Looking at the replay of Brady Quinn's hit on Terrell Suggs, I cut him a little slack (headline got ya, didn't it?). But not a lot. Quinn appeared to dive at the knees of Suggs for no apparent reason, but Chris Carr was returning the interception right behind Suggs. So there was reason … especially since Quinn said he didn’t see Suggs until the last second.

Quinn's reaction on the field was telling, too. Clearly he knew he had made a mistake.

The Ravens have right to be angry, but Quinn is not a dirty player and he immediately apologized and took his medicine like a man.

He's handled a mistake well.

It's time to move on.

Well  … the players are saying that the Browns coaches did not call the last play in the loss to Baltimore the other night. The one that sent Josh Cribbs to the hospital. They said the call came on the field, with Brady Quinn and Cribbs creating something on the fly.

Always good to know that the players on the field are thinking as clearly as the braintrust, eh?

Except it doesn't add up.

Cribbs caught the pass and looked for the lateral. Jerome Harrison started to run right behind Cribbs with his hand, calling for the ball. Robert Royal caught the lateral and looked for another.

It looked every bit like a called play.

Too, if it wasn't, why were the Browns throwing deep passes the previous two plays?

They treated that final series as if they were down five, not 16. Two deep throws and a hook-and-lateral. Seems like a team trying to score as if the game is still on the line.

One insider even told me that Brady Quinn threw the two deep balls out of bounds intentionally. That he knew the calls were ridiculous, so he heaved them OB.

It's always something, isn't it?

Meanwhile, this is what Steve Young had to say on ESPN about the Browns:

“I was part of a team like this in 1986 when I was with Tampa Bay. I remember thinking to myself when I got really depressed, 'Maybe I should go to law school. Maybe I should do something else.' It reminds me of what’s going on with the Browns. You can not say enough about the disaster that is happening in Cleveland right now.”

1)      I'm thinking that right now the Lions ought to be favored by nine.

2)      Imagine that. The Browns a more-than-deserving near-double digit underdog to a team that has one win since the start of the 2009 season. Say this for the Browns: They've earned it.

3)      For the second game in a row, the Browns opponent played down to the Browns level, yet won fairly easily. Baltimore played about as well as Chicago played against the Browns, which is to say pretty poorly. One mistake by a cornerback, one mistake by a quarterback — game over. With never a threat that the Browns would come back on their own to win. Expectations have been driven so subterranean that it's worthy of celebrating when the Browns hold a team to a scoreless half.

4)      Nothing Eric Mangini tries is working. Nothing. His quarterback competition. Working players harder. Bringing in his players. Forcing Cribbs into the wide receiver spot. Brian Daboll as offensive coordinator. George Kokinis. Calling timeout against Cincinnati, which only served to set up the Bengals touchdown that sent the game into overtime. Not calling timeout against Baltimore as his guys were trotting on the field when the Ravens lined up at the 13. Going no-huddle against Baltimore. None of it has worked. None of it. And were it not for a botched punt return by Buffalo, we surely would be looking at an oh-and-nine team right now. This is not bad luck, though. It's bad coaching. Bad coaching, bad decisions, bad everything.

5)      Calling that hook-and-lateral with three seconds left and the Browns down 16 was inane. What was the point? The game was over. O-v-e-r. Running that play only served to injure one of the Browns best players. Yes, injuries are sometimes bad luck. But in this case the Browns made their own bad luck with an ill-advised play call at a point of the game when that call was not necessary.

6)      It was almost as ludicrous as having Brady Quinn throw two bombs the previous two plays. Were those going to somehow tie the game? Even if they were .. . well … actually thrown inbounds.

7)      When we assess the Browns offense Monday night, let's not forget the Browns were coming off a bye. Which means they had two weeks to prepare for Baltimore. Two weeks and they come up with that performance. The NFL is a passing league, and most teams move the ball by opening up the field and running receivers in different patterns all over the field. Except … the … Browns. It seems obvious now that the Browns have two different game plans for Derek Anderson and Quinn, and that the coaching staff does not trust Quinn to throw down the field, except in the rarest of instances or when they are down 16 and less than 20 seconds are left.

