Browns' Crennel still fighting; Quinn punched by teammate?

BEREA, Ohio -- Down to perhaps his final days as Cleveland's coach, Romeo Crennel is still fighting for his job.

The Browns are swinging, too -- at each other.

With his fate to be decided by owner Randy Lerner in the next few weeks, Crennel said Monday he believes he can make his team into winners again. The Browns, who went 10-6 last season, dropped their fifth consecutive game on Sunday, an embarrassing 14-0 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.

Cleveland failed to score an offensive touchdown for the fifth game in a row, a disturbing drought that now spans more than one month, nearly 21 quarters and 315 minutes of action.

"I think that if given the chance, I can turn it around," said Crennel, 24-39 in Cleveland since 2005. "We won 10 last year, so I feel like we can win 10 again or win more. That's not in my hands, that's not in my control. All I can do is make a case for myself and say that, given the chance, I would be able to get it turned around."

Lerner will evaluate Crennel and general manager Phil Savage once Cleveland's disappointing season -- which unraveled in an ugly succession of injuries, excruciating losses, missed tackles and off-field controversy -- mercifully ends Sunday when the Browns (4-11) visit the rival Pittsburgh Steelers.

And as he began what could be his last week in Cleveland, Crennel had to address a physical altercation that took place last week between quarterback Brady Quinn and defensive end Shaun Smith.

According to WKYC-TV's Jim Donovan, who is also the team's play-by-play radio announcer, Smith punched Quinn in the face following a heated verbal exchange inside the team's weight room. Browns tight end Darnell Dinkins confirmed the fight during a radio interview on WQAL, saying Quinn's face was marked.

Quinn is out for the season following surgery on a broken finger. Smith, who has been slowed by a calf injury, did not play in Sunday's game. Crennel said Smith, known as the team's biggest trash talker, was inactive because of a coaches' decision

Crennel refused to comment directly on the Smith-Quinn flare-up.

"I never talk about family business," Crennel said. "I haven't talked about family business since I've been here. So I'm not going to address it at this point or start talking about it. If it happened, it stays in house."

Crennel said conflicts among teammates are not uncommon, especially in a season as frustrating as the one the Browns are enduring.

"In a family you always have some disagreements and they get handled within the family," Crennel said. "I've got one brother and three sisters. When we were growing up we had altercations. You deal with them and you move on. That doesn't mean I dislike my brother or I dislike my sisters.