Brady Quinn's efforts vs. Lions blown out of proportion
While leaving Cleveland Browns Stadium late Saturday night, it wasn't difficult to predict what would bombard the airwaves. Sure enough, it started just minutes after the Browns ended what proved to be a positively miserable football experience for more than a half.
Something happened late in the game. Oh, just say it with me, folks. Northeast Ohio's football savior in the form of quarterback Brady Quinn arrived with 9:20 left in the fourth quarter in the Browns game against the Detroit Lions on Saturday night. Let the coronation begin.
He's the greatest thing since sliced bread, liquid soap and the Egg McMuffin. All of this for completing 13-of-20 passes for 155 yards, with a couple of scores against some guys who will be out of the league in weeks.
The ridiculousness began during the game. ESPNNews interrupted its normal rotation of news just to report that Brady Quinn threw a touchdown pass on his first drive. Yes, preseason football beats reporting about those pennant races in Major League Baseball right now.
It didn't end for ESPNNews there. Eventually, Brady Quinn's final stats went in the "breaking news" box that stays plastered on the sports ticker throughout its telecasts.
And local sports talk radio? Fuhgeddaboutit.
Anyone who tuned into Andre Knott on WTAM (1100-AM) at 10 a.m. Sunday got just a sample of what would happen Monday. Many of the callers to Knott's gabfest wanted to anoint Brady Quinn king of the town. LeBron, it's time to pack your bags. Remember, you read it here first.
Thankfully more than a few rational individuals dialed in and actually talked sense.
You couldn't say that about most of the callers to Rizzo on the Radio on sports-talker WKNR (850-AM). Host Tony Rizzo, who also is sports anchor for local Fox affiliate WJW (Channel 8), said he was shocked by the number of callers who wanted to put Brady Quinn in the starting role.
Yours truly didn't see or record the broadcast Saturday, but an observant viewer caught a tidbit from former Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar, who said that Brady Quinn would come in during scrub time, impress against third-teamers and that there would be a quarterback controversy in Browns camp. Kosar gets credit for being on the money with that call, but can we sit back and truly analyze how ridiculous it is to put Brady Quinn in this position?
Granted, he deserves reps with the first team in Denver just to see whether he can bring the same spark to a first-team offense that looked comatose with Charlie Frye or Derek Anderson under center, but that's about all that he has earned thus far.
Was there something there? Certainly. Everyone agrees that Brady Quinn displayed poise, pocket presence and mobility. More, important, however, he showed the ability to lead. However, with less than two weeks under his belt in training camp, Brady Quinn isn't ready to be thrown into the teeth of the Pittsburgh Steelers defense on opening day, and on some level, I think he knows that.
In fact, he deserves credit for putting the performance in perspective when he spoke to the media in the Browns locker room after the game. When asked whether he should be considered in the QB derby, he correctly answered that Frye and Anderson, as woeful as they looked during the preseason, could have just as easily accomplished what he had. This past Saturday night, that might have been open to debate, but in the same situation on any other day, Brady Quinn is right.
Did everyone here forget about what happened to Tim Couch? Rizzo hasn't, and he mentioned it at least once during his show Monday. And, yes, there is a difference between then and now. With Joe Thomas and Eric Steinbach in place, the left side (most quarterbacks' blind one) of the Browns line is stabler. That doesn't, however, change the fact that Brady Quinn faced a vanilla prevent defense that wasn't too interested in preventing anything if it would get people home sooner.
It just points out something that has gripped football fans in this area for some time - desperation that was evolving into fan apathy until last April, when Browns General Manager Phil Savage moved aggressively in the draft to acquire Thomas and Brady Quinn. Apparently unreasonable expectations have set in.
"People are looking for any kind of glimmer of hope," Rizzo said.
Yes, but perhaps they also should be looking for a heaping, helping dose of reality.