8)      Eric Mangini said after the game that the Browns are trying to throw the ball downfield with Quinn. "We're not avoiding that part of the field," he said. Well it sure looks like they are. Just about every play Quinn ran was a quick rollout and quick throw. Usually for four-to-six yards. It looked like a JV offense for the high school team.

9)      People say that we now know about Brady Quinn, that he's not an NFL quarterback. I'm not buying that. I don't think we know anything more about either quarterback because it's next to impossible to judge them based on the offense being run and the plays being called. I would not shrink from bringing in a new quarterback next season, but I also would not give up on Quinn because of this season.

10)  I don't understand why Mangini didn't call for a timeout when he didn't have the players on the field with Baltimore at the 13-yard-line. The last Brown was trotting on the field as the ball was snapped. Mangini called that timeout earlier in the season against Cincinnati in a similar circumstance and he didn't need to. This time he needed to and he didn’t call timeout. Nothing is working. Too, how can it be that at this point of the season the Browns can't even get the right guys on the field for a critical play. Ten men with the other team lining up at the 13? This is the attention to detail that is stressed so much by this regime? What a joke.

Three and Out

Dear Pat,

 I don't always agree with you, but I certainly do with your latest article. It's blown my mind that this is the third season that Brady Quinn has been a member of the team and we still don't know if he's an NFL quarterback. One of the best ways to help Quinn's confidence is to run the football and limit how many times he has to throw it.  This is what Marty Schottenheimer did when they were breaking Bernie Kosar in 24 years ago.

It would be nice to see some close, competitive games in the second half of the season, huh?

Steve Bohnenkamp

Geneva IL

Dear Steve,

The Browns ran fairly well Monday night, but they had their backs run 24 times (including one WR reverse) and had Quinn throw 31 passes. This seems like forcing the pass to maintain balance, especially considering the passes the Browns threw.

As for competitive games … we've reached the point where we hope to compete against Detroit … Kansas City … Oakland.

Uncle.

Dear Pat,

Eric Mangini was such a terrible hire from the very start. My most pressing concern as a Browns fan is to see him gone. At the same time, I have this sinking feeling that the search for a new Chief Football Officer is going to be similarly botched—too rushed, too shortsighted, too fixated on a name. 

 Now, I don’t know if the Mike Holmgren rumor is for real or just one of those half-baked ESPN reports. But look at his resume in Seattle: In 10 seasons as coach he was 12 games over .500 (in a consistently pathetic division), he posted a 4-6 playoff record, and after four years on the job he was stripped of his GM duties (with a 31-33 record)—duties which he was denied in Green Bay.

 So is Mike Holmgren any good at having final approval on players or constructing and leading an organization? Isn’t that the job? I’m not saying he wouldn’t be an upgrade over the current regime. I mean, the bar’s been set right at about ankle level. But even a future Hall of Famer can be unqualified, and at this point I’ve seen enough unqualified people come through town.

Michael Stevens

Boca Raton, FL

Dear Michael,

Valid points on Holmgren. Let me address some of them:

1)      The Browns want him to be a candidate. Whether he becomes one is up to him.

2)      Holmgren had the record you mentioned in Seattle, but he also took two different teams to the Super Bowl. That says something too.

3)      He lost the GM job, but that's because he was doing two jobs. I think he's smart enough and knows football well enough that he could be a strong and positive guiding hand while doing one job.

4)      Would Holmgren look more attractive if he brought Jon Gruden with him as coach?

5)      Which of these names has the most rings: Holmgren, Bill Cowher, Brian Billick, Jon Gruden. Answer: All the above. They all have one.

6)      I think you'll see a different type search this time than the one Randy Lerner conducted in January. I think he'll involve more people, ask more opinions and get more feedback. This is good.

If the Browns can hire Mike Holmgren, I'm all for it.

