Change at Quarterback For Cleveland?

[Ginn & Juice]

Typical Browns move to throw a rookie QB into a game against the eventual Super Bowl Champs....

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Typical Browns move to throw a rookie QB into a game against the eventual Super Bowl Champs....

Your not serious, are you? Super Bowl champs...


link

12/12/05

Frye deserves to start for rest of season
Monday, December 12, 2005 <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>[FONT=Verdana, Times New Roman, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]BROWNS SPOTLIGHT TODD PORTER[/FONT]
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CHARLIE FRYE ​

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CINCINNATI
If a loss can be progress — and Head Coach Romeo Crennel said Sunday’s 23-20 defeat to the Bengals was just that — then the Browns showed improvement. And that’s about all any Browns fan can hope for this year.
“We’re in a game down to the wire against a playoff team,” Crennel said.
In the end, Cleveland found another way to lose a game. It wasn’t a new way, by any means; the loss at Indianapolis in Week 3 comes to mind.
But the Browns might have found a starting quarterback. Again. For the fifth time.
Tim Couch. Kelly Holcomb. Jeff Garcia. Trent Dilfer. And now, Charlie Frye.
The kid looked the part in a hostile environment. He didn’t panic. He didn’t choke. The University of Akron product looked like he belonged.
Did he feel the part on the field?
“I don’t know if I’m allowed to feel that,” Frye said, with a half-smile. “That’s up to (Head Coach Romeo Crennel). Whatever he decides is what we’re going to do.”
Crennel should come out and anoint Frye the starting quarterback for these futile, final three games against Oakland, Pittsburgh and Baltimore.
The game is already slowing down for Frye. He watched from the sideline for more than half the season. He took mental notes. He watched Dilfer, a pro’s pro, handle himself.
“I was talking to Trent about (the game slowing) down today,” Frye said. “I feel like today’s game was a lot slower than last week. It was even better than last week.”
Last week, the rookie had the best passer rating for a rookie quarterback making his first start since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970. Sunday’s 78.1, however, was Couchian or Holcombian. It was adequate.
But Frye has an element to his game that Dilfer, Holcomb and Garcia didn’t: He has legs. In today’s NFL, a mobile quarterback is as important as a Pro Bowl offensive line.
“Charlie did a decent job,” Crennel said. “Overall, he handled himself well. He used his feet to get out of trouble and he maintained his cool pretty good. The turnover he had, that hurt us, but over the course of the game you feel like he did a decent job.”
Frye is 0-2 as a starter, but at least you felt like the offense had a chance. When Cincinnati blitzed, and he sensed backside pressure, you felt like he could make something happen. He did a few times Sunday.
His touchdown pass to Steve Heiden wasn’t blind luck. From the Cincinnati 2 on third-and-goal, Frye looked right. He looked to the middle and then he threw to Heiden in the left flat for a touchdown.
His 3-yard run for a score on Cleveland’s first possession added something to the offense the Browns lacked all year. Frye took a bootleg to the right perimeter and scored untouched.
This is a 4-9 football team. There is nothing left to protect this season. Crennel and the coaching staff ought to see this by now. There is no reason to run on second-and-long, and again on third-and-long because you don’t want to break Frye’s psyche.
The kid is mentally tough, and under that thick skin is a large degree of self-confidence.
“I felt I took strides forward and made good decisions,” Frye said. “There are some things I can improve on. ... Any time I get more experience, I’m going to see the field better. The more experience I get, the better I’m going to play.”
What hasn’t Frye experienced enough in two games that he needs to work on?
“Winning,” Frye said. “I haven’t experienced that enough.”
Sure, he threw one interception in the third quarter and then had Deltha O’Neal drop another would-be pick in the fourth quarter.
“They rushed three and dropped eight on that,” Frye said of O’Neal’s drop. “They had everybody covered up. I was trying to scramble to see if anyone came free.”
Give the kid credit for moxie. He wasn’t afraid to make a mistake or take a chance. Frye got lucky on the dropped pick. Luck isn’t synonymous with these Browns. That alone is enough to give him the ball the rest of the year. Reach Repository sports writer Todd Porter at (330) 580-8340 or e-mail: [email protected]
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[NFBuck]

The kid is handling himself well, and showing promise. At 4-9 their is no reason for going back to Dilfer at this point.

 

[scarletngrey11]

Frye has been playing better than Dilfer anyway, rookie or not he is the best quarterback on the team.

