Quinn mighty good

MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

CLEVELAND — For three quarters Saturday night, the Browns looked like the same sad-sack team they were a year ago.

Then Brady Quinn got his first playing time as a rookie.

On a night that started miserably, the rookie quarterback from Notre Dame provided the only hope that the 2007 season won’t be a repeat of the disaster that was 2006.

Quinn led the Browns to two fourth-quarter touchdowns that turned what looked like an embarrassing loss into a 23-20 defeat against the Detroit Lions. He looked like a first-round pick from Notre Dame should.

Supporting cast

He did it against backups and third-stringers, but he was playing with backups.

“You have to give the young man credit for coming in and being able to do what he did,” coach Romeo Crennel said.

“Even though you look at a relative situation, their best guys weren’t in there, our best guys weren’t in there either, supposedly.

“Let [the fans] get excited. But we will still do what is best for our team.”

“[Quinn] needs to corral this feeling and realize he did a good job,” receiver Joe Jurevicius said. “We now need to see if he can do that against first- and second-team defenses. It is not to take away from him; it is what it is. He did a good job when given the opportunity.”

The clamoring for Quinn to start will be loud and intense this week, as he finished 13-for-20 for 155 yards — with four of his incompletions spikes to stop the clock.

“He did a nice job with the plays that he was given,” Crennel said. “He showed some composure. He was able to move the team down the field in a tough situation.”

Veteran quarterbacks Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson gave the offense no life.

The drives

Quinn did, first directing a 63-yard touchdown drive by completing his first five throws and 6-of-7 passes.

He then ran the two-minute drill and directed a 92-yard touchdown drive, patiently taking the underneath throw to the backs until he hit Jerome Harrison for a score with 18 seconds remaining.

Quinn played two series and got in the end zone twice. Frye and Anderson have not led the Browns to a touchdown during this preseason.

The Browns’ first-half performance with Anderson starting and Frye playing the second quarter was — to put it mildly — inept.

There were penalties, timeouts used to avoid penalties, interceptions, poor defense and, for good measure, a fumble on the game’s first play.

Anderson and Frye did nothing to quell the Quinn movement, and the Browns quite simply did not look ready or energized with them taking snaps.

With 9:20 to go, Quinn trotted on the field to a loud ovation from the fans who had waited to see him play.

His first pass was a short screen that Chris Barclay turned into a 30-yard gain. Quinn then threw 4 yards to Barclay and 7 yards to Darnell Dinkins.

His touchdown was on the run from the 4 to Efrem Hill, and put in the only place Hill could catch it and score.

He had another possession late, when the Lions played soft and gave him the underneath throws, which he took.

He also stood calmly in the pocket against the rush and completed throws downfield. A 24-yard throw to Steve Sanders with a pass rusher bearing down stood out. There were no gaffes or bad plays on Quinn’s part.

It was in stark contrast to the first half, when the Lions played without six of their top players and dominated.

“We didn’t have the concentration or the focus that we needed,” Crennel said.