Rodgers effective; Browns QBs Anderson, Quinn fail to impress in Green Bay’s 17-0 win

Rodgers effective; Browns QBs fail to impress

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson got their first game action under new Browns coach Eric Mangini. Both could take some pointers from Aaron Rodgers.

Rodgers directed two long touchdown drives before departing, and Green Bay’s new 3-4 defense gave Quinn and Anderson fits in the Packers’ 17-0 win over the Cleveland Browns in their exhibition opener Saturday night.

Quinn was better than Anderson, though both threw interceptions as Cleveland looked far away from improving on last year’s 4-12 mark, committing four turnovers and seven penalties.

Rodgers went 5 of 10 for 102 yards and completed a 53-yard TD pass to Donald Driver on the opening drive. Driver initially looked over his left shoulder on the long third-down pass, then swiveled right to catch the ball in stride past safety Abram Elam, who was late rotating over on the play.

Rodgers followed it with an 11-play drive that included a fourth-and-5 conversion on a defensive holding penalty and was capped by Ryan Grant’s 2-yard TD run.

While Cleveland’s quarterbacks are battling for the starter’s role, neither did much against the Packers new scheme installed by defensive coordinator Dom Capers — even with top cornerbacks Charles Woodson and Al Harris out.

Mangini didn’t tip his hand that Quinn would start until about an hour before kickoff. That mattered little to the Packers, coming off a 6-10 season. They blitzed often, holding Quinn to 7 of 11 for 68 yards in two drives. Anderson didn’t complete either pass he attempted over his two short series.

While the Packers made a few defensive mistakes, the pressure more than made up for it.

Aaron Kampman, converting to linebacker from end and forced to play more pass coverage, watched Quinn zip one to receiver Mike Furrey between him and linebacker Brady Poppinga on Cleveland’s opening drive.

But he slammed Quinn to the ground moments later when no one picked up his rush from the right side.

Kampman got his hands on Anderson, too, breaking through and grabbing enough of Anderson’s throwing arm on his first atttempt to disrupt the play. Anderson’s second pass on his next drive was lobbed up for grabs after getting more pressure by Desmond Bishop and Tramon Williams intercepted it.

Quinn completed four straight passes in the 2-minute offense just before the half to move the Browns to the Packers 6 before Braylon Edwards dropped a would-be TD pass. On the next play, Quinn threw behind Edwards and safety Anthony Smith picked it off.