 

[scooter1369]

The Browns seem more competitive with frye at the helm. Seems (gasp) Braylon was right,

 

[exhawg]

I'm stuck between wanting the Browns to win and wanting them to get a good draft pick and dare I say a shot at drafting Hawk. I would be happy with 3 more games of playing well, but coming up just short. If the Browns play like they did yesterday against the Raiders next will they are probably going to win unless the Raiders have a much better game. The Browns just went toe to toe with one of the AFC's best teams and it took a last second fg to win the game.
To all of you Bengals fans who think you have a shot at winning the Super Bowl !!!

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

link

12/13/05

Is Frye the QB of the future?
Tuesday, December 13, 2005 <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>[FONT=Verdana, Times New Roman, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]SPORTS SPOTLIGHT TODD PORTER[/FONT]
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Charlie Frye has completed 62.5 percent of his NFL passes (35-for-56) with three touchdowns and three interceptions.​

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Coming off another tough loss, this one at least watchable, the coach was in no mood. Romeo Crennel, remarkably straight-forward regardless of what his team does on Sundays, snipped at a reporter.
Perhaps it was fair. Crennel’s young team, parts of it stitched together with needle and thread, lost another close game to a playoff team. Maybe Sunday’s 23-20 loss gave you a better indication of where the Browns are, rather than the Bengals.
Still, these losses are frustrating as Crennel has accepted moral victories. Slow progress is better than no progress.
Crennel, though, wasn’t in the mood for second-guessing, especially not the way he’s handling a rookie quarterback.
Are the Browns bringing Charlie Frye along slowly, and safely, so he can’t fail? It seemed, in the first half especially, Cleveland called a lot of running plays on second-and-long.
Crennel kind of rolled his eyes at the question.
“If you’re running the ball and making yards, then you’re getting to third-and-short, which is a better situation to have,” Crennel said. “... We’re not running on second-and-10 so we can run on third-and-10.”
Frye is the rookie quarterback on whom many hopes are being pinned. Quite frankly, the Browns have no other option than for Frye to be the answer.
General Manager Phil Savage doesn’t want to start over again and again at the most important position on the team. Frye can’t fail. He has to be the answer. If Frye fails, the Browns fail, and that just isn’t an option. It’s like asking the star student to answer a question you’re positive he knows to prove a point.
And you better believe the Browns are handling him with kid gloves. Cleveland won’t put Frye in a position in which he can’t succeed. It would have been interesting to see the Bengals tie Sunday’s game or take the lead with two minutes left and Frye put in the position of running the two-minute offense.
That’s a measure of success or failure.
Kudos to Crennel for bringing him along, not slowly, but perfectly. So far, Frye’s progress has been better than expected.
The measure of all quarterbacks is wins and losses. Frye has lost both his starts. But he’s looked good in those losses. If anything, it’s more apparent than ever that Savage is right when he says everything can’t be fixed in one offseason.
Massillon coach Tom Stacy was Frye’s quarterbacks coach for four years at the University of Akron. He knows Frye, the quarterback, as well as anyone.
“Charlie comes from a small town, a basketball town, in Willard,” Stacy said. “He felt he had to come in and prove himself at Akron. When we had him, he was 6-foot-2, 175 pounds. He’s used to feeling like he has to prove himself.”
That’s refreshing. The Browns have a first-day draft pick tied to Frye, not the first overall pick. He’s expendable. The job won’t be handed to him.
There were times this season when Frye looked plain disinterested around reporters. Maybe he was. Fullback Terrell Smith said he looks at a quarterback’s hands to see if they’re shaking. Frye’s were not. Smith took that as a sign of calm.
“On the inside, is a very intense individual,” Stacy said. “He gets nervous, but he does a great job of hiding it. That kind of confidence goes through the rest of the team. He’ll never show he’s nervous or insecure, or anything like that.
“I know at Akron he had a hard time eating before a game ... every game. I’ll bet he’s not eating much on Sunday morning. He played in his food a lot.”
Here is what you should know about Frye: He’s you. He’s blue-collar, Cleveland football. He doesn’t get caught up in his media clips or sound bites (the latter of which he’s improving).
When he was overlooked out of Willard High School by just about every college, Akron offered him a full ride. He verbally committed. Then Iowa State, a school with a more pronounced football reputation, came in with an offer.
Frye stayed true to his word.
“He played in Willard,” Stacy said. “It’s two hours from everything. He came out of the middle of nowhere.”
The Browns are finding out if Frye is the answer. If he is, next year looks swell with Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow Jr. back. The problem is, Browns fans are tired of waiting for next year.
Is Frye the answer? In the next three weeks you will get a more true answer. Behind the walls at the team’s complex, though, he has to be. Reach Repository sports writer Todd Porter at (330) 580-8340 or e-mail: [email protected].
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