DaytonDailyNews.com

CLEVELAND — Charlie Frye's days as the Cleveland Browns starting quarterback are over — that's what I think.

And how can they not be after the Browns' embarrassing debacle in Sunday's season opener — a 34-7 flop against the rival Pittsburgh Steelers that saw an unglued Frye get yanked with 6:34 left in the second quarter.

By then, he'd been sacked five times, was regularly missing his receivers, had connected nicely with a Pittsburgh defender for an interception and was being booed at every turn.

Too bad because he's a good guy with a great story. Kid grows up in Willard — near Ben Roethlisberger's Findlay — loved the Browns and had a Bernie Kosar poster on

his wall. But a kid's dreams and the reality of the NFL usually are two different things, and the Browns seem to know that.

They showed no confidence in Frye on Sunday, just as they didn't in the preseason when, behind closed doors, front-office brass was saying the starting quarterback's job was Derek Anderson's to lose.

And Anderson lost it, so it went back to Frye, who'd won six of his 18 starts the previous two seasons.

When trouble hit Sunday, the Browns flip-flopped back to Anderson but found nothing had changed since preseason. He'll likely be the starter when the Cincinnati Bengals come in here Sunday, but he shouldn't be.

If it was up to the fans — who started chanting "Brady ... Brady" in the second quarter — rookie Brady Quinn would get the nod.

I agree with them and privately I believe many Browns players do, too. But head coach Romeo Crennel tried to spin it otherwise Sunday when asked if he'd thought about going to Quinn:

"No ... because he's a kid and the game was out of reach. What was I going to do, put him in there and throw him to the dogs? I didn't feel I should do that to him. It wouldn't be very good for him."

The Browns remember what happened when they tossed rookie Tim Couch into the fire his rookie season. He was battered and beaten and within a few years was out of the league.

But Quinn is no Couch, a fragile persona who couldn't take criticism. Sure it's safer to keep Quinn on the sidelines for a season — that worked for Carson Palmer and Tom Brady — but Roethlisberger won as a rookie because he was asked to be just one cog in an already developed system.

And that's what was supposed to be happening in Cleveland, too. Since last season, the Browns have gotten a new offensive coordinator, new offensive

assistants, a new line and in Jamal Lewis, a new running back.

Maybe it was all those expectations that brought an angered Browns owner Randy Lerner to the dressing room afterward.

Meanwhile, Frye dressed silently and spoke only briefly to the press.

Asked what he'd been thinking as he stood on the sideline, he squared his jaw:

"I was just trying to see things so when DA (Anderson) came off the field, I could help him. I wasn't gonna be bitter like that. I'm just like the rest of the guys. I want to do what I can to change this."

Sad as it is to say, him staying on the sidelines is a first step.

Related: Browns have no explanation in 8th straight loss to Steelers

Photos: Browns vs. Steelers