After 2 Games, Brady's No Mighty Quinn

BEREA, Ohio -- Brady Quinn's taking hits from all sides.

His mom has been as rough as a blitzing linebacker on her son. Dad hasn't been any easier. Uncles, close friends and even his former coach, Notre Dame's Charlie Weis, all have piled on Cleveland's starting quarterback, who has struggled during two lopsided losses.

If Quinn was looking for a hug, he approached the wrong group.

"They're always pretty blunt and pretty honest," he said Wednesday. "They'll always be tough about things, but that's just them. The people who are closest to you want the best for you and they're going to try to push you."

If it'll help the Browns, perhaps Quinn needs a shove.

Through two games, Quinn has been less than impressive while leading a Cleveland offense that has managed just one offensive touchdown - a meaningless one in garbage time against Minnesota in Week 1 - over the past eight games. He has looked nervous, unsteady and generally inept.

Quinn's 66.9 quarterback rating ranks him 28th among the league's 32 starters. He has thrown one TD pass, two interceptions and been sacked nine times. Some of those have been breakdowns by the offensive line, but Quinn admitted he has held the ball too long at times.

Mighty Quinn? Just a catchy old tune.

Clearly, the rebuilding-once-again Browns (0-2) have many more problems than Quinn, who was chosen by coach Eric Mangini over Derek Anderson as his starter following a drawn-out summer competition. But the third-year QB has yet to justify Mangini's pick or reward the faith of his many fans who have been waiting for Quinn to ride into Cleveland on a mythical white horse and rescue a wretched franchise.

To this point, he's an imperfect (No.) 10.

Quinn, who has only made five career NFL starts, feels he is making progress - albeit slow progress. While everyone has been pointing out his failings, Quinn was asked what he's done well in his first two games of 2009.

"The overall operation of the huddle," he said. "I'm getting guys in and out. I'm getting them in the right position. The checks have been pretty solid for us so far, and sometimes making a play when we have to or making a smart decision, making a more conservative play at times as well."

Conservative, radical, whatever. The Browns need someone to make any type play for an offense that has been an embarrassment. Cleveland is averaging just 234 total yards per game, dead last in the league, and exactly half as much as the No. 1 ranked New Orleans Saints are piling up each week.

The Browns' passing game is grounded. The running game is spinning its wheels.

Against Baltimore, it might shift into reverse. The Ravens are giving up a league-low 41 rushing yards per game.

Quinn needs to get in a groove.

In Sunday's 27-6 loss at Denver, several of his passes sailed high over the intended receivers. It looked as if Quinn was trying to throw the ball harder than usual, perhaps thinking he needed to fire it downfield to make the Denver secondary respect his arm.

Quinn was asked if he was trying to do too much.

"Maybe at times," he said. "There were a couple of times where I think I just didn't get my feet set in order to make a more accurate throw. I might have been pressing during those particular throws. Outside of that, though, I don't feel like I'm pressing so much. I'm just trying to take what the defense gives us and not force bad decisions."

Presumably, one of Mangini's main objectives in his first season with Cleveland is to find a quarterback for the future. On Monday, Mangini said he had no immediate plans to change quarterbacks.

Evaluating any young quarterback is difficult and Mangini has no set amount of starts before he can accurately judge Quinn.

"I don't know if there's one specific number," he said. "What I'm always looking for is progress. Whatever that number is, I'm going to continue to look for progress each week."

Is he satisfied with Quinn's progress?

"I'm not satisfied with any of our progress," he said. "The consistency needs to improve. We're all responsible for that and we all have to fix that. You can't play a half of football. You can't play three quarters of football. You can't do it. It has to be the same throughout the course of the game."

Until things improve for Quinn, he'll continue to get the heat from fans - and family.

Quinn laughed when he was asked whom he trusts to give him a fair assessment of his overall game. He checks in with Weis, who fits time into his schedule to offer advice.

And then there's mom.

"She doesn't know football that well, but she knows the difference between winning and losing and she'll always let me know that," he said.

Surely, though, she must have been mad that he was sacked four times in Denver.

"No," he said. "She always knows I'm going to be OK. She's always more upset about the overall outcome."