CLEVELAND — This may come as a shock to Northeast Ohioans, but the backup quarterback isn’t always the most beloved member of a team. In some cities, the starter is the hero, and the adoration lasts for more than a month.
John Elway in Denver, Dan Marino in Miami, Brett Favre in Green Bay in the old days. Ben Roethlisberger in Pittsburgh, Carson Palmer in Cincinnati, Drew Brees in New Orleans in modern times.
Franchises find a quarterback they like, then do everything it takes to help him succeed. The aforementioned have established themselves as stars, but all were given a chance to survive growing pains without the threat of being demoted.
A long-term commitment cuts down on controversy — something Clevelanders thrive on — but the void is filled with playoff trips and Super Bowl rings.
The Colts’ visit to Cleveland Browns Stadium today offers an illuminating contrast. Since being taken with the No. 1 pick of the 1998 draft, Peyton Manning has started all 171 games. Since the Browns returned in 1999, they’ve started 11 quarterbacks. The Colts are 109-46 since ’99, the Browns 54-102.
As Manning has gone to eight Pro Bowls, eight playoffs in the last nine years and won a Super Bowl, the Browns have cycled through Ty Detmer, Tim Couch, Doug Pederson, Spergon Wynn, Kelly Holcomb, Jeff Garcia, Luke McCown, Trent Dilfer, Charlie Frye, Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn.
Despite having a Pro Bowler and a first-round pick on the roster, the situation remains unsettled.
“From what I’ve experienced in the NFL, you’d like to have one guy you could rally around,” said receiver Donte Stallworth, who played with Donovan McNabb in Philadelphia and Tom Brady in New England.
The carousel really started spinning in 2002. Couch (22-37) had struggled with injuries and a dire lack of talent in his first three years, then was sidelined again in 2002. When Holcomb threw for 429 yards in a playoff loss to Pittsburgh, the controversy raged.
Butch Davis followed his “gut” and went with Holcomb to start 2003. When he flopped, it was back to Couch, but he would never be the same. Neither would the franchise.
It bounced from stop-gap veterans (Garcia and Dilfer) to undertalented mid-round draft picks (McCown and Frye) before trading first- and second-round picks for Quinn. His chance was delayed by Anderson’s Pro Bowl season in 2007.
Anderson took a step back in the first half of this year, but Quinn was sidelined with a broken finger after three starts.
So after a decade, the Browns still haven’t established a franchise quarterback. The one playoff trip is the most damning evidence of the failure.
“That’s the thing that, for the long-term success of the franchise, you build on,” Colts coach Tony Dungy said last week in a conference call. “I played in Pittsburgh and we had Terry Bradshaw for a decade, and that makes a big difference.
“The same guy plays and he grows and the system grows around him. Having that guy that you can pencil in and he starts week in and week out is certainly a benefit to you.”
Browns owner Randy Lerner recognized the void and told general manager Phil Savage and coach Romeo Crennel to settle on someone and run with him.
“Yeah, I’ve done that,” Lerner said Tuesday.
Could straightening out the team be as simple as settling on the right quarterback?
“I hope so,” he said.
Success is possible without a stud signal-caller, it’s just more difficult and fleeting. Dungy cited Tampa Bay’s recent playoff contention with numerous quarterbacks, but the league’s most stable teams are those with Pro Bowl quarterbacks.
Brady, Manning and Roethlisberger in the AFC; Eli Manning, McNabb and Seattle’s Matt Hasselbeck in the NFC.
“The quarterback position in this league on any team is a critical position,” Crennel said. “If you can maintain continuity there, that helps everybody else around them.”
Crennel said this about two minutes after he named Quinn the starter heading into 2009 training camp. While it looked like a last-ditch attempt to appease Lerner and Savage, it was out of character for “the next game is the biggest game” Crennel and rang hollow with his job hanging by a thread.
Lerner, Savage and Crennel may believe Quinn is their franchise quarterback, but a new general manager and/or coach would have an opinion. Quinn has played just one healthy game, so a new regime may not be convinced. The new decision-maker could also fall in love with Anderson’s strong arm and upside.
“Those two can get it done,” center Hank Fraley said. “I feel both are good quarterbacks that can be great quarterbacks.”
If the Browns choose to trade Anderson, they’d like to do so before a $5 million bonus is due in March. If not, they could pay it and deal him on draft day. A more remote possibility is that both quarterbacks could return for 2009.
“I don’t know how to answer that today, other than to say both guys are under contract,” Savage said. “We’ll have to see what tomorrow brings.”
Committing to a quarterback is more than psychologically beneficial. Continuity leads to better chemistry, which leads to more wins.
“It’s hard to describe. There’s efficiency and there’s super-efficiency,” Browns offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski said.
Manning has had the same coordinator, Tom Moore, for his entire career and the Colts have finished in the top four in scoring eight of the last nine years.
“There aren’t many times that a play call comes in that I’m (not expecting it),” Manning said earlier this season. “I can kind of cut him off halfway because I know what it’s going to be, and there aren’t many times when I change a play or audible or call my own play that Tom doesn’t have a pretty good idea of what it’s going to be.”
“The longer you’re together, you get to trust each other and know each other, what exactly’s going to happen in situations, and that’s the key to why they’ve been good for so long,” Anderson said.
And just one more reason the Browns are facing their third major organizational shake-up in eight years.
Contact Scott Petrak at 329-7253 or spetrak@chroniclet.com.

TODAY

WHO: Cleveland vs. Indianapolis
TIME: 1 p.m.
WHERE: Cleveland Browns Stadium
TV/RADIO: Channel 19; WMMS 100.7-FM, WTAM 1100-AM

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