I guess Romeo Crennel knew what he was doing after all. A week ago, after stinking up Cleveland Browns stadium in an embarrassing 34-7 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, I felt there was no other sensible choice for the Browns’ head coach except to start Brady Quinn at quarterback. “Ultimately, the Cleveland Browns are just wasting their time until they get Brady Quinn into the starting lineup,” I said. It looked like it was going to be another forgettable season in Cleveland. Why not let Brady take his lumps and get some experience? I guess I was wrong.

An entirely new Browns team (figuratively) showed up this week (at least on offense) en route to a stunning 51-45 win over the defenseless (literally) Cincinnati Bengals. And leading the way was QB Derek Anderson who completed 20 passes for 328 yards and five TDs.

Both Cleveland and Cincinnati are now 1-1, but the Bengals have bigger problems. For a team that was supposed to contend for the AFC title, their defense is a long way from being good, giving up over 550 yards of total offense yesterday. I wonder how Bengals QB Carson Palmer feels? He threw six TDs in a losing effort.

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Derek Anderson Puts Cleveland Browns Quarterback Controversy to Rest — For Now

Ultimately, the Cleveland Browns are just wasting their time until they get Brady Quinn into the starting lineup. That was pretty evident today as they lost their season-opener — at home — to arch rival Pittsburgh, 34-7. Yes, it was every bit as ugly as the score indicated. Charlie Frye started the game for Cleveland. He finished 4 of 10 for 34 yards and a pick. Derek Anderson replaced him and went 13 of 28 for 184 yards with a TD and an INT. But their season will be a waste of time until the QB of their future starts taking some snaps.

Now, I must assert that the QB position is not the only problem for the Browns. In the opening remarks of his postgame press conference, head coach Romeo Crennel said:

“For a home opener, we didn’t do very well. We didn’t play very good at all. There’s no explanation that I can give you for it because we felt like that going in we were in a positive mindframe. We thought we had improved as a team and gotten better. And didn’t we go out there and … well, you saw the results ….. We’re not good enough to overcome as deep a hole as we dug for ourselves ….. Turnovers, sacks, drops, touchdown passes we gave up — all of those things make the final score what it is.”

At ClevelandBrowns.com, a fan poll asks “What hurt the Browns most during Sunday’s loss to Pittsburgh?” a.) Sacks and pressure, b.) Turnovers, c.) Penalties, d.) Allowing big plays. My answer was not allowed. All of the above.

A quarterback change is not a fix-all for this team, but if Brady Quinn is the future of your franchise, he’s going to need to get in the game and take his lumps just like Peyton Manning did his rookie season. And you know how that story has played out.

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Cleveland Browns Should Start Brady Quinn

Cleveland Browns rookie QB Brady Quinn looked sharp in his preseason debut against the Detroit Lions last night. After missing 11 days of training camp, Brady had a lot of catching up to do. He didn’t play in the first preseason game. And although he entered this game late in the 4th quarter, he nearly rallied the Browns to victory with two late touchdown passes. His final stats were 13-of-20 for 155 yards in the final 9:20. Before Browns’ fans get too excited, though, we must remember a couple things:

• Brady was playing with a limited offensive playbook
• He was not playing against the Lions’ first-teamers (of course, he did not have a first-team supporting case, either).

Brady sounded cautiously optimistic after the game:

“I was trying to do my best to stay calm. It felt good to cross the lines and play. Hopefully I’ll get better and better. I’d been holding a clipboard for one game and three quarters. It’s been tough to wait it out.”

So, I’d say — all things considered — a job well-done. It will be interesting to see if Brady gets more playing time next weekend at Denver. I still believe Derek Anderson (6 of 8 for 65 yards and a pick against the Lions) holds the upper hand in this three-QB race (with Charlie Frye being the third quarterback; Ken Dorsey most likely will be the odd-man-out), but Brady will ultimately be the starter. It’s just a matter of when.

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Brady Quinn Sharp in Preseason Debut

Brady Quinn’s crossover appeal has already started. Not only is he appearing in football preview mags, he’s also gracing the cover of the latest issue of Men’s Health. In the article, he talks about his fitness regimen and future in the NFL. MH writer Scott Quill calls him “the world’s fittest quarterback.” I don’t know about that, but his deal with EAS doesn’t do anything to refute it. I’m seeing a lot of Brady on the newsstands, but I’m wondering if I’ll see much of him on the field this season. It seems QB Derek Anderson has a leg-up on the competition heading into training camp. He’s got the strongest arm on the team and showed some promise in the four games he played last season, completing 63% of his passes with five TDs and eight INTs (his final start was a disaster against the Bucs). Browns OC Rob Chudzinski has installed a new offense and minicamp indications are that all three QBs (Brady, Derek and Charlie Frye) are struggling with it. The quarterback spot is wide open, but if the season started today, Derek Anderson would be the starter.

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Brady Quinn on Cover of ‘Men’s Health’