DETROIT — Derek Anderson can stop worrying about being Wally Pipp-ed.
Romeo Crennel should keep fretting about his team.
The Browns dropped to 0-3 in the preseason Saturday with a 26-6 loss to the Lions at Ford Field. It wasn’t as bad as Monday night’s debacle against the Giants, but the Browns have a lot of improvement to make before the opener two weeks from today against Dallas.
“Offensively we couldn’t get much done,” Crennel said. “Defensively we were inconsistent and couldn’t stop them when we needed to.”
“We’re fooling ourselves if we think we can just turn it on when the season starts,” defensive end Robaire Smith said.
Brady Quinn made his first professional start Saturday while Anderson was at home recuperating from a concussion. (Pipp was the last man to play first base for the New York Yankees before losing his job to Lou Gehrig, who played 2,130 straight games.) While the starting quarterback job wasn’t on the line, Quinn had a golden opportunity to energize his vocal fan base and make things a bit uncomfortable for the powers that be in Browns headquarters.
Instead, Quinn was average. He went 14-for-24 for 106 yards and a 69.1 rating. He played a half plus one series in the third quarter and led a pair of field-goal drives.
“I’m definitely disappointed in my performance overall,” he said. “I didn’t throw it as well as I would have liked today and we didn’t execute as well as we would have liked.
“I completely take the burden for this loss.”
The rest of the Browns weren’t much better than Quinn, with the exception of defensive lineman Shaun Rogers. The former Lion was a force in the middle in the first half, totaling five tackles to share the team lead.
Rogers paced a run defense that allowed 54 yards in the first half, 35 on a touchdown run by rookie Kevin Smith, who cut back against the grain and avoided a Kamerion Wimbley tackle. Rogers was on the bench for that play, replaced by rookie Ahtyba Rubin at nose tackle.
“It looked like he did decent in there,” Crennel said of Rogers. “I’m never one to throw bouquets at guys when we lose the game.
“He did what he was supposed to do. Evidently we didn’t do enough of what we’re supposed to do to win.”
The pass defense was the problem, allowing a handful of big plays that extended drives and led to field goals — the Lions finished with five.
The pass rush was better than it had been in the first two preseason games, but it never quite reached starting quarterback Jon Kitna, who led field-goal drives on his only two possessions. Kitna escaped Wimbley’s grasp three times and D’Qwell Jackson’s once, finding receivers downfield against a secondary missing starting safeties Sean Jones (leg) and Brodney Pool (concussion).
“That affects a lot,” Crennel conceded.
Injuries also hampered the offense.
Quinn had the starting role, but he was without a couple of key members of the cast. Receiver Braylon Edwards and running back Jamal Lewis were inactive with injuries, leaving Travis Wilson and Jason Wright in their place.
“We can’t use injuries as an excuse,” Crennel said.
Quinn tried to start with a bang, throwing deep for Donte Stallworth on Cleveland’s first play. Quinn overshot Stallworth, but a defensive holding penalty gave the Browns a first down. It was one of nine achieved by Quinn, who left with the Browns trailing 16-6.
Quinn wasn’t sacked, but he faced pressure that made him rush a few throws. Most of the pressure came on blitzes the Browns didn’t handle.
“He saw the classic NFL approach to a young quarterback,” Crennel said. “Pressure him and see if he can handle it. If he can’t handle it, keep pressuring him.
“At times he did the right thing and people he was throwing to were not on the same page as him.”
Quinn missed Stallworth with a bad throw on third-and-2 in the third quarter, and Crennel decided to go for it on fourth down. A delayed blitz came up the middle, and tight end Darnell Dinkins was late getting there. Quinn threw toward running back Jerome Harrison, but he hadn’t turned around and the pass hit him in the shoulder.
That was the end of Quinn’s day.
Not before some good moments. He hit Stallworth on a 16-yard cross — his longest completion — and again for an 11-yard out on a rollout. He finished 2-for-8 in third-down conversions and 0-for-1 on fourth down.
“I don’t want to make excuses,” Quinn said. “But I think if maybe we had an extra day or more opportunities for me to work with the ones I think we would have done a better job of getting on the same page.”
Quinn cracked the scoreboard with 5:54 left in the first half on a 39-yard Phil Dawson field goal. Dawson followed with a 53-yard field goal to cut the lead to 13-6 after a Nick Sorensen interception. Dawson hit a 56-yarder Monday night versus the Giants.
The Browns conclude the preseason Thursday night versus the Bears. Ten days later, the Cowboys will visit.
That one will count.
Contact Scott Petrak at 329-7253 or spetrak@chroniclet.com.

Lions 26, Browns 6

Cleveland    0    6    0    0    —    6
Detroit    6    10    10    0    —    26
First Quarter
Det—FG Rayner 30, 9:58.
Second Quarter
Det—FG Rayner 38, 3:48.
Det—Kev.Smith 35 run (Rayner kick), 12:21.
Cle—FG Dawson 39, 5:54.
Cle—FG Dawson 53, 3:06.
Det—FG Rayner 47, :20.
Third Quarter
Det—FG Rayner 26, 5:25.
Det—Middleton 7 pass from Orlovsky (Rayner kick), :07.
A—44,456.
    Cle    Det
First downs    15    18
Total Net Yards    250    386
Rushes-yards    16-55    30-129
Passing    195    257
Punt Returns    1-7    2-9
Kickoff Returns    7-177    2-29
Interceptions Ret.    1-0    0-0
Comp-Att-Int    27-46-0    22-31-1
Sacked-Yards Lost    1-5    1-8
Punts    6-45.3    3-42.0
Fumbles-Lost    2-0    1-0
Penalties-Yards    8-67    4-24
Time of Possession    27:25    32:35

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Cleveland, Wright 8-42, Harrison 4-11, Scott 2-2, T.Thomas 1-1, Quinn 1-(minus 1). Detroit, Calhoun 9-61, Kev.Smith 10-45, Pinner 5-10, Bell 4-9, Cason 1-3, Orlovsky 1-1.
PASSING—Cleveland, Quinn 14-24-0-106, Dorsey 13-22-0-94. Detroit, Kitna 9-11-0-98, Orlovsky 13-20-1-167.
RECEIVING—Cleveland, Stallworth 4-34, Harrison 4-28, Winslow 4-26, Leggett 3-29, Sanders 3-19, Cieslak 2-24, Dinkins 2-11, Hill 2-9, Kasper 1-8, Hubbard 1-6, Wright 1-6. Detroit, Ellis 4-60, R.Williams 3-61, Standeford 3-41, Gaines 2-27, McDonald 2-27, C.Johnson 2-16, Bell 2-12, Furrey 1-11, FitzSimmons 1-9, Middleton 1-7, Kev.Smith 1-(minus 6).

NEXT UP

WHO: Cleveland vs. Chicago
WHEN: Thursday, 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: Browns Stadium
TV/RADIO: Channel 3; WMMS 100.7-FM, WTAM 1100-AM

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