Quinn could be on his way up as Browns’ QB

The Browns (0-3) and starting quarterback Derek Anderson are struggling.

BEREA (AP) — Brady Quinn hurried from the shower, dressed quickly and hustled out of Cleveland’s locker room so he wouldn’t be late for Monday’s team meeting.

“Sorry, guys,” he said to reporters after taking only a few questions.

Quinn was on the run, and the Browns’ popular backup quarterback could soon be moving up the depth chart.

With his team off to an unexpected 0-3 start and Pro Bowl quarterback Derek Anderson coming off another rough performance, Cleveland coach Romeo Crennel said he is assessing his team and considering personnel changes leading into Sunday’s game against the winless Cincinnati Bengals.

“The thing we have to do is evaluate what we’ve done so far and who can give us the best chance to win,” he said.

Crennel was asked if quarterback would be one of the spots where he would consider going in a different direction.

“We have to look at all of the positions,” Crennel said. “We’ll definitely try to get the other guy ready and get him ready to go and we’ll see how it progresses from there.”

The other guy is Quinn, the former Notre Dame star, first-round draft pick and perceived face of a franchise that until a few weeks ago seemed to have finally put more than a decade worth of misery behind it. But so far, the Browns are fumbling away a season many predicted would extend into the playoffs.

Cleveland was thumped 28-10 in Baltimore Sunday when the Ravens intercepted Anderson twice to score 14 points in a 50-second span early in the third quarter to turn a three-point halftime deficit into an 11-point lead. Anderson finished 14-for-37 for 125 yards, three picks and had a woeful QB rating of 22.9 — his second worst in 21 career starts.

Clearly, the 25-year-old wasn’t the only reason that the Browns, who have been ravaged by injuries on both sides of the ball, lost their third straight game. But Anderson’s inability to rally them in the second half as well as his third consecutive sub-par outing have prompted Crennel and his staff to ponder benching a player who threw 29 touchdown passes last season and one whom the Browns invested $24 million into in February.

Crennel said no decision has been made yet on Sunday’s starter.

“I’ve told Quinn all along that he’s one play away,” Crennel said. “That’s the way he has to approach it. He prepares himself every week like he’s the starter and like he’s going to get playing time.”

Crennel said he didn’t consider bringing in Quinn against a Ravens defense that was “pinning back its ears” in the second half and going after Anderson, who was sacked five times.