After 7 months of a rather pathetic quarterback battle, the Browns deemed Charlie Frye as their starter. Or, at least, the lesser of two evils. Sunday however, Charlie looked like a combination of a deer in headlights and a rookie quarterback making his NFL debut.
While most of the national media suggested Frye's poor play was due to the five sacks suffered early, that was far from the case. The offensive line wasn't great but they did provide decent pass protection. Most sacks occurred after six seconds and if you take a sack with that amount of time, it is definitely on the quarterback and not on the line. The running game was a disaster because opponents don't respect the Browns passing game and continue to put eight in the box without any fear.
The sad part in all of this is that the disaster was not unexpected.
Instead of bringing in a competent veteran quarterback to stabilize the ship while rookie Brady Quinn learns, the team repeated the exact same mistake that they made last year in going with Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson.
There is no one else to blame but the powers that be. I don't blame Anderson and Frye for their poor play on Sunday, they played to the best of their ability but that ability should have been observed and replaced before Sunday ever happened.
Tuesday, Frye was made the scapegoat and sent packing to Seattle. Frye should do well there as he is better suited for the west coast offense and he should learn a lot from Mike Holmgren. Best of luck Charlie, you gave it everything you had while here in Cleveland.
The Browns replaced Charlie with Ken Dorsey. This was a good move only because it was a horrible move in releasing Dorsey to begin with.
Brady Quinn developed a bond with Dorsey and he was making tremendous strides under the tutelage of the veteran quarterback. The bond with a rookie and vet is instrumental in the rookie’s core development. Bernie Kosar has always given a tremendous amount of credit to Gary Danielson for his success and I believe Dorsey was well on his way to helping Quinn develop
The Browns, however, do not believe in Dorsey's skills as a quarterback. It is why he was released and the Browns kept Frye and Anderson. They would have been much better served if they had retained Dorsey, brought in a vet that could get a few wins this year while Quinn waits in the wings. Keeping either Anderson or Frye would have been bad but keeping both was a disaster.
The result of the Browns flawed strategy will likely be that Quinn is sent into a starting role before the Browns believe he is ready. It is also likely to cost Romeo Crennel his one and only chance at being an NFL head coach.
If and when Romeo is replaced it will be in part due to Phil Savage's handling of the quarterback situation, but it will be primarily due to Romeo's inability to provide leadership to a young but talented team.
Sunday's loss was not a one-game fiasco. It was a continuation of an ill-prepared team under Romeo Crennel. The Browns simply were not ready to play Sunday. There wasn't one single positive aspect to build on from this game.
The one reason that I believe it is the end of the Romeo Crennel era is the second half performance.
The defense went into the locker with a good deal of momentum and they came out of that locker with their heads down. Their play was so horrid in the second half that I almost forgot how bad the offense's play was in the first half. A run by Najeh Davenport which resulted in a dozen missed tackles by the Browns defense summed up not only the loss to the Steelers but the Romeo Crennel era in Cleveland.
It was so bad that it was comical. You couldn't help but laugh.
And laughter at the Browns expense has become all too common.