By WALTER DOERSCHUK
Press-News Sports Columnist
The start of the 2010 Cleveland Browns campaign is underway.
And quite frankly, its not Browns' season unless your talking quarterbacks.
Quarterback discussions have already been in full throttle and in part II of our Press-News series, quarterbacks will certainly come up in our Browns preview along with some other items.
Gone are the days of quarterbacks Tim Couch, Ty Detmer, Spurgeon Wynn, Doug Pederson, Kelly Holcomb, Jeff Garcia, Trent Dilfer, Charlie Frye, Derek Anderson, Brady Quinn... catch my drift? The Browns have had many sub-par quarterbacks since their return in 1999.
Take a breath now as Jake Delhomme, who's been to a Super Bowl, comes in to provide solid leadership. You would think we would be settled on the quarterback issue this season, right? Well, maybe not. Questions still remain.
Is Delhomme done? Will his arm hold up? Can he limit his interceptions? Will Seneca Wallace get playing time? Will Josh Cribbs take a lot of snaps in the Wildcat?
Thus far, both Delhomme and Wallace have looked better than Anderson and Quinn did the first part of last year.
Problems, however, remain at almost every other position.
The receiving corps has been solid thus far, but it still has a long way to go. There is not really a deep threat for Delhomme to throw downfield and make defenses think about double coverage.
The Browns appear to be a running team even though some think Mike Holmgren brought his version of the west coast offenses. Jerome Harrison and Peyton Hillis have been a nice 1-2 punch this preseason and it appears there will be some nice depth at running back.
However, it may not take long for opposing defenses to figure out they can put "eight in the box" and force the Browns to pass.
On Cleveland's defense, Scott Fujita, Chris Gocong and Sheldon Brown are veterans who have a winning background. But the defense still lacks playmakers. TJ Ward has potential to be a great playmaker, but he's only played two preseason games.
Even the Special Teams, which has been the Browns' strength, is in trouble as punter Dave Zastudil is out after having season ending surgery.
The bottom line is the Browns will be a better football team than last year, but it's hard to imagine they can get any more than seven wins. It will take some time for Holmgren, Tom Heckert and Mangini to rebuild, but it looks like Browns fans are okay with that.
Yes, the Browns have essentially been building and rebuilding since 1999 (except for maybe two years) but it appears they might be climbing their way out of the cellar.
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