Believe it or not, the Browns went through offseason workouts and minicamp with no mention of a quarterback controversy.
Derek Anderson’s 29 touchdown passes and 10 wins in 2007 had a lot to do with it. So did the three-year, $24 million deal he signed in March, followed by the proclamations from general manager Phil Savage and coach Romeo Crennel that Anderson is the clear-cut No. 1.
“And he deserves that based on what he did last year,”
Brady Quinn said of Anderson.
While Quinn is well aware that he will enter training camp as the No. 2, he chooses to approach it as a competition for the starting job.
“I think that has to be my mind-set going in, regardless of what people may say,”
Quinn said Thursday as minicamp concluded. “If I’m not preparing that way, I’m doing our team an injustice. If he was to go down on the very first play of the season, I think you’ve got to be ready to take the reins and go from there.”
If Quinn is going to put any real heat on Anderson, it will happen in the preseason games. But to Quinn, the battle began months ago.
“It started back in quarterback school,”
he said.
Quinn was a four-year starter at Notre Dame and first-round draft pick. So it could not have been easy to refer to himself as a backup, but he continues to take the high road.
“I’m a team player. I want what’s best for this team,”
he said. “I want to win a Super Bowl. If Derek is our guy leading us there, that’s fine. Obviously I’d like to be that guy. Any quarterback would."
“In the position we’re in right now, we’re just trying to push each other, compete and I think it’s going to make us both better in the long run.”
Quinn missed 11 days of training camp last year as a rookie holdout, then impressed with his composure and performance during the preseason. But when the regular season started, he didn’t leave the sideline until Anderson hurt his thumb in the finale. Quinn went 3-for-8 for 45 yards before Anderson returned.
Quinn said “inactivity”
isn’t an issue.
“If I was sitting on the couch the entire time, maybe that’d be the case,”
he said. “But you are getting reps, you are doing a lot more things physically. It’s tough to go through more mentally than anything else."
“I think you’re still able to get better without necessarily playing and last year was evidence of that for me.”
Quinn credits a deeper understanding of the offense for much of his development, but he’s also made a physical adjustment. Under the advice of assistant head coach/quarterbacks coach Rip Scherer, Quinn changed his grip, moving his right hand a lace or two toward the nose of the ball.
“Brady kinda gripped the ball a little bit more in the meat of the ball,”
Scherer said recently. “This is just to keep him more balanced."
“Brady is as eager a learner as anybody.”
Quinn will get a greater opportunity to show his skills in the upcoming training camp, because the Browns have only three quarterbacks to split the reps and he’s the clear-cut No. 2. He should also see more playing time during preseason games.
“I’m looking forward to whatever reps I get to play,”
he said. “I’m sure it will be more than during the last regular season.”
No matter how much Quinn plays in 2008, it will be a defining season for him. The Browns aren’t expected to keep both Anderson and Quinn beyond 2008, so this is a make-or-break season for Quinn’s future with the Browns, even if he’s stuck behind Anderson the entire time.
“It’s in God’s hands,”
Quinn said. “I’m honestly just trying to work to do my best every day.
We’ll see what happens.”
