BEREA, Ohio — Considering coach Eric Mangini will dissect every fact to decide the winner of the Cleveland Browns’ quarterback competition, the training camp showdown between Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson actually began Monday.

That’s when the two reported to Berea, four days before the rest of the Browns’ veterans. Only rookies, injured players and staff members roamed the halls of the remodeled team headquarters.
Anderson said he felt like he had been here a long time before the first practice at 8:45 Saturday morning. But he conceded that he felt the same excitement, the same butterflies as he did last year when he was the incumbent, coming off his first Pro Bowl appearance.
“Yeah, shoot, I got over here at like 6:30 this morning,” Anderson said.
League analysts expect the winner will be Quinn, the first-round pick in 2007 from Notre Dame who made only three starts last year before fracturing a finger on his throwing hand. In seven-on-seven and team drills in the morning session, Quinn took the snaps with the first team, just as he did in minicamp.
But Mangini said that both begin in a dead heat and that reps will be balanced “in terms of any angle you can look at.” He will conduct an equal-opportunity competition, which means Quinn and Anderson will get the same amount of reps with the first team and in specific drills such as short yardage, two-minute and red zone.
Mangini said his decision will be based on whoever gives the team the best chance to win. Next on the evaluation list will be “huddle presence, ability to operate the offense, efficiency and ability to understand situations.” He has given no timetable for making his choice.
Although confident, Quinn did not arrive with a big head.
Asked if this is his year, he said: “I’m not going to speculate at this point. My biggest thing right now is my confidence and how I’m playing and how I’m feeling. My body feels great. It’s the best it’s ever felt going into a camp. I’m extremely comfortable with the offense. So I just have to string together some good practices and get us ready for our first preseason game at Green Bay. I’ve got some payback there.”
Quinn’s brother-in-law, linebacker A.J. Hawk, starts for the Packers, and Hawk’s Ohio State Buckeyes defeated Quinn’s Fighting Irish 34-20 in the Fiesta Bowl after the 2005 season.
Beginning his fifth pro season and 13-14 as a starter, Anderson could feel a sense of deja vu. He lost out in a training camp competition with Charlie Frye in 2007, only to see Frye traded after a disastrous opener. Anderson went 10-5 as the team fell one game short of the playoffs.
But Anderson isn’t agonizing over every snap this time.
“It’s camp. I’m glad to be back, and it’s great to see the guys,” he said. “As far as everything else goes, it’s going to play out how it’s going to play out. I don’t want to come here every day and talk, ’Is it this? Is it that?’ I threw a pick today, big deal. Robert (Royal) and I had a miscommunication. I don’t want to deal with it like that. I want to play. I want to have fun. I want to watch this team progress and whoever plays best is going to play.
“My role is going to be determined and I’ll embrace whatever it is.”
In seven-on-seven, Anderson’s throw to tight end Royal was picked off by safety Mike Adams. But Anderson burned Adams on the next play, tossing a touchdown bomb to receiver Syndric Steptoe.
During team drills, Anderson hit rookie Brian Robiskie for another score.
“It was just a crossing pattern and D.A. made a great read and a great throw,” Robiskie said. “I was trying to catch it and do what I could with it.”
Quinn, meanwhile, went without a touchdown in the morning session. But he wasn’t stressing about that, either.
“There is always competition, whether teams want to admit it or not,” Quinn said. “A quarterback has a couple bad games, all of a sudden in the middle of the season a guy is going in. If everyone just focuses on themselves and just tries to be the best they can, things are going to take care of themselves.”