BEREA — Quarterback Brady Quinn doesn’t plan on letting a broken bone in his finger knock him out of the starting lineup. Not after a year and a half waiting for his chance.
X-rays taken Wednesday night revealed a small fracture at the tip of the index finger on his right (throwing) hand. Quinn will wear a splint when he’s not practicing or playing, but a hand specialist at the Cleveland Clinic said he can play Sunday against the Houston Texans.
“He’s going to play, he’s going to practice, he’s going to try to help the team win,” coach Romeo Crennel said.
Quinn was a full participant in practice Thursday and didn’t have any protection on the finger during the half-hour open to reporters. He took the snaps with the first team and threw the ball like normal, including some wobblers.
“We’re just doing the best we can to take all the precautions to make sure it’s all right,” Quinn said in a brief interview before practice.
He said he suffered the injury in the first quarter Monday night when he hit the hand of a rushing Bills player, tackle Marcus Stroud, who came clean in the middle on a stunt. He banged the finger again in the second quarter.
He said he was surprised it was a fracture and he never had a similar injury.
“At this point, it’s just a little sore,” Quinn said.
Crennel said he didn’t consider giving Quinn the week off and going with Derek Anderson, who started the first eight games.
“As long as the doctor says you can go, you go,” Crennel said.
Quinn went 23-for-25 for 239 yards, two touchdowns and a 104.3 rating in his first start, a 34-30 loss to Denver. He was 14-for-26 for 185 yards and a 55.9 rating in the 29-27 win over the Bills. He hasn’t thrown an interception.
Crennel said the finger didn’t affect Quinn on Wednesday in practice.
“He gripped the ball pretty good,” he said. “It didn’t seem to have a major impact on the way he threw.”
Crennel said the hand specialist said soreness should be the only obstacle, and that should die down after a week. But Quinn, who was sacked once and hit five times by the Bills, could be susceptible to further injury.
“If it gets hit again, there’s a possibility of more damage there,” Crennel said. “That’s why we’ll have to monitor it. If it gets worse, then something else might have to be done about it, or he might have to wear the splint all the time, or we might have to sit him at that point.”
Apparently Quinn didn’t let on that his finger was hurting Monday night. Center Hank Fraley didn’t find out about the fracture until told by reporters Thursday.
“Did he? Poor Brady,” he said. “I’m going to snap a little lighter, I guess.
“He seemed fine, he took the snaps fine and threw the ball fine.”
Teams always try to pressure young quarterbacks, but the broken finger could put a bigger bull’s-eye on Quinn’s jersey. The Bills were especially effective bringing a linebacker on a middle blitz.
“They run that blitz, or dog, quite well,” Quinn said Wednesday. “And they started to time the snap count a little bit, which inevitably falls upon not being able to mix it up, being in a loud environment. They started to get a good rhythm towards the second half.”
“The way they had it scheme-wise, it was the perfect call,” Fraley said. “It’s a chess game. They just had the right move called.”
Quinn was happy with the win Monday, but disappointed in his play and targeted areas for improvement.
“Overall, just passing efficiency,” he said. “If you look back in the red zone for us, we didn’t really convert as much as we would like to. Obviously we got field goals and we wanted touchdowns.
“We hurt ourselves. It was a ball here, a ball there, my throw or something where we weren’t able to punch it in. I think that’s something we can work on this week going into the game.”

Rumor mill

Profootballtalk.com had a story Thursday night that the Browns have approached former Steelers coach Bill Cowher about the possibility of becoming the next coach. The story cited an unidentified source “with knowledge of the situation.”
The source said the Browns are willing to give Cowher a contract worth $8 million to $9 million per year.

Injury report

Fullback Lawrence Vickers (ankle), nose tackle Shaun Rogers (shoulder), guard Eric Steinbach (oblique), defensive end Corey Williams (shoulder) and running back Jason Wright (stinger) returned to practice in limited roles. Linebacker Willie McGinest was a full participant after a day to rest.
• Tight end Steve Heiden (elbow) was added to the injury report and limited in practice.
• Tight end Kellen Winslow (shoulder), safety Sean Jones (ankle), running back Jerome Harrison (hamstring) and defensive end Shaun Smith (calf) didn’t practice for the second straight day.
“The doctor will be in today to evaluate those guys,” Crennel said. “He’ll let us know what the game status will be. No one is ruled out of the game.”
Crennel said Jones’ injury was not the dreaded high ankle sprain.
Contact Scott Petrak at 329-7253 or spetrak@chroniclet.com.

In order to comment, you must agree to our user agreement and discussion guidelines.

Need help? Email Us.