Anderson, Quinn do their best to keep Mangini’s secret about Browns starting quarterback

Anderson, Quinn do best to keep Mangini’s secret

BEREA, Ohio — The mystery about Cleveland’s starting quarterback has been solved — sort of.

Browns coach Eric Mangini informed Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson of his decision during a meeting on Tuesday night, and both quarterbacks did their best to keep the secret as the team prepared for Sunday’s opener against the Minnesota Vikings.

After handling a few awkward questions, Anderson, who met with reporters first on Wednesday, may have given away Mangini’s choice when he said “the rest of us have to go about our regular preparations.”

Quinn only confirmed he and Anderson had met with Mangini.

“He talked to us about it, but he hasn’t told us anything about a final decision for us,” Quinn said.

Mangini feels keeping his starter a secret will give his team a competitive advantage. He said both players handled the decision well.

“They both took it exactly the way I expected them to take it — as pros, as good teammates,” Mangini said. “It was really not surprising.”

Mangini did not make a formal announcement to the team.

“I think they’ll be able to figure it out,” he said.

After stretching, Quinn worked with the running backs and Anderson threw to the wide receivers during the 30 minutes of practice open to the media. Reporters were asked to leave before the team began 11-on-11 drills.

Mangini doesn’t feel that asking his players to keep the Vikings — and everyone else — guessing the identity of Cleveland’s starter puts them in a difficult situation.

“I don’t think anybody is in an awkward spot of trying to maintain a competitive advantage,” Mangini said. “We all do that, and that’s all of our goals, trying to do everything we need to do to win the game on Sunday.”

The competition between Anderson, a Pro Bowler in 2007, and Quinn, the former Notre Dame star and first-round pick, went down to the wire. They finished with similar statistics, but Quinn may have gotten the nod after completing 11 of 15 passes and throwing a touchdown in the third exhibition game against Tennessee.

Mangini kept both players out of last week’s preseason finale in Chicago.

The Browns are the only team in the league that hasn’t announced its Week 1 starting quarterback.