Dawgbeat 08/28/2007 : Quinn makes the Browns a legitimate football team.
Quinn makes the Browns a legitimate football team.
by Eric Brown
08/28/2007
I've heard, listened to, and thought about all the positive and negative comments to letting Brady Quinn start the football season as the Browns 1st team quarterback. I've watched patiently, intently, and with an open mind as I believed Quinn should start from day one (see past articles). I tried to find one or several reasons why he should not start, but have come empty. There are several reasons why many Browns fans shudder at the thought of Quinn starting against Pittsburgh on September 9th. However, there are another set of fans shuddering at the though of Quinn starting that game also and they wear black and gold on sunday afternoons. Brady Quinn makes the Browns a legitimate football team that can win football games...now!
Sure you can believe that Quinn's successful pre-season is just a product of playing against a shell of players that won't compare to what the Steelers will put on the field on September 9th, but I see it another way. First off, just to make a point, that throw to Joe Jurevicius was a thing of beauty, and a touchdown. It's too bad Crennel didn't see the play or he would have challenged it, and gave his "young quarterback" even more confidence than he already has. Quinn has been basically flawless, unflappable, and downright brilliant in his first two appearances. Not counting the four spikes that counted as incompletions against Detroit, he is 20-27 for 256 yards and four touchdowns (I'm counting that throw to Jurevicius). But lets forget the statistics, and look deeper into what we have witnessed the past two games.
Here is an individual who missed the first eleven days of training camp playing a position that everyone believes you need to be there from the very start. Here is a young kid that has never played a down of football in the NFL before. A quarterback that after a training camp holdout has the entire city of Cleveland feeling leary about his motives and actions. A kid with basically everything stacked against him and set up to fail early on. And how does Quinn respond? Not only does he show that he is competent, he shows that he just might have the ability to make Browns fans forget about every quarterback that has donned a Cleveland Browns uniform. I'm sorry folks, I watched Bernie Kosar, and Brian Sipe, and listened to my father and grandfather talk about Frank Ryan and Otto Graham. I understand these players are Browns legends and Graham, an NFL legend. Quinn has the talent and ability at age twenty two to become one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history.
Quinn's physical and mental makeup as well as his experience gives him an advantage that no college quarterback coming into the NFL has ever had. Quinn started at Notre Dame as a freshman and worked hard to become one of the best college quarterbacks ever. He also was fortunate enough to benefit from Notre Dame hiring Charlie Weis. Weis had already molded a young quarterback named Tom Brady into one of the NFL's finest and most clutch quarterbacks. Quinn's tutoring fom Weis has been very apparent in the first two games he has played. The numbers are great, but three main attributes are what have me excited about Quinn's future.
1- Huddle presence- for a rookie quarterback, Quinn's ability to take charge in the huddle and will his team down the field was a breath of fresh air. He got a group of bunch of young players down the field and on the same page for two scores. Please forgive me for saying this about Charlie Frye, but his version of the two minute drill is a Chinese fire drill. I love Charlie's guts and toughness but his leadership ability in clutch time leaves alot to be desired. Quinn couldn't be expected to make the Detroit game close in the final ten minutes with a bunch of players we'll never remember, but that's exactly what he did.
2-Decision making-Too many times I have seen young quarterbacks trying to do too much at times when the defense was just waiting for them to make the big interception. I saw Quinn taking exactly what the defense gave him and making the right decision with the football. I saw him reading defenses and going through his receiver progressions. Again, refreshing to see a quarterback actually read a defense instead of the defense reading our quarterback. Quinn displayed patience and took what the Detroit defense gave him, and he put touchdowns on the scoreboard. I have watched Frye and Derek Anderson and I do not see the same decision making process or ability.
3- Ability to look off defenders-Quinn has the ability to focus on a receiver and then turn his attention to another one and make a quick throw. His ability to read a defense allows him to do this. Quinn can feign defenders by looking in a certain direction and knowing which receiver, and when they will be open because of his initial fake. This ability can be taught but rarely perfected, you either have it or you don't. Quinn is a perfectionist with this attribute. It is going to be very fun when Quinn burns a Pittsburgh blitz by showing the appearance of locking on a receiver at the line and then quickly turning his attention to a slant to another reciever (just think back and remember Kosar's quick slants to Webster Slaughter and Brian Brennan).
So, I haven't even mentioned Quinn's stronger than reported cannon for an arm, or his much better than reported accuracy. Well I don't want to build the kid up too much. Whether Quinn starts on September 9th or November 9th, won't make much difference in my career, but I sure wouldn't want to be Romeo Crennel if he starts Frye and begins the season on a losing note. In that situation, whoever takes over for Crennel may very well look like a genius for beginning the Brady Quinn era. If it was my job, there is too much to lose to not start Quinn...now. There is no better option on this football team and his field presence and production has shown that he is ready. If Quinn follows through with another overwhelming performance against the Bears on Thursday night, I believe the Browns have left the door open to name him the starter. If he fails against the Bears, the door is still open to go with Frye, Anderson or Ken Dorsey. In any situation, there are going to be several teams kicking themselves for letting this kid slide past them on draft day, and the Browns will remember April 28th, 2007 as the day the franchise turned the corner.