Wearing a Bernie Kosar Jersey Doesn't Mean You Are a Pro Bowl Quarterback

There seems to be a lot of people in this town that feel if you grew up as a Cleveland Browns fan and had the good fortune to get drafted by the team, somehow it will be a fairytale ending with the Browns winning the Super Bowl. Browns fans first had the misfortune of thinking Charlie Frye, a native of nearby Norwalk, was the savior of the franchise after being drafted out of Akron University. Frye is currently the third string quarterback with the Oakland Raiders. He probably feels right at home considering the Raiders are as dysfunctional as Cleveland's franchise.

Frye didn't seem to be a bad guy. He said the right things and had glimpses of hope as a quarterback when he was named the starter for his hometown club in 2006. There was a slight problem, however, if you watched the games closely. Frye didn't possess the arm strength of a typical NFL quarterback and would hold onto to the ball far too long which resulted in a great number of sacks taken. The Browns, of course, severed ties with him shipping him off to the Seahawks. Since the trade he has attempted only 12 passes in his career since the embarrassing loss at the hand of the Pittsburgh Steelers, who made him wish he was still at Akron pounding him for 5 sacks on Browns opening day of 2007.

Many Browns fans are now expressing their displeasure at the benching of Brady Quinn. Quinn, like Frye, doesn't seem to be a bad person. The Columbus area native was a Browns fan growing up as a child, and how could you not root for him playing for the team that he grew up rooting for. The former Notre Dame star looks halfway decent in preseason games when coverages are soft and rushing the quarterback is practically off limits. The problem is he seems to have the same tendencies as Frye. Quinn doesn't have a rocket for an arm which allows an NFL defense to stuff the line, and then holds the ball far too long which makes the offensive line look a lot worse than it actually is. Quinn has been sacked 10 times this season in 10 quarters. In Derek Anderson's first year as starting quarterback for the Browns he was sacked 13 times total in the 15 games he started.

I'd be willing to bet behind closed doors there are a number of very happy people on the Browns roster after Eric Mangani manned up and named Anderson the starter, which is very much against the public opionion in this town. Anderson, though, will make it a lot easier on everyone involved on the offense as he opens up the field and perhaps (gasp) puts some points on the board on Sunday. The Browns defense is probably elated as well because it will mean that they may be getting some rest instead of endless three-and-outs that were the norm with Quinn at the helm.

The one thing that can take the air out the change is idiotic Browns fans who will come down to the stadium with their venomous tongues ready to lash out at Anderson, who only two seasons ago was 10-5 as a starting quarterback. Maybe they should look back at their childhood photos wearing Brian Sipe and Bernie Kosar jerseys and wonder why they aren't playing for the Browns themselves.