There is no mystery, no subterfuge, no suspense and no doubt now about the identity of the Cleveland Browns' starting quarterback for Sunday's game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
With Charlie Frye still nursing a deep bone bruise to his right wrist, and unable to practice on a consistent basis since suffering the injury on Dec. 3, coach Romeo Crennel has decided second-year backup Derek Anderson will make a third straight start for the Browns on Sunday.
Crennel stopped short of saying that Anderson, who has played well in two starts and one extended relief appearance, will also start the New Year's Eve season finale against Houston. There is still some hope that Frye, who started the first dozen games of the season, will be available for the final game, but the wrist injury has been slow to respond to treatment over the past two weeks.
Despite suspicions that the wrist injury is worse than acknowledged by team officials, Crennel insisted it is just a deep bone bruise and that Frye will not require offseason surgery.
Anderson had not thrown a regular-season pass until three weeks ago, when he relieved the injured Frye against the Kansas City Chiefs. He completed 12 of 21 passes for 171 yards, with two touchdown passes and one interception, in that Dec. 3 overtime victory against the Chiefs.
The former Oregon State star then lost the first two starts of his career, at Pittsburgh on Dec. 7 and at Baltimore last Sunday, but performed well in both outings. For the season, Anderson has completed 56 of 90 passes for 670 yards, with five touchdown passes, four interceptions and passer rating of 85.0.
"Frye really hasn't thrown in a couple of weeks," Crennel said. "I can't sit here and say he's going to be able to throw effectively [after such a hiatus]. It might be too much pressure on Charlie to be expected to perform at a high level after he hasn't thrown in so long."
Frye has not been able to practice the past three weeks and has experienced problems even gripping the ball. While some of the swelling in his wrist has subsided, there is still some discomfort. In his 12 starts, Frye completed 227 of 358 passes for 2,267 yards, with 10 touchdown passes and 16 interceptions, for a passer rating of 72.0.
Crennel this week backed off earlier comments that Frye might have to re-earn his starting job when he is healthy. He indicated that Frye remains the No. 1 quarterback looking to the future. Still, there remains some thought that Anderson, who has been poised and confident in his first two starts, could challenge for the starting job in camp next summer.
Anderson, 23, was chosen by the Baltimore Ravens in the sixth round of the 2005 draft. He was released in September last year, with the intention of re-signing him to the practice squad. But Browns general manager Phil Savage, who formerly worked for the Ravens, claimed Anderson on waivers.
He did not play at all in 2005, but Anderson moved ahead of Ken Dorsey for the primary backup job to Frye this season.
Len Pasquarelli is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com. To check out Len's chat archive, click here
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