Dear Pat,

I know a lot of fans were hoping the Ravens would embarrass the Browns to hasten the departure of Mangini and to secure the overall No. 1 pick.  And I kind of felt that way following the Bears game, amidst the intrigue of the Kokinis firing/resignation.  But by the middle of last week I was actually looking forward to Monday night, dreaming that the bye would be a reset, the staff would finally get it together, and that in his return Brady would become the Mighty Quinn and begin a Browns career that would place him up there with other Browns championship QBs, like Otto Graham, and Frank Ryan, and……umm….well, you get my drift.  And yea, the first half was OK because it was a draw and anything was still possible.  Then came the third quarter.

 And while it may be simplistic and unfair to distill this disastrous season down to one play, for me it all came down to one critical moment in this coaching regime's tenure.  Score 0-0, just gave up a big play to the Ravens, but an opportunity remains to take back the momentum with a stop, where even a Ravens' field goal would be a positive for the Browns.  And in the ninth game of the season, after two weeks to prepare, THEY CAN'T EVEN GET 11 MEN ON THE FIELD.  Honestly, how is that possible?  That, of course, led to Ray Rice's TD and that opened the door to yet another national embarrassment.

So while there is a lack of talent on the Browns, and competing with such a deficit is extremely difficult, it is now clear to me that this is really a secondary problem.  The first problem, and one that will ensure failure regardless of the talent level, are the people coaching and preparing the team.  Lerner must jettison Mangini now because he has no future with the team.  Keeping him for the remainder of the season will only serve to scare off talented candidates for GM who don't want to worry about being stuck with an awful coach or don't want the hassle of having to fire him.  Really, this is the only option that remains.

Dan Hough

Dear Dan,

I really can't disagree with much of what you say … but comparing Brady Quinn to Otto Graham? Wow.

That’s even worse than this colossal failure of a season.

(Want to be recognized in “Three and Out”? It’s a rare treat. Comment here or send an e-mail to pmcmanamon@thebeaconjournal.com, and put “First and 10” in the subject line.)

From the Ravens, as reported by the AP (tho many were present in the locker room when the statements were made):

Ray Lewis on whether Quinn's hit on Terrell Suggs was a cheap shot: "Heck yeah, it was a cheap shot When you're running down and you're looking at the quarterback going at somebody's knees who doesn't even have the ball … I want to see if he gets the same fine I got or even higher. Now this man is out four or five weeks because of some baloney like that."

Check.

Ravens veteran defensive lineman Trevor Pryce on the play call that led to Cribbs' injury: ""With five seconds left in the game, and you're down 16-0, to throw a hook-and-lateral, what's the point of that? I'm not trying to question their coaching, it's none of my business. But you see what the result was. You do a hook-and-lateral play with a whole bunch of guys that are big and run fast, people are running around crazy and someone is going to get hurt."

 Check.

Finally, from Dwan Edwards, who hit Cribbs: "I was just hustling to the ball. He had just pitched it and I reacted. … I consider myself a hustle player and I tried to hustle and make a play — not let them get a score."

Guess we got those issues straightened out.

The Browns looked woeful again in losing to Baltimore. Still think the coach deserves another year?

But … the game ended bizarrely, with Josh Cribbs on the ground after having been run into by Dwan Edwards on one of those goofy lateral plays.

This hit did not appear intentional. Edwards was running to get into the play and ran headlong into Cribbs and appeared to catch Cribbs in the throat. He lay on the ground for several moments before being taken off on a cart and board. Coach Eric Mangini said Cribbs had feeling in his body and that he was taken off on a cart for precautionary reasons.

You almost wonder why the Browns ran that play, and if the injury was as much their own fault for running it in that situation. It started with three seconds left, and the Browns were down 16. Even had they scored the Browns would have gotten nothing for it but a loss. Running it did nothing but put players at risk, and Cribbs took the shot. It was an unnecessary call, and the result was an unnecessary injury.

