Posted by Scouts Inc.'s Matt Williamson
After a home loss to division rival Baltimore and a Thursday night home clash with Denver up next, Cleveland's decision to name Brady Quinn the starting quarterback over Derek Anderson is a gamble.
Because of the short week, Quinn will get very little on-the-field prep work as the No. 1 quarterback because the coaching staff will not want to beat up the team. Instead, there will be a lot of work done in shorts and helmets with no contact. Quinn will be prepared in the meeting room for Denver.
Quinn's athleticism will help ease him into the role and also add a little something to the Browns' offense. While Cleveland's pass protection is solid, if not excellent, Quinn still moves within the confines of the pocket better than his predecessor. More importantly, he allows the Browns to roll him out and give him some half-the-field reads, which could make Quinn's recognition easier as he won't be responsible for the entire field.
Quinn is well built and very strong. He will extend plays much better than Anderson, thus giving his potentially explosive group of pass catchers the opportunity to break free deep downfield. Also, do not be surprised to see Quinn tuck the ball down and run once the designed play doesn't go as planned. With his big frame, he might even choose to lower his shoulder and take on defenders to get extra yardage, ignite the crowd and gain respect of his teammates.
While there isn't a lot of regular-season film of Quinn, one knock on him coming out of Notre Dame was that he would occasionally miss open receivers for no apparent reason. While this may be true going forward, my take is that Quinn is still more accurate than Anderson, who completed just 49.8 percent of his throws. While the Browns receivers' habit of dropping the ball factors into that low percentage -- hello Braylon Edwards -- Anderson did throw to a group of above-average sized receivers with large catching radiuses. He had a bigger strike zone than most QBs have, but Anderson just isn't an accurate enough passer to succeed at this level. Quinn can complete more than 50 percent of his passes for the rest of the season. That really isn't even that lofty of a goal.
As for Thursday's game, look for the Browns to lean very heavily on running back Jamal Lewis. The Broncos are usually overwhelmed at the line of scrimmage, tackle poorly and are often sloppy with their gap integrity. These underwhelming traits have resulted in Denver allowing a whopping 5.1 yards per rushing attempt. Lewis' physical style should give this defense particular problems as it is undersized and prone to wearing down. So expect lots of Lewis with some play-action passing mixed in to generate big plays downfield to Edwards.
It helps that Quinn's first start will come at home. Not that fans should influence such a decision, but the Browns' home crowd also will be very much behind the Ohio native. Instead of thousands of people booing the home signal-caller like what might have been the case with Anderson, the fans will be supportive of everything Quinn does -- at least at the beginning.
Cleveland's season isn't shot yet because the AFC is so wide open, but the Browns are dangerously close to falling out of playoff contention. Making this move is very risky considering the timing, but it is also the right call and one that's long overdue for the short- and long-term success of the organization.
Walker joined ESPN.com in 2008 after three seasons covering the Cleveland Browns for the Columbus Dispatch. He also covered the Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Cavaliers at the Dispatch. Walker grew up in Hyattsville, Md., before attending Temple University, graduating in 2001 with a B.A. in communications and mass media. He resides in the Cleveland area.
