Vikings-Browns: Brady Quinn Stumbles in 34-20 Loss

Browns Backers: stumble—"to make a slip, mistake, or blunder"  

Browns fans finally got their wish in seeing Brady Quinn start; too bad that it was more of an audition for NFL Follies.   

During one play in the game the ball slipped out of Quinn's hands only to be recovered for the Vikings. Let's just hope he plays more like the Browns' golden boy savior than Garo Yepremian did in Super Bowl VII.  

At least the Browns scored an offensive TD for the first time since last November and Joshua Cribbs showed Browns management how you negotiate a contract with his seventh career punt return for a touchdown.   

With Quinn playing tentatively for much of the game thanks to a conservative game plan instituted by Mangini and Brian Daboll, you have to wonder where the offense went as other than TE Robert Royal, RB Jamal Lewis, and WR/KR Joshua Cribbs, the rest were missing in action.

The Browns seemed to be playing more against Brad Childress' challenges than against his team. One challenge resulted in overturning a TD pass to WR Braylon Edwards after he was pushed out on a pass interference call. 

I would be remiss if I said that the bright spot of the game was the "attacking defense" promised by former Oakland Raiders defensive coordinator, Rob Ryan. The defense sacked Brett Favre four times, including one by Kamerion Wimbley, and managed to keep Favre in check while holding RB Adrian Peterson to 25 yards in the first half.

Then the third quarter began.    

Peterson broke loose on a punishing 64 yard touchdown that included a stiff arm slam of Eric Wright. He would finish the game with 185 yards, three touchdowns, and most importantly showed that the Browns are not even in their galaxy in terms of talent.  

Quinn would finish 20-of-31 for 205 yards, with one fumble and one interception that looked, dare I say, very Anderson-like.

I'm not sure if there was a miscommunication on the route, but the ball looked like it was underthrown, and while Quinn tried to engineer plays out of the shotgun, what was with all the delayed-hand off calls?  

I can understand trying to keep the Vikings honest in attempting to neutralize their defense, but the inside handoffs and draws were not fooling the Vikings. Memo to Brian Daboll: Use some playaction! 

Now I don't want to rile up the Brady Bunch, but it will not be long before the rest of the league sees Quinn for what he is and that he cannot threaten NFL defenses. In this game you saw Minnesota bringing eight in the box and daring Quinn to beat them by throwing deep.  

Quinn may be the Golden Boy in the eyes of many, but on this day he looked like cheap varnish.