Brady Quinn Era Begins in Cleveland

National Football League Blogcast, NFL Blogcast

Cleveland Browns quarterback Brady Quinn can put down the clipboard, unhook the wires and get into the game now. The Browns confirmed today that Brady will be the starting QB against the Denver Broncos as the NFL’s Thursday night schedule begins this week. Brady will replace an inconsistent Derek Anderson who didn’t have a terrible game (17-of-33, 219 yards, 2 TDs) against the NFL’s second best defense yesterday, but he threw a costly late interception that was returned for a touchdown and sealed the Browns’ fate in a 37-27 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. Apparently, head coach Romeo Crennel has seen enough and is ready to give-in to a city who has been clamoring for Brady since he was drafted by the team last year.

Let me start by saying I think the timing of this decision is a bit unusual. It points to desperation in Cleveland. Derek hasn’t had a great season. His passer rating is rather miserable (68.9), but he had gone 132 pass attempts without an interception before he was picked for six yesterday. So it’s not like he’s making a ton of mistakes. Plus, receiver Braylon Edwards dropped a sure touchdown pass in the 4th quarter with the game tied. That wasn’t Derek’s fault. Braylon drops balls all the time. So, maybe it’s not so much Derek’s poor play as it is the team needing some kind of change that might spark them. And at 3-5, they need a spark. I’m not sure Brady’s going to fare a whole lot better in the second half of the season than Derek did in the first half. What he might do for the team is give them a lift. Sometimes a change at the quarterback position will do that for a team.

I’ve said before that I’m all for this switch because it’s inevitable anyway. At some point, Brady Quinn is going to be the starting quarterback for the Cleveland Browns. In fact, I think the Browns should’ve made this decision before the season even started. I know Derek Anderson had a Pro Bowl 2007 season. He’s a good quarterback. And he will play (and probably succeed) somewhere other than Cleveland next season. But this was Brady’s team without even taking the field. If that makes any sense.

Source: ClevelandBrowns.com, Photo: Newscom