Tracy Boulian/The Plain DealerBrowns head coach Romeo Crennel this week named struggling incumbent Charlie Frye the team’s starting quarterback for this Sunday’s preseason game in Denver. The backups, in order, are expected to be Derek Anderson, Brady Quinn, and Ken Dorsey. Clearly, this competition is starting to look more and more like it is not based on results on the field.
Somehow, I get the feeling that Romeo Crennel seems to think he has the job security of Joe Paterno while going through this process at such a snail’s pace.
By now every fan and media member has caught on to just how bad both Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson have been in this competition. Each quarterback seems to play the position so badly that many Browns fans would feel better off picking out the most drunken fan in the Dawg Pound and letting him or her run a series on the field. Hey, it may not be an improvement, but at least it would be entertaining.
The coaching staff could entertain that offer or they could just do the most plausible idea and that is to give rookie quarterback Brady Quinn the second string series on Saturday night. Last Saturday night, Quinn picked apart the Lions 3rd and 4th string defenses as if he were Joe Montana quarterbacking a pee-wee football team. Obviously, Brady more than proved that a first round quarterback doesn’t belong on the same field with many of the future Detroit area pizza delivery men who happen to run a 4.5 in the 40 yard dash. It was no match.
Now, with only two preseason games left on the schedule, the Browns must start pushing the process with Quinn and start challenging him against other team’s first and second team defenses while they still can. Quinn will learn more from that experience than the familiarity of seeing the same defense over and over every day during practice in Berea. No matter the results, the test will be beneficial to both Quinn and the Browns coaching staff as well.
Without providing Quinn such an opportunity, the ramifications to the organization could be significant. Certainly they would range from justification to a possible mid-season firing of Romeo Crennel to sending out an unprepared Quinn out too early in the regular season thus, potentially putting a speed bump into his development. Either way, we could be looking at another long season regardless of the outcome.
There is no denying the kid’s talent. Brady Quinn, like most NFL players, will tell you he wants to be out on the field. However, its making sure he’s fully prepared is what’s going to matter in the long run.
Read the complete post at http://kidcleveland.blogspot.com/2007/08/its-time-to-push-quinn-forward.html