Red Right 88

Well … Yeah, that’s the Idea

Browns quarterback Seneca Wallace offered his opinion Wednesday regarding who should be the Browns starting quarterback coming out of the bye and for the rest of the season:

“At the end of the day, it comes down to the coaches,” Wallace told The Plain Dealer. “Whoever’s doing the job the best, moving the team, scoring points, making the right decisions, then that should be the guy.”

“This isn’t college,” Wallace also said. “We don’t switch quarterbacks in and out. I think when it comes down to rhythm and gelling together, when you have a quarterback in for one week and then the next week it’s somebody else, that’s not a good situation. You want a guy that’s gonna be in there, be able to move the team and continue to do that week to week.”

Well, obviously you want the player who gives you the best chance to win playing at each position. No argument there. Not really sure why this is becoming an issue, especially during the bye week, but there you go.

The thing is, the person who fits the criteria that Wallace laid out is Wallace himself. Consider that in seven games so far this season:

• The offense has only scored more than 17 points once – when the Browns put up 23 on Cincinnati with Wallace at quarterback.
• Wallace has led seven touchdown drives this year; Jake Delhomme and Colt McCoy have led two each; albeit in fewer games.
• Of Wallace’s seven touchdown drives, five have been longer than 70 yards, a sign that he can keep drives going; Delhomme has no drives longer than 70 yards and McCoy has one.
• Finally, for what it is worth, Wallace has a quarterback rating of 88.5, McCoy is at 76.5 and Delhomme is at 48.2.

So while it’s been established that the best course of action for the Browns is to return McCoy to the bench once Wallace and/or Delhomme are healthy, it may not be in the team’s best interests to automatically return Delhomme to the starter’s role.

Delhomme looked nice in the preseason, but that was a long time ago and against defenses that more often than not may have not been playing at 100 percent. Plus he’s a 35-year-old player coming off two injuries to his ankle.

But you have to weigh that against the fact that Wallace is a career backup for a reason.

Luckily the Browns have some time as they don’t have a game this week. And, for the most part, the coaching staff has done a much better job this year dealing with personnel decisions.

So, for now, we’re confident that the team will make the right choice when they start preparing next week to face New England.