Derek Anderson stood in the middle of the media huddle in the Cleveland Browns' locker room, then stepped aside for Brady Quinn.

Perhaps for good.

Citing a league source, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported Wednesday that Browns coach Eric Mangini chose Quinn to be his starting quarterback. NFL Network's Jason La Canfora confirmed the report.

Earlier in the day, Quinn and Anderson were forced to answer questions about their recently completed competition, which carried through training camp and the preseason but whose winner Mangini wouldn't publicly reveal.

Anderson was asked if it would be difficult to keep Mangini's choice a secret until Sunday's season opener against the Minnesota Vikings.

"No," Anderson said, "because after this next two minutes are over, I'm not going to be talking to you guys. It's pretty easy. Obviously, the rest of us have to go about our regular preparations and continue to do what we always do and just not talk to our families."

By "the rest of us," Anderson seemed to mean the Browns' backups, a group he belongs to once again.

Mangini met with his quarterbacks Tuesday night, told them who would start and explained the reasons for his decision. The coach said both players handled the situation with class.

"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."

Quinn was favored to win the job, and although it's now his, the former first-round draft pick is playing along with Mangini's wishes to guard his secret and keep the Vikings guessing.

Anderson vs. Quinn

Derek Anderson seemingly came out of nowhere as the Browns' starting QB in 2007 and made the Pro Bowl. But after returning to mediocrity last season, Anderson found himself in a competition with Brady Quinn, who has just three NFL starts under his belt. Below are both players' 2008 stats:

Derek Anderson
Games/Starts: 10/9
Completion Pct.: 50.2
Passing Yards: 1,615
TD/INT: 9/8


Brady Quinn
Games/Starts: 3/3
Completion Pct.: 50.6
Passing Yards: 518
TD/INT: 2/2



» Complete head-to-head breakdown

Quinn confirmed that he and Anderson met with Mangini but said they weren't told who would take the season's first snaps from center.

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

Those seem to be carefully chosen words since Mangini said he told his quarterbacks which one would open up against the Vikings.

Mangini said he didn't feel the need to make an announcement to Cleveland's other players.

"I think they'll be able to figure it out," he said.

It seems everyone is figuring it out. Buffalo Bills wide receiver Terrell Owens posted this on his Twitter page: "Congrats 2 Brady Quinn 4 starting job w/Cleveland Browns!!"

Vikings cornerback Antoine Winfield shrugged off Mangini's cloak-and-dagger routine.

"It doesn't make a difference to me," Winfield said. "I'm going to go home and watch film on Quinn and Anderson. It might just take me an extra half-hour at home to watch what they like to do, but nah, it doesn't bother me. I don't really pay attention to it."

In the past, quarterback controversies have divided teams -- even good ones. The Browns, who collapsed under huge expectations last season, hope to remain united as long as possible.

"We've got to stay together," running back Jamal Lewis said. "We can't really worry about that or concentrate on that. We have to concentrate on what we have to do and our job and what we're trying to accomplish no matter who's in there."

During the 30 minutes of practice open to the media, there was no way to tell if Quinn or Anderson had taken over Cleveland's offense. After stretching, Quinn worked with the running backs and Anderson threw to the wide receivers. Reporters were asked to leave before the team began 11-on-11 drills.

Mangini doesn't believe that asking his players to keep the Vikings -- and everyone else -- guessing about the identity of the Browns' starting quarterback 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 went down to the wire. They finished with similar statistics, but Quinn might have received the nod because he completed 11 of 15 passes and threw for a touchdown against the Tennessee Titans in the third preseason game.

Mangini kept both players out of last week's preseason finale against the Bears in Chicago.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.