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Browns report: Quarterback picture still foggy
With old playbook out, all four are struggling to learn new offense
By Patrick McManamon
Beacon Journal sportswriter
BEREA - Looking for some clarity in the Browns' quarterback situation as minicamp concludes today?
Don't expect any for a while.
"They're all struggling,'' coach Romeo Crennel said Wednesday of his four throwers.
But it's understandable, he said.
"We've got a lot of offense in and we haven't really honed in on it well enough yet,'' Crennel said. "They're going to keep working at it. They're going to work at it while we're gone. They're going to work at it when we come back.
"Then we'll see who can pick it up the best.''
Which means more shared time and more fuzziness about the starter come the opening of training camp.
That gives the Browns six weeks to determine a starter, but those six weeks can go by in a hurry.
"The season comes on you fast,'' Charlie Frye said, "so you have to be ready.''
The most Crennel would say about his quarterbacks is that Derek Anderson has the strongest arm.
That does not mean he's doing the best job with the offense, though he seems a little more settled and comfortable than Frye, Ken Dorsey or rookie first-round pick Brady Quinn.
The players don't demonstrate the same swagger they had a month ago, when all treated picking up the offense like picking up tinker toys.
Now there's more caution.
"Until you play in a gamelike situation, it's tough to tell how you're coming along,'' Quinn said. "This is just practice and there are plenty of things you can get out of it, but until you get into a game scenario, it's tough to tell and evaluate yourself.''
"You're not going to have a full grasp until it's live,'' Frye said, adding he preferred practicing with pads.
Does Frye still consider the job his?
"We'll find out,'' he said.
When the Browns brought in Rob Chudzinski as offensive coordinator, they completely tore up their old playbook.
The new one features a lot of motion and movement, with players lining up in different places on different plays.
Instead of installing the offense in stages, Crennel said the coaching staff decided to give the team everything at once.
That enabled them to teach the offense, but didn't help speed up the learning curve.
"We've put so much in, the guys haven't had that full opportunity to grasp ahold of it,'' Crennel said. "But we felt like we wanted to expose them to everything and we can cut back if we needed to.''
Frye said he's throwing well, but admitted the volume of offense thrown at the team had everyone confused.
Quinn has faced the added difficulty of adjusting from college to the NFL.
"It's just tough because there are windows that you don't dictate,'' Quinn said. "You have to hit them when they are open or you miss big. You just don't dictate here.
"That's the biggest difference between college and the pros.''
When the offseason started, Crennel said Frye had "a leg up.'' The legs now seem to be on the same level, although if anyone has a leg in the air it might be Anderson.
With little clarity, the Browns seem on the verge of leaving minicamp without a clear-cut No. 1 quarterback. That means much early time will be spent in training camp sharing snaps among the four candidates.
Many coaches like to have their starter named and determined by the third preseason game, and it's probable Crennel will do the same, but there is no guarantee.
"At some point,'' Crennel said, "we have to make a decision to try to cut back on that so that we can give the guys who are going to play the most reps. When that's going to be, I don't know that yet.
"What we'll do is we'll keep giving them as equal a number of reps as we can until we decide we need to cut back.''
Browns report: Quarterback picture still foggy
With old playbook out, all four are struggling to learn new offense
By Patrick McManamon
Beacon Journal sportswriter
BEREA - Looking for some clarity in the Browns' quarterback situation as minicamp concludes today?
Don't expect any for a while.
"They're all struggling,'' coach Romeo Crennel said Wednesday of his four throwers.
But it's understandable, he said.
"We've got a lot of offense in and we haven't really honed in on it well enough yet,'' Crennel said. "They're going to keep working at it. They're going to work at it while we're gone. They're going to work at it when we come back.
"Then we'll see who can pick it up the best.''
Which means more shared time and more fuzziness about the starter come the opening of training camp.
That gives the Browns six weeks to determine a starter, but those six weeks can go by in a hurry.
"The season comes on you fast,'' Charlie Frye said, "so you have to be ready.''
The most Crennel would say about his quarterbacks is that Derek Anderson has the strongest arm.
That does not mean he's doing the best job with the offense, though he seems a little more settled and comfortable than Frye, Ken Dorsey or rookie first-round pick Brady Quinn.
The players don't demonstrate the same swagger they had a month ago, when all treated picking up the offense like picking up tinker toys.
Now there's more caution.
"Until you play in a gamelike situation, it's tough to tell how you're coming along,'' Quinn said. "This is just practice and there are plenty of things you can get out of it, but until you get into a game scenario, it's tough to tell and evaluate yourself.''
"You're not going to have a full grasp until it's live,'' Frye said, adding he preferred practicing with pads.
Does Frye still consider the job his?
"We'll find out,'' he said.
When the Browns brought in Rob Chudzinski as offensive coordinator, they completely tore up their old playbook.
The new one features a lot of motion and movement, with players lining up in different places on different plays.
Instead of installing the offense in stages, Crennel said the coaching staff decided to give the team everything at once.
That enabled them to teach the offense, but didn't help speed up the learning curve.
"We've put so much in, the guys haven't had that full opportunity to grasp ahold of it,'' Crennel said. "But we felt like we wanted to expose them to everything and we can cut back if we needed to.''
Frye said he's throwing well, but admitted the volume of offense thrown at the team had everyone confused.
Quinn has faced the added difficulty of adjusting from college to the NFL.
"It's just tough because there are windows that you don't dictate,'' Quinn said. "You have to hit them when they are open or you miss big. You just don't dictate here.
"That's the biggest difference between college and the pros.''
When the offseason started, Crennel said Frye had "a leg up.'' The legs now seem to be on the same level, although if anyone has a leg in the air it might be Anderson.
With little clarity, the Browns seem on the verge of leaving minicamp without a clear-cut No. 1 quarterback. That means much early time will be spent in training camp sharing snaps among the four candidates.
Many coaches like to have their starter named and determined by the third preseason game, and it's probable Crennel will do the same, but there is no guarantee.
"At some point,'' Crennel said, "we have to make a decision to try to cut back on that so that we can give the guys who are going to play the most reps. When that's going to be, I don't know that yet.
"What we'll do is we'll keep giving them as equal a number of reps as we can until we decide we need to cut back.''
