Seneca Wallace says the Browns should pick a quarterback and stay with him, and he wants it to be him.
Seneca Wallace believes it will be soon time for Eric Mangini and the Browns to announce who is the starting quarterback when all three QBs are healthy. "We have to get a guy in there who runs the offense the best and continue to score points, and weâll win the games," he said on Wednesday.BEREA, Ohio -- The boot came off his injured right ankle. Now it appears that Seneca Wallace is taking the gloves off, as well.
As the Browns reach their bye weekend with questions about the future of their quarterback position, Wallace stated his case Wednesday to be the starter when the team returns to prepare for the New England Patriots.
Wallace isn't demanding anything. But he feels he made a strong statement for keeping the job before he suffered a high ankle sprain in the first half of the Atlanta game.
"Yeah, I feel that way," Wallace said. "At the end of the day, it comes down to the coaches. Whoever's doing the job the best, moving the team, scoring points, making the right decisions, then that should be the guy."
Wallace said the offense started coming around in his last two starts against Cincinnati and Atlanta.
"That was probably the best I've felt," Wallace said. "It's a learning experience each game I step out there. We're all still trying to figure it out. The Cincinnati and Atlanta games, things started feeling a lot smoother. Things started clicking. The offensive coordinator was calling good plays at the right time, and we had it going. Unfortunately I came down with an injury."
The Browns were 1-3 in Wallace's four starts. His 88.5 passer rating and 4-to-2 touchdown-to-interception ratio are the best of the team's quarterbacks.
Jake Delhomme, still not fully recovered from his own high ankle sprain, hobbled through the remainder of the Atlanta game in relief of Wallace and aggravated his injury. Those occurrences opened the door for rookie Colt McCoy, who now has made his own case for keeping the job in fairly impressive road performances in Pittsburgh and New Orleans.
Coach Eric Mangini said he would pick his starting quarterback based on who he believes gives the team the best chance against the upcoming opponent.
Wallace said he "threw away" the protective boot he wore for two weeks and should be ready to practice Wednesday when preparations for the New England game intensify. He believes the team will only suffer if it continues to play musical quarterbacks.
"It comes down to Coach's decision," he said. "I can't stand here and say this guy's gonna be the starter. I don't know. This whole thing, the last couple years around here, it seems like it's been quarterback by committee, so who knows? We have to get a guy in there who runs the offense the best and continue to score points, and we'll win the games."
That's what Wallace was used to in Seattle, where he served as Matt Hasselbeck's backup on the team formerly coached by Browns President Mike Holmgren.
"This isn't college," Wallace 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."
This topic will intensify when the Browns return from their bye. By then, we will know more about the status of Delhomme, who said after the New Orleans game that he doesn't want to return until his ankle "is right."
An interested observer of this situation is left tackle Joe Thomas, an offensive co-captain with Delhomme. He believes that Delhomme will return to the starting spot when healthy.
"All three have made a real good case for himself," Thomas said. "It's a lot better than the situation we were in last year when we couldn't find one who could play. This year it's like we have three guys who can play. So I don't think we can go wrong."
Thomas has never missed a snap in his 53 games as the Browns' left tackle. In that time he has blocked for eight starting quarterbacks.
"It'll be nice to, hopefully, some day have a starter for a long time," he said. "I think we're getting closer [to that]."
Montario sighting: Rookie running back Montario Hardesty reported his surgery on his right ACL was done five weeks ago by noted sports surgeon Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala.
Hardesty said his early rehab is coming along "really good." He said he'll revisit Andrews in a couple of weeks to get a better idea of the timetable for his return. He expects to be fully ready for the 2011 training camp.
Take a bow: Linebacker David Bowens was named AFC defensive player of the week for his two interception returns for touchdowns in the New Orleans game. It is the first such award of Bowens' career, coming in his 159th career game.
"It's a tremendous honor to get something like that, and to share it with this group of guys makes it even more special," said Bowens, 33.
Running back carousel: Most people feel that Peyton Hillis' hard-running style demands a capable backup to give him some reps off during games. When that time comes, will it be Mike Bell or the newest running back to jump on board, Thomas Clayton?
In two games since arriving via a trade with the Eagles, Bell has seven carries for a net of zero yards. His longest run is five yards. Before the Browns made the trade with Philadelphia, which sent Jerome Harrison packing, Clayton was on the Browns' practice squad getting reps with the first-team offense at practice.
The Patriots signed Clayton away and then waived him last weekend, with the intention of re-signing him this week. But when the Browns offered Clayton a contract, he took it.
"There's just a certain level of comfort that I feel here prior to leaving, and I was welcomed back," Clayton said. "The relationships here ... not to mention the playbook is something I'm real familiar with. It's pretty much identical to what I played with in San Francisco, believe it or not."
Clayton suffered an ACL tear in the 49ers' 2009 preseason and spent that year on injured reserve.
He said of his style, "I do a little bit of everything. I like to rely on my vision, my patience, my speed. I have good-enough size to run between the tackles and get those short, hard yards, too."
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