*CLEVELAND BROWNS CONFERENCE CALL *
HEAD COACH ROMEO CRENNEL (on QB-Brady Quinn's injury and Derek Anderson starting)
"Injuries are a part of the game and every team has to deal with them, so you deal with them the best you can and try to move forward."
HEAD COACH ROMEO CRENNEL (on Quinn's injury)
"He has a small fracture on the tip of his index finger, and when they evaluated it, we were given three options: one, to splint it and remove the splint for practice and games; two, two splint it for six weeks; three, to have surgery to repair it. So the medical people, and everybody involved felt like that you could splint it, remove the splint for practice and games, and it would start to heal. But we said we're going to re-evaluate on a weekly basis to see what was going on and if we needed to change those options, we would change those options. So after this past game and the re-evaluation that it wasn't healing the way it needs to heal, so we need to get it fixed. The playing option was taken out, so now Brady is going to decide whether he's going to splint it for about six weeks or whether he's going to have surgery to heal it."
HEAD COACH ROMEO CRENNEL (on how Quinn's development has been)
"I think he's come along pretty good, overall, because he missed some time his first year in training camp. But he's been in the program now a year and a half and he knows the system and when he got into the games I thought he represented himself very well, showed composure, handled the offense and did a good job with it."
HEAD COACH ROMEO CRENNEL (on how his attitude has been since learning of the injury)
"He's disappointed. He's disappointed, but he understands that this is the best for him as a quarterback, to get that throwing hand healed. So he'll deal with it. He's dealt with some things since he's been in the NFL, from the draft-day situation, to getting here and then having to wait his turn, to becoming a starter and now having to deal with this injury."
HEAD COACH ROMEO CRENNEL (on if it is hard to go back to the quarterback he replaced with Brady Quinn or if it is just what you do)
"It's what you do because you don't have many options."
HEAD COACH ROMEO CRENNEL (on how the injury affected Brady Quinn's play last week)
"Well I thought that probably as a result of a couple of misreads, the way that the situation in the game, the way that it was going and then my knowledge of the finger, that I ended up taking him out of the game because I thought that the finger might have been on his mind."
HEAD COACH ROMEO CRENNEL (on Derek Anderson's numbers last year compared to this year)
"Well, as you look at this team, you can say the same thing about the whole team. The numbers last year were 10-6 and a game away from the playoffs, and now this year we're 4-7 and not functioning the way we need to function. So it's everybody that's involved. If you need excuses, injuries played a part early on because key guys missed some time in training camp and missed some preseason games and then had to work their way back into it. We haven't totally recovered because we've lost some other guys along the way. But everybody's dealing with the same problem. I think (Indianapolis) experienced some of it with Peyton not practicing and then his timing being off when he came back. Now, he looks like he has his timing back and he's rolling along pretty good."
HEAD COACH ROMEO CRENNEL (on another chance for Derek Anderson)
"Sure, this is a chance to show that he can lead a team, show that he can be a functioning quarterback in the NFL."
HEAD COACH ROMEO CRENNEL (on how much is confidence an issue or is it not shaken)
"He's been a good pro about his situation. He's been a good teammate to Brady. He's been supportive of the team, and I think he's excited about his opportunity and I think that he'll try to make the most of it."
HEAD COACH ROMEO CRENNEL (on how he would explain the rollercoaster-type, strange season)
"Yes, it is, but really the big thing there is inconsistency. Generally, if you don't play the way you need to play, you're not able to win some games. And that's what we've done. We haven't played well enough. We've had some leads in the second half in a couple of those games and you would think you would be able to win them, but we haven't won them because we haven't made the plays."
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HEAD COACH ROMEO CRENNEL (on the Colts and third-down conversions and how you defend them)
"The thing that you see is that they're hitting on all cylinders. Peyton, he's one of the best in the business. The receivers are getting open, they're catching the ball for him. The backs coming out of the backfield are catching for him and they're running good when he hands it to them. The tight ends, particularly Dallas (Clark), he's a force. So he has a stable of receivers that he can rely on that are doing a really good job for him and that offensive line, they always work really hard to protect him and keep people off of him. So that allows him to be efficient and be able to move the ball. Third down is good and I know from experience that he is good in two-minute. So the best thing that we can do is keep him on the sideline, but that's easier said than done."
QB-DEREK ANDERSON (on getting another chance to show what he can do)
"It's obviously a good opportunity to go out there, get some things going and win a few games."
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QB-DEREK ANDERSON (on Brady Quinn still being the starter when he returns next season)
"I'll just worry about it when he comes here, when the situation arises. I obviously can't do anything about that right now."
QB-DEREK ANDERSON (on what has not gone well this season)
"Everything. Offensively, defensively, we haven't been good enough. We haven't always played together at the same time. Our defense has played well and our offense has played bad and then vice versa. So we're just trying to get a game where we can get everybody playing on the same page and we can do some good things when that happens."
QB-DEREK ANDERSON (on beating the New York Giants and showing what they can do)
"That was one of the games where we really did (play well both offensively and defensively). Everybody played together. We executed on offense, our defense played well and got the ball back for us, and the special teams made some plays. When we do that, we give ourselves a great opportunity to win."
QB-DEREK ANDERSON (on the Colts defense)
"A team you have to be very patient against. Obviously they're not going to get beat deep, play with everything in front of them. You have to run the ball effectively and be very good in the intermediate passing game."