The Ravens, though, will be plenty steamed about Brady Quinn throwing himself at the knees of standout defensive end Terrell Suggs during an interception return in the third quarter. Chris Carr was returning a pass Quinn intercepted when Quinn threw himself at Suggs' knees when Suggs was not looking. The Pro Bowler wound up leaving the game with a sprained knee and could miss several more weeks.

To his credit, Quinn apologized to Suggs and the Ravens. But the damage was done. This will not go over well in Baltimore, nor should it go over well in New York when fines are assessed this week. Quinn acted like he was blocking Suggs — and Baltimore had the ball.

LATE ADDITION: Said Robert Royal of Cribbs: "He was cracking jokes down there, so that was a good sign. He was waving his limbs. We don't know the extent of the injury, but at the same time we think he will be all right."

Writes Pete Prisco of CBSSports.com of Brady Quinn: He "didn't make the right reads when he was starting. If he doesn't do that, his arm can't compensate. He's then just a guy, on his way to bust-ville."

Here are 10 suggestions for the Cleveland Browns as they head to the second half of the season:

1)      Run the ball. The one thing the offense did kind of, sort of well the first half was run the ball. Jerome Harrison and Jamal Lewis each had 100-yard games. There have been some good runs. This could be one element the offense could build from, assuming they don't try to force the issue by mixing in too many passes. We all saw how THAT worked.

2)      Run two or three or four basic defenses and run them well. The Browns lack too much talent on defense to run a free-wheeling, blitzing style. If it means going to Cover Two and playing that every play, so be it. It can't be worse than what happened the first eight games.

3)      Remove the play-calling responsibilities from Brian Daboll and give them to Carl Smith. Daboll has looked overmatched. Yes, Bernie Kosar keeps saying on his many radio shows that Browns receivers are running wide open and simply not catching the ball, so the problem isn't merely the plays. OK, let's give Kosar that one. The problem is the knee-jerk reaction, the amateurish thought process. It's the focus on one thing that doesn't last — like opening with the quick passes against Baltimore, then giving up on it once Brady Quinn threw an interception, or opening with the Wildcat in Pittsburgh, then giving up on it once Josh Cribbs threw a pick. Formulate a plan on Tuesday, stress it during the week and stick with it on Sunday. Smith is a veteran coach who has been around. He knows what he's doing. Let him call plays and see what happens. It can't be worse.

4)      Play Quinn. Find out what the Browns have in him. It seems that we know about Derek Anderson. Or at least what we know from the previous few games is decidedly not pretty.

5)      Call some plays down the field for Quinn. He has to be able to throw the ball 15 yards. That being said, one concern expressed to me about Quinn is that he has developed the very bad habit of focusing on the rush as soon as he sees it. This takes his eyes from his receivers and puts them on the rusher, which is a key reason he throws so many dumpoffs. This is a hard habit to break, and why it happens is kind of inexplainable. It's comparable to a golfer getting the yips. So … who knows … perhaps we may see more of Anderson.

6)      Quit micromanaging. Coach the team, forget the insanity like making every non-playing and non-coaching member of the travel group get on the bus to the airport 45 minutes early so they don't cross paths with the players. Let everyone board the bus together. Forget the nitpicking like water bottles and that kind of thing. Coach the team, concentrate on winning the game. Just. Go. Win. The. Game.

7)      Make whoever decided that these receivers could play in the NFL coach these receivers personally. Because to me they look overmatched by average NFL corners. They don't get off the line, don't get open and when they do they don't catch the ball or fumble it away. (Other than that … ) No NFL team should have receivers who play the way these do. Then enact a corollary to this rule and enforce it: Announce a starting quarterback and quit playing games with the announcement.

8)      Eliminate the stinking players valet parking lot. It's a perk that this team bestowed on players well before it was earned. Now it's an offensive reminder of the way these guys are treated. Park in a lot where they can shake hands with fans and greet people and maybe sign an autograph or two after the game. Walk 20 feet in the rain, or wind, or snow, if need be. Fans do it. Players can do it.

