BEREA — The 0-3 start and 1-3 record at the bye haven’t shaken the faith of Browns general manager Phil Savage. He said Monday he still believes the team can challenge for the AFC North crown and he expressed his support for oft-criticized coach Romeo Crennel and beleaguered quarterback Derek Anderson.
“I know for a fact, 1,000 percent, you don’t go blowing things up after a couple games. You’re not going to be successful in this league doing that,” Savage, who made NFL history last year when he traded starting quarterback Charlie Frye after Week 1, said in a 46-minute news conference. “You’ve got to give the people a chance to pull themselves out of the situation.
“It’s not been any thought of changing quarterbacks, changing the coach, or any of that.”
The Browns beat the winless Bengals 20-12 Sunday, but that did little to excite fans frustrated by a September of unmet expectations. Backup Brady Quinn remains exponentially more popular than Anderson, while Crennel gets ripped for everything from sticking with Anderson to clock management to the team’s staggering 37 penalties.
“We realize there’s not going to be much help from outside the building, but that’s OK because we’re the ones getting paid to do a job,” Savage said. “We’re accountable for it and I feel we’ll get that done.”
Savage took some positives from the win Sunday, particularly the play in the fourth quarter. The Browns outscored the Bengals 17-6 to erase a 6-3 deficit on the road. Anderson rebounded from a terrible start by going 11-for-14 for 111 yards in the second half, including 6-for-7 on the go-ahead touchdown drive.
“It shows that he does have an ability to keep his composure and have some poise and make some plays at the end,” Savage said. “We feel like we have enough good players, enough people around him and that he’s a good enough talent with his ability that we’re going to pull out of this and have our best football out in front of us here with him as the quarterback.
“Derek deserves the right to build off what was done last year. We have great confidence in D.A. The players in the locker room have confidence in D.A. You’ve got to believe in what you’re doing and believe in the people you have.”
Savage said the team never seriously considered a switch to Quinn for the Cincinnati game, which contradicted Crennel’s statements from last week. He said there are occasions when an in-game switch provides a spark, but it’s also a slippery slope. He blamed dropped passes, injuries and a lack of commitment to the running game for some of Anderson’s struggles.
“At that particular position, you do have to be sensitive to pulling people out, putting them back in,” Savage said. “Sometimes when you’re playing two quarterbacks, it means you have none.
“In our minds, D.A. still gives us our best chance to win.”
Savage said the ultimate decision on whom to play is Crennel’s. And while Savage complimented his coach’s steady demeanor, the endorsement was lukewarm.
“The team appreciates the consistency he gives them and the fact he’s going to stay in their corner. It’s important,” Savage said. “It’s a heckuva struggle when you start off 0-3. It’s important to have a head coach who’s going to stand in there and who, quite frankly, is man enough to take some of the criticism.
“Some of them he’s brought on himself, there’s no doubt about that. As long as they play hard for him, I don’t think we have any issues at that position.”
Much of the criticism leveled at Crennel is for kicking field goals late in the first two losses and for general clock mismanagement. Savage understands the complaints and said they’ve been addressed in weekly Monday meetings that include the coaching and front office staffs. Savage described them as open forums that sometimes get uncomfortable.
“Whether we’re at 1-3, 3-1, etc., those are decisions the head coach made,” Savage said. “We discuss them. In certain cases I think he would do the same thing over again, and in other cases, if you had a chance to step back and take a look at it, maybe you do something else.
“Those are internal things that we’ve discussed just like if there’s things I’ve made mistakes on over the last couple of years.”
But Savage and the Browns are ready to put the disastrous first three weeks behind them and focus on salvaging the season. The win Sunday was the first step.
“There is a degree of relief, there is a degree of confidence, knowing that you can win, but there also is a degree of realism, that this 2008 Cleveland Browns team has a long way to go,” Crennel said. “There’s a lot of work to be done. I think the team understands that we can’t take anything for granted. We have to work doubly hard. We’ve got a tough schedule coming up. Nobody’s going to lay down.”
Contact Scott Petrak at 329-7253 or spetrak@chroniclet.com.

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