Romeo Crennel Saved His Cleveland Browns Football Job in April

When the Cleveland Browns went into the 2007 NFL off-season, it seemed as if the writing was already on the wall for Coach Romeo Crennel. He probably had one more season in Cleveland to do the job he was hired to do 3 seasons ago.

The Cleveland Browns were coming off yet another horrible season that had rendered them the 3^rd pick of the 2007 NFL Draft. Going into the draft, many teams thought that with that pick the Cleveland Browns would draft quarterback Brady Quinn, so that he could take over as the team's QB of the future. However, Crennel's job security was not such that he had the time to watch Quinn develop for 2 or 3 seasons.

So with that 3^rd pick, the Browns drafted Joe Thomas, an offensive tackle. Yet circumstance would have it that Brady Quinn would drop drastically in the draft, and Cleveland was able to get him late in the 1^st round at non-committal salary.

Because there was not financial pressure from the front office, Crennel was able to start his two more experienced quarterbacks. This was especially good for his defense, which had several defenses that would prefer a non-rookie quarterback being in charge of managing the clock. This was a very good move for his offense, which could be expected to do more things with quarterbacks who had been in the system for more than a couple of months.

And as luck would have it, in Week 2 of the NFL season, Crennel's #2 quarterback going into the season, Derek Anderson, had emerged as the starter and went off for 4 touchdowns and over 400 yards passing against the Cincinnati Bengals. Receiver Braylon Edwards and Tight End Kellen Winslow had 100-yard receiving days and combined for 4 touchdowns. The aerial attack, which can be partially attributed to rookie Brady Quinn not being the quarterback, had sparked a dormant team into a passing juggernaut. Over the next 6 games, the team would go 4-2, to finish Week 9 with a 5-3 record.

With the passing game being amongst the top 6 in the NFL, the Browns are actually a legitimate playoff contender. In fact, going into Week 10, they were a playoff team if the season were to end right there.