9)      Abandon the blitz, drop deep and make teams use 15 plays to score. If they score, they score. But there have been too many big plays. Play the ultimate umbrella defense. Make the other team earn it. If they score, then so be it — but chances increase that on one of those 15 plays the other team might make a mistake.

10)   Start devoting many resources to next year's draft. At this point, that's the most important thing in the world to this team. However many people are studying college guys, add another one or two to the list.

And … because it's the Browns … a bonus 11 …

11)  Here's a unique idea: Pretend the Browns are an actual NFL team with actual professionals on the roster. Treat them that way, and maybe, just maybe, they will play that way.

This will be no quick turnaround; in fact there might not be any turnaround. But some fundamental notions could make the second half of the season a tiny bit more palatable than the first. And isn't that what everyone wants?

Three and Out will take a break this week due to the flu's invading my being. Besides, we all know the nature of the letters.

I'll be at the Cavs opener tonight, so this week's First and 10 arrives a little early.

1)      There were many reactions to my idea that it's time for the Browns to admit they made a mistake with Eric Mangini, that it's best to move on. Almost 90 percent of the e-mails and calls were positive. Folks said they agreed a change is needed. Some said thanks, others said well spoken, others criticized the owner for hiring Mangini, and some said my brains have less consistency than Jello. All is fine. As Mike Brown once said, I agree with what I said. But … just because I said … errr … wrote it doesn't mean Randy Lerner will do it. In fact, he's probably not going to do it. Which is fine. It is his team after all.

2)      That being said, the Browns have to be aware of the damage being done to their following. I've never seen a Browns crowd so apathetic as it was against Green Bay. The opposing quarterback said it was eerily quiet in the Browns stadium. People are acting like they've been hit too many times. Friends I know who have tickets can't give them away. The people I hear from are angry, which on one level makes sense because you usually hear from the angry people. But the fan base is sickened by what they see. The team's revenues could nosedive this offseason if the fans think 2010 will be more of the same. Yes, there are 11 draft picks. But if the Browns are hanging their hats on those draft picks they are fooling themselves. This regime traded three top six picks (Braylon Edwards, Kellen Winslow, the fifth overall choice) and the only first-round pick they got in return was center Alex Mack. So they got a center, second- and third-round choices, a bunch of mid-round picks and a bunch of ex-Jets. 

3)      Some criticized me for criticizing the Browns for lack of continuity, then asking for another change. Fair enough. I just think keeping on with a mistake makes the mistake worse. If you paint your living room and realize one-third of the way through that the color is ugly, do you keep painting? Didn’t think so. The Indians made quick moves with coaches in the past when it was obvious their hiring wasn't working (Eddie Murray, a pitching coach whose name I forget). It's time to bite the bullet and accept reality. It's not working. Chart a new course in 2010, and hope that the next hire (or hires) has (have) more success. Too… if a change is made, I'd advocate hiring a football guy to run football. Then said football guy can hire the coach.

4)      It's been opined that the Browns have no talent. I don't disagree. There is a serious lack of talent. But I said that last year, and many yelled at me and cried for Romeo Crennel to be fired. Much of the same talent is back, and Mangini supplemented it with 23 players he chose (as of opening day). Ten of them are ex-Jets he wanted and went and got — either via trade or free agency. So if Mangini was right on the new guys, the team should be better. Because he brought in players he wanted to a team that got screwed up last season by the coach. Doesn't seem like you can have it both ways — cry about the coach last season, then lament the talent this season.

5)      The Browns rank dead last in the league in defense, and they are giving up 170 yards rushing per game. Why, then, did I opine that Rob Ryan would be the choice for interim coach? Basically because he's the best option. The only thing that I think will get the Browns going this season is a different voice, a guy who approaches things far differently from Mangini. That would be Ryan, a coordinator with personality who's not afraid to take people on. I'd make the move, tell Ryan to try to make a name for himself and see what happens. Like I said, it can't be worse.

