Charlie Frye was the man of
the hour Saturday during "Family Fun Night" in Cleveland Browns Stadium. A
crowd of 32,752 got their five dollars worth on beautiful August night.
The
third-round pick from the University of Akron engineered a touchdown drive
capped by a 28-yard run by Sultan McCullough and put his team in the end
zone again when Lee Suggs scored on fourth-and-goal from the 2 in a red zone
drill that started at the 20.
Frye
threw what was ruled a 31-yard touchdown pass to rookie receiver Brandon Rideau. Replays showed Rideau failed to get two feet down before stepping
out of the end zone, but that didn't take away from Frye's pinpoint throw.
"We
keep stats in practice, but this is what I live for, to play football
games," Frye said. "I haven't felt like this since our last college game. I
can't wait for the season to start."
Coach
Romeo Crennel said Frye is in the thick of a battle to back up starter Trent Dilfer. Frye's success came against the second- and third-team defenses, so
some of the enthusiasm must be tempered, but Frye was also with second and
third-team offenses.
"He
produced under pressure," Crennel said. "He's definitely in the mix for No.
2. They're all in the mix. That's part of this exercise and the preseason
exercise.
"When
the ball was in his hands, he was able to avoid the rush a couple times and
make completions down the field. If you look at his stats he was pretty
productive."
FOUR MORE INCHES: If Josh Harris
was 6-foot-5 instead of 6-foot-1 he might be the No. 2 quarterback hands
down. He did work with the second offense Saturday night for a series, but
one pass was batted down and the next was overthrown.
SOLID PERFORMANCE: Doug Johnson
was the third quarterback. He played much better than he has in practice. He
best throw was a sideline toss to Lance Moore. Moore did an excellent job of
tight-roping the sideline, getting both feet in before stepping out of
bounds.
BONE CRUSHER: The hit of the
night was made by safety Brian Russell. Russell slammed into Frisman Jackson
just as Jackson was catching the ball. The bone-jarring tackle forced the
incompletion.