Browns’ QB derby may soon be three-man race

By TONY GROSSI

BEREA — In New York, Brett Ratliff was “the other Brett,” the one not named Favre. So teammates and coaches took to calling him “Ratty.”

Here he’s “the other quarterback,” the one not named Derek Anderson or Brady Quinn.

But Tuesday, as the Browns resumed practice after their first day off in training camp, Ratliff was the quarterback working the No. 1 offense through a two-minute drill against the No. 1 defense. And he led it to a rare touchdown.

Braylon Edwards used his one-hand Velcro maneuver to haul in Ratliff’s short pass thrown behind him, then he long-strided the remaining 30 yards to the end zone as cornerback Brandon McDonald let up. McDonald said he would have tackled Edwards after the catch in a game situation.

Disputed or not, the touchdown magnified Ratliff’s surprise appearance with the No. 1 unit. Afterwards, coach Eric Mangini downplayed it, saying he wanted to give Ratliff, who is No. 3 on the depth chart, and Richard Bartel, No. 4, their first exposure in the two-minute drill.

“It was fun,” Ratliff said. “Two minutes is one of my favorite things to do.”

Through 11 days of camp, the two-minute drill has been an exercise in futility for the quarterbacks actually competing for the starting job. In the team scrimmage on Sunday, Anderson executed a no-huddle drive ‘” similar to the two-minute ‘” that was encouraging until he was intercepted by linebacker D’Qwell Jackson at the 2. Quinn hasn’t flourished in this essential facet of field leadership, either.

So now we have Ratliff stepping up, making the most of opportunities. In the scrimmage, he connected with receiver David Patten streaking open across the field for a 71-yard TD play. He also completed a pass of 46 yards to Patten.

“I like his presence in the pocket,” Mangini said. “He sits in there. He’s calm. He has a nice calm presence in the huddle as well. I think his situation recognition is pretty good, but he hasn’t played a significant amount in real games so it’s hard to say how it translates.”

Ratliff’s biggest day as a pro occurred a year ago with the Jets in the first preseason game in Cleveland Browns Stadium. After a rainstorm in the first quarter, Mangini inserted Ratliff to mop up. Ratliff’s first play was a 71-yard touchdown to receiver David Clowney. He added another of 70 yards to Clowney.

It was the day after the Jets traded for Favre. The game helped earn him the Jets’ No. 3 quarterback job. It validated Mangini’s trust in Ratliff, who first impressed the coach by volunteering to play receiver on the Jets’ practice squad as a rookie.

When Rex Ryan replaced Mangini as Jets’ coach, Ratliff was included in the “open competition” with Kellen Clemens for New York’s starting job. Then the Jets made the trade with the Browns for the rights to Mark Sanchez on draft day, and Ratliff rejoined Mangini in Cleveland.

Some in the league feel Mangini acquired him as insurance if neither Anderson nor Quinn win over the new coach.

“I don’t know what the reason he brought me here is,” Ratliff said. “I must have showed something in the past and that’s why they wanted me.”

“I know that [Mangini] knows who I am and I’ve worked my way up from the bottom,” Ratliff said. “I know that he likes guys like that because he did that himself. I’m just trying to keep working and help the team any way I can.”