Browns Keeping Starting QB Under Wraps

Ross Everett
Most NFL head coaches place a priority on naming a starting QB before the regular season begins. The idea is that it helps the chemistry on the team, as well as helping the quarterback define himself as a team leader. Cleveland Browns head coach Eric Mangini hasn't named his starting QB yet. Nor will he, at least not publicly. Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson will find out if they're the starting QB in the next couple of days, but the coach won't divulge that information to the public until game day.

Mangini stressed that he'd already made his choice, and that hell meet with both Quinn and Anderson individually to inform them of his decision:

"In terms of announcing it publicly, that's not something I plan to do. It will be internal. I understand everybody has a different opinion on it. I respect that. I understand the excitement in relationship to that and I respect that as well. But that will be something that will be internal."

As of Sunday, both quarterbacks were still in the dark and not saying much. Derek Anderson said he didn't have a clue:

"I know as much as you guys know.

While Quinn suggested that it wasn't a big concern for him:

"I'm not worried about it. You guys are more worried about it than I am."

Mangini may be trying to gain a strategic advantage over the Browns opponents in the opening week of the NFL regular season:

"It is more difficult to plan for two quarterbacks than it is to plan for one. I'm not saying that's going to be the difference or not the difference, but I know that there is time allotted to that and you can't put the same amount of time into focusing on one player."

Vikings coach Brad Childress said that it really didn't make a difference in how he'd approach his preparation for the contest:

"Just schematically, you're going to go back and look at tape and see what you've seen. And then I know, as do our guys, that there will be unscouted looks. They certainly haven't showed their whole hand, offensively and defensively. So you're just going back and looking at formation-wise where they're putting people and what kind of players they are. It will be more about us deploying to what they do."

The Browns coach concluded his comments by emphasizing that regardless of who is eventually named the starting QB that he's happy with the play of both:

"I have been happy with the progress that both guys made. I'm happy with the way they've worked. I'm happy with the way they approached this competition, and it's not always easy to approach a competition in a team fashion, and I respect the way they've handled it."

After hosting the Vikings in their opening game of the 2009 NFL regular season, Cleveland will play their next two games on the road. They'll head to Denver for a game against the Broncos on September 20th and then play another away game in week 3, taking on the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, September 27.