Brady Quinn

OK. I know it was still a preseason game. But, Brady looked good again.

I don't really understand why Phil Savage came out and made the statement about the starter for the Browns in week 1 "not being" Brady Quinn. I assume Phil was trying to take some pressure off of Romeo Crennel, but I think he could have worded it better. I think the Browns Front Office needs to acknowledge what the fans can already see. Brady Quinn is better than Charlie Frye and/or Derek Anderson. Brady just doesn't appear to know enough of the offense yet to be named the starter. The Browns offense definitely looks "dumbed down" when Brady is in the game, but Brady has run what little offense he knows quite efficiently.

Brady finished the Broncos game with 7 completions in 11 attempts. One of those incompletions was actually a touchdown to Joe Jurevicius that the ref totally missed and that Crennel didn't challenge. Another of those incompletions bounced off the chest of Travis Wilson and should have been caught. The third incompletion was a misread between Wilson and Quinn. I don't know who read it wrong, but it looked like Wilson's fault to me. The last incompletion was just off the fingertips of the running back who was running a wheel route out of the backfield. There were no bad throws by Quinn in the game. In fact, the throw to Jurevicius and and earlier completion to Winslow were quite remarkable.

My point is that Brady Quinn looked good again. He could have easily gone 11 for 11. I understand that he is a rookie, and that he missed a lot of camp during his holdout. But, the Browns suck and the fans know that Brady Quinn is the best quarterback on the roster. This will probably be Romeo Crennel's last season in Cleveland anyway unless something miraculous happens. And I don't see anything miraculous happening with Frye or Anderson at quarterback. I just don't see what everyone has to lose by playing Brady Quinn. I've read a lot of internet postings by Browns fans worried about Crennel throwing Quinn in too early and Brady getting hurt a la Tim Couch. I guess that is always a possibility, but that is a risk that every player takes every time he steps on the field whether it is in a game or in practice. Brady Quinn has the experience to survive in Cleveland. He spent 4 years running for his life behind a pathetic offensive line at Notre Dame. You can ask any quarterback who has ever been successful at the NFL level and they will tell you that the game didn't slow down for them until they started getting playing time. Playing time is what Brady Quinn needs.

You only have to go back to 1998 to see a team in a similar situation to what the Browns find themselves in now. That team was so bad that they had the number one pick in the draft that year. They selected a quarterback with that pick and threw him in the starter's role immediately. The quarterback started all 16 games and threw 28 interceptions and guided the team to a 3-13 record in his rookie season. A lot of people thought it was a mistake to play the rookie quarterback that much. But, if you ask Peyton Manning today he will tell you that he learned a great deal his rookie season. In fact, Peyton led the Colts to a 13-3 record in his second season. There is no substitute for experience.

I'm not saying Brady Quinn is the next Peyton Manning, all I am saying is that we'll never know who Brady Quinn is if he never plays. I think I have seen enough of Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson to know who they are, and I'm pretty sure neither of them will ever be the next Peyton Manning.