarterbacks coach Jim Zorn and a special wristband listing 10 of Detroit's wordier play designations. The lone time any of the Lions can remember Batch's acting like a kid was early in training camp, when he handed off to Sanders and then ignored the rest of the play to watch the master run. By comparison, Zorn, who started at quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks as a rookie in 1977, was so nervous in his NFL debut that between the huddle and the line of scrimmage he forgot the first play he called.

Even with Vikings defenders squealing "Char-lie! Char-lie!" at him before most plays, Batch showed poise and field presence. He ran or threw for 14 of Detroit's 19 first downs, including two conversions on fourth down. True, he needs work on his audibles and deep passes, but for the most part the Lions were pleased. "Charlie did not self-destruct," said Zorn. "With all he went through today, there were no signs of panic, and he never lost his concentration." In other words, he was nothing like Mitchell, a guy who, despite a four-year, $21 million contract, pretty much gave away Detroit's last two playoff games and first two games this fall with turnovers and a tendency to wither under pressure. "Charlie is unflappable," says Prick Rasnick, who was Batch's coach at Eastern Michigan from '95 to '97 "He's one of those guys who isn't bothered by pressure. He just plays. I don't want to get carried away, but in that sense he reminds me a lot of John Elway and Brett Favre."

Such comparisons explain why the Lions traded three picks to the Miami Dolphins so they could move up in the draft and snatch Batch. They moved up just high enough; when Detroit's turn came, Batch was on the phone with the Denver Broncos, who had the 61st pick. Thank god for call waiting.

Draft day and Tuesday of last week, however, were rare occasions when a phone call has brought good news for Batch, whose uncommon maturity was born of setbacks and tragedies. His mother, Lynn Settles, raised Batch and his younger siblings, Vernon and Danyl, by herself in Homestead, Pa., near Pittsburgh. Right after the draft Charlie's father, Charles, with whom he rarely speaks, tried to reach him by phone. "I didn't talk to him," says Charlie. "I don't know him."

Low SAT scores forced Batch to sit out his freshman year at Eastern Michigan. The following summer he took a job painting fences and roofs with two teammates, only to learn that the toxic materials they had worked with had harmed their kidneys. Although treatment caused him to miss the next season, Batch was fortunate that his poisoning had been diagnosed early enough to prevent permanent damage. His teammates weren't as lucky. One is on dialysis, awaiting a kidney transplant. The other is in the early stages of kidney failure.