6)      Seems to me that the Browns keep forcing the issue with Josh Cribbs on offense. They've tried him at receiver, they've tried him at quarterback. Thus far, he's had a critical fumble against Minnesota, a big dropped pass against Buffalo, an interception against Pittsburgh and another fumble against Green Bay. Is it possible that forcing the issue with Cribbs is actually hurting the offense? Or that perhaps he's spread too thin? What would I do? Let him run from the Wildcat formation, but run different plays — not just the sweep and the fake-one-way-and-run-the­-other play they always run. Use some misdirection, something different. Last season's coaches did not believe Cribbs could handle a larger load on offense. At this point they appear to be right. You have to love Cribbs as a player, but more and more it's looking like as a receiver he makes a great kick returner.

7)      The Browns ran a quarterback sneak on second-and-1 against Green Bay, and some people defended it because it got them a first down. These are the levels to which we have sunk.

8)      My buddy who used to call Pete Franklin and identify himself as "Joe Fan" — he'd always take the side of the fans — called Sunday and offered this solution: Have the Dolans and Lerners trade teams. Give the Indians to the Lerners, who could operate with their financial resources in a system without a salary cap. Then let the Dolans run the Browns, because they could operate in a capped system and let the revenues dictate their spending. "Joe Fan" often suggests things like this.

9)      Someone smarter than me — and that's a lengthy list — will have to figure what happened to the two quarterbacks. Brady Quinn led the Browns to 59 points in two games last season. Derek Anderson threw 29 touchdowns two seasons ago. Neither look close to what they did. To say they've regressed is putting it mildly. Maybe the team needs a field trip to the Shedd Aquarium this weekend to help clear the mind.

10)  Here's another thing that bothered me about the Browns offense against Green Bay. Their way to "take some shots" down the field was to throw the go. Receiver lines out wide, and takes off straight down the field. Against Green Bay, it came against man coverage with two very good corners doing the covering. Maybe run a go once, but four times? Why keep trying such a simple route that is pretty easy to defend, especially when receivers are not that fast. This is a low percentage pass. Might it not help to go with a more high percentage passing game? What's that? Can't do it because Derek Anderson doesn't throw the short pass well? Well what about Brady … umm .. never mind. See what a mess this team is? I mean … they trade Kellen Winslow and then run an offense tailor made for Kellen Winslow. It's not a matter of effort or caring. Obviously everyone is trying. It's. Just. Not. Working. Oh … get ready to hear how the late-season games are a boost if the Browns somehow find a way to beat an Oakland or a Jacksonville or a Kansas City in December. Right here is where you roll your eyes.

A sampling of letters, mainly dealing with Eric Mangini …

Dear Pat,

When Eric Mangini took over as head coach I was "drinking the Kool-Aid" about players trying to get better every day on one thing and that we'd see steady improvement.  Well, that has proven to be just one more false hope for us diehard Browns fans, who have now been putting up with these emotional swings for 11 seasons.

 I sat at yesterday's game in Cleveland against Green Bay and I had pretty much made up my mind it would be my last game there as a season ticket holder.  The final nail in the coffin was watching that debacle.  The Browns are no better than the original expansion team in 1999.  I am no longer willing to throw my complete loyalty and money towards supporting the Cleveland Browns, so I won't be renewing my season tickets.  I'll have to eat my PSLs, but when you look at the cost of me traveling to games from St. Louis, Dallas or Chicago, walking from the PSLs is nothing.

Why would I continue to go to games when I don't have fun? 

All the time I put into supporting the team for 47 years and all the money spent just isn't worth it anymore.  I hope Randy Lerner does well.  He and his father brought a team back to Cleveland for which all of us should be grateful.  It's the so-called "football people" that have let him and the great fans of the Browns down.

Steve Bohnenkamp

Geneva, Ill.

Dear Steve,

To those who say making a move now is not fair to the coach, it might not be. But what is fair to the good and loyal fans of the Browns?

Dear Pat,

I can only think that if Brady Quinn was given these last four games to play he could have developed and the team would be in a better place now because of it. But egos stand in the way of the Browns finding out if we have one quarterback that might be worth a damn. I have never rooted against the Browns in all my years. At this juncture I find myself pulling for them to lose. And to lose badly. This coach does not deserve his position and I would rather rebuild with a true GM and coach instead of someone that obviously is an egomaniac and control freak.

Sincerely,

Gerald Keefer

 Dear Gerald,

The only thing the Browns have learned about their quarterbacks this season is how not to handle them.

Dear Pat,

I cannot argue any of the points in your recent article.  However, as an educated reporter, what do you think will really happen to the new Browns coach?  Personally, I think Randy Lerner will never fire a coach in his first season, but I'm hoping I'm wrong.  This might actually surpass the Spergon Wynn days as the worst football in Browns history, and it makes me wonder if Lerner realizes the damage that's being done to the fan base.  Not only with the loyal customers, who have been kicked in the teeth for years, but also the next generation of kids who have never seen winning football in Cleveland.

Tom Crookston Stow

 Dear Tom,

Imagine this … 11 years of losing … three years with no football … the Belichick years. That's an entire generation of football kids, lost.

Dear Pat,

I am a Jets fan and have been all my life. My best friend is a dedicated Browns fan and I love to root for the underdog.  Believe me when I tell you, we (Jets fans) almost had a ticker tape parade when Mangini was fired. It was in my opinion at least two years too late.  For the Browns to have picked him up so soon was a mistake and it needs to be rectified now.  He saps morale, and he can't coach, as you can plainly see.  He needs to go. I hope for the fans sake that something happens soon.

Allison Norman

Dear Allison,

It's not about fines or laps or anything else. It's about what's happening on the field. And it's not working. 

Dear Pat,

If there are others like me, here, you can have a good laugh … I'm having second thoughts about Romeo Crennel.

Keith Vlasak Sandusky, Ohio

Dear Keith,

I never thought Crennel was as bad as people made him out to be, but I also didn't think he helped himself a lot. That being said, imagine the situation we are in now where Crennel has been vindicated.

Dear Pat,

Eric Mangini is embarrassing an already embarrassed city and franchise. This team is every bit as bad as the 1999 team and getting worse. Heck, we beat Pittsburgh in '99 I think.

Ray Lehotsky North Royalton, Ohio

Dear Ray,

You're right. Chris Palmer's expansion team beat Pittsburgh. In Pittsburgh.

Dear Pat,

Here we go … Mr. Know It Al is at it again. You are as crazy as they come. The best thing that can happen is the Browns shut the media OUT. Leave Mangini alone. He cleared out a large percentage of players from Davis and Crennel that you sportswriters said needed to go anyhow. Give the guy a chance to get what is needed. It's not going to happen overnight with things as bad as they were. Yu writers make me puke.

Rusty Kristen Sara

Dear Rusty,

Glad we got that straight. Hope you feel better tomorrow. 

Dear Pat,

It is amazing how pathetic a team can play. Name just one part of the Browns that may even be classified as average. The quarterback situation has been talked about even before the season started and yet that hardly can be the total problem. It just boggles my mind.

Ron Ferko

Dear Ron,

You're right. Nothing is even average on this team.

(Want to be recognized in “Three and Out”? It’s a rare treat. Comment here or send an e-mail to pmcmanamon@thebeaconjournal.com, and put “First and 10” in the subject line.)

Things Brady Quinn must be wondering:

–What it takes to calculate the velocity of a pigeon carrying no mail flying into the jet stream during the early evening hours without knowing the initial speed of the pigeon?

—The formula for Coke.

—Why he can't play six or seven minutes in a blowout loss when the guy ahead of him was 12-for-29.

Any of the three could be answered as easily as the other.

Because there is no way to find an answer to any of the above questions. The largest mystery of all those three questions might be why Quinn did not play in Sunday's loss to Green Bay.

Who knows, maybe Quinn poured gasoline on Mangini's lawn after he was benched.

But the Browns could not have done more to damage Quinn's postseason trade value than they did by not playing him Sunday. To say that he's not even good enough to get in at the end of a blowout loss is an insult to the guy deemed good enough to start the opener, and maybe even an insult to the fans.

Either Quinn has no redeeming value, or something happened behind the scenes to make the coach angry. Or … maybe Mangini just figured what Derek Anderson started, Derek Anderson should finish.

Bottom line: Anderson has gone 23-for-70 the past three games. Sunday against Chicago he looked awful. Yet Quinn did not play a down.

Can the Brett Ratliff era be that far away?

Random thoughts..

–Anderson threw for 99 yards, the exact same amount of yards that Green Bay drove for to score its final touchdown.

–Someone asked after the game if the run defense was affected by D'Qwell Jackson's injury. It almost made me regurgitate my chips and salsa.

–I mean, what difference would Jackson have made in a 31-3 loss?

–Aaron Rodgers said after the game that the Packers scout team ran the Browns defense better than the Browns did on Donald Driver's 71-yard touchdown reception.

–That hurts.

–Not near as much as it had to hurt the sellout crowd to watch that game.

–How long can the Browns keep doing this to their fans?

–I wondered it before the play, so I'll wonder it now: Why not try a fake field goal early in the quarter when the Browns were lined at their four. Isn't this a team that needs something like this to make it work?

–After having some success with the Wildcat in Pittsburgh, the Browns ran it once against Green Bay. Josh Cribbs had a knee issue during the week, which might have had something to do with it.

–Someone posited to me that the Browns had no talent. I wonder who is responsible for that. Phil Savage, or Eric Mangini? It's Mangini who traded Kellen Winslow and Braylon Edwards, Mangini who had 23 new players on the roster on opening day, Mangini who brought in every ex-Jet walking. If the coach deserved to be fired after last season, it follows that means the Browns had some talent and the coach did not get much out of it. Which means that inheriting said talent and adding 23 players to the roster — many of them your handpicked guys — means this team should be better. It's not. It's worse.

–The Browns had first-and-goal at the 5 and first-and-goal at the 1 and did not score a touchdown either time. This will lead to problems.

–The next tackle Eric Wright makes in the open field will be the first.

–Though Brodney Pool did whiff early in Driver's big catch.

–Can this get worse? Yes. The Browns go to Chicago next week to play a Bears team that was embarrassed in losing to Cincinnati.

–Then there's all those home games in December.

–Yikes.

What they said:

"I thought we were making progress in a lot of areas. I don't think we showed that today, at all."

–Browns coach Eric Mangini

"Because DA was our starter and I felt comfortable with the things that we were doing."

–Mangini, on why he didn't play Brady Quinn

"We aren't good right now. Period. Flat out."

–Derek Anderson

"We feel like this is a game we should win, and we came out and dominated."

–Packers CB Charles Woodson

"This was a weird game, to be honest. It was a little chippy at times and very quiet in the third quarter to where on third down I can hear myself and everybody on the field can hear me as well. There was a different feel to it."

–Packers QB Aaron Rodgers

I keep getting different feelings on Brady Quinn. A wise young man who knows football told me this morning that Quinn’s not that talented. Others have said different.

All I know is the Browns and the rest of the Northeast Ohio viewing area exulted when the Browns drafted him. Now he’s junk.

Does this happen with other teams?

I saw a different Quinn in 2008 than I did this year.

Which is why I think the Browns were wise not to trade him.

Quarterbacks are hard to find. The Browns invested two first-round draft choices on Quinn, the one they used to take him and the one they traded to move up and get him. It seems wise to work more with him.

It did not seem prudent to jettison Quinn after 10 quarters.

Now … this could all be moot if the Browns decide to trade Quinn after the season – a very real possibility. At that point it’s a matter of what they receive in the deal.

Will the next Browns quarterback please report security desk?