Let's Put Blaming Brady Quinn on Hold

Following this afternoon's game against the Minnesota Vikings, it didn't take long for the ax to come out against Brady Quinn, did it?

While I'm certainly not going to defend Quinn's performance and tell you that it was anywhere near great, let's not rush to bench him after one game in the 2009 season.

Quite frankly, I didn't think Quinn played very well, but I don't think he played that poorly either.

Let's not forget that the Vikings are a legitimate Super Bowl contender this season and that it was a long shot for the Browns to pull out a win.

You may say I'm making excuses, but that's just the cold, hard reality of the NFL.

Plus, the Browns looked pretty good in this game, and I think there are some positives to take away from the loss anyway, even with Quinn's performance.

Here's another reality the Browns have to face, as well as anyone who supports Derek Anderson as the starting quarterback: The Browns desperately need a quarterback with pocket presence, vision, and quick feet.

Today, Quinn showed he at least has those qualities, and we already know Anderson does not. Say what you want about DA's arm strength, but I believe this game would have been much uglier for the Browns with Anderson behind center.

Moreover, Anderson has never, in his entire career stretching back to college, been an accurate passer.

Today, Quinn at least showed decent accuracy with 60 percent of his passes completed, to go along with those pesky (now expected) drops by Cleveland receivers.

But enough about Anderson. What Browns fans have to realize is that Quinn has so much more to offer, and that over time, it will pay off.

Quinn's fumble today was certainly inexcusable, but let's not pretend that's going to happen every game.

His interception was a big hurt to the Browns, but it was more of a miscommunication with the receiver than a clear cut bad pass.

In fact, had Edwards ran the route Quinn thought he would it could have been a nice gain.

As it stands, Quinn played mediocre...but I must stress that it's not the end of the world. He at least showed he can scramble and makes plays, retain quality accuracy, and escape sacks and turn broken plays into gains with his running (again all things Anderson has never been able to do).

I thought Quinn showed good leadership throughout the game and was able to call some nice audibles at the line of scrimmage.

Cleveland fans should be more worried about the running game more than anything (Lewis rushed for 57 yards, Quinn for 21) and the play calling was very questionable.

The Browns definitely need to cut back on the shotgun formations and get away from the conservative play calling. But, let's remember the Vikings are a tough team and the coaching staff probably wanted to keep it that way.

Regardless, the Browns played pretty well today against a very good team. Quinn might have played poorly at times, but I guarantee he'll play better in the future.

Just stay patient with Quinn and give him more time than one game this season or four games total in his career.

You have to resist the temptation to think that your quarterback should go out and just fire the ball down field and think that it's going to beat good teams and take the Browns to the playoffs.

And lastly, take a look around the rest of the league and you'll see quite a few other quarterbacks who had a much worse day than Quinn did against Minnesota. Are you ready to throw them under the bus as well?