Frye may get call if Dilfer can't play

Coach Romeo Crennel said quarterback Charlie Frye needs some experience.
BEREA (AP) -- Quarterback Trent Dilfer has a bad knee and the Cleveland Browns need to evaluate rookie Charlie Frye before the season ends.
That scenario makes Sunday's home game against Jacksonville look like an ideal time to start the young QB and see what he can do.
But coach Romeo Crennel plans to play Dilfer if he is healthy enough to go. He gave an analogy to explain his rationale.
"You can drive with your wife who's been driving for say 10 years, or you can drive with your daughter who hasn't driven before," Crennel said Wednesday. "Who are you going to choose?"
While any parent with a 16-year-old certainly can relate, they don't have to decide who will play quarterback for the Browns next season.
Crennel acknowledged that if he doesn't give Frye enough playing time to decide whether he's the Browns' quarterback of the future, it would set the club back a year.
"If we leave this year without knowing what he can do ... then that hurts us going into the draft and free agency," Crennel said.
Frye still is untested
Frye, Cleveland's third-round draft pick, has played just three series against Miami two weeks ago and one play against Minnesota last Sunday that resulted in an interception.
However, Crennel thinks there's enough time in the next five games to evaluate him and doesn't feel he has to start Frye to do that.
"We need to give him a couple of consistent series to see how he handles those," Crennel said. "Maybe a full quarter, then I think we'll begin to find out what he can do."
Dilfer got banged up against Minnesota and an MRI showed tendinitis in his right knee, Crennel said.
"I've had tendinitis in this knee for a while," Dilfer said. "There's different severities of tendinitis. This is a little bit more than that."
He refused to elaborate.
"My teammates look to me as one of the leaders on this team to do everything I can to play, and if I can, I will," Dilfer said.
Has confidence inFrye
He also expressed confidence in his protege, saying Frye's ready to play and has the most important thing a quarterback needs: "moxie."
"We can win with Charlie if we have to and it may come down to that," Dilfer said.
Rookie wide receiver Braylon Edwards said if Frye starts, he would advise him not to try to do too much.
"The main thing is let the game come to you. Don't try to outplay the game. Don't try to play outside yourself," said Edwards, who looked uncomfortable in a Buckeyes' jersey and cap after losing a bet on the Ohio State-Michigan game.
Frye, who grew up a Browns fan in nearby Willard, said he's not overly anxious about possibly starting his first game at Cleveland Browns Stadium.
With Dilfer hobbled, Frye was to get all the snaps in practice Wednesday, which he said should help him prepare.
Asked to evaluate his own performance so far, Frye basically gave himself an incomplete.
"In the couple series that I've had, I've done some things well, but I've made a couple mistakes," he said. "That's not a lot of time to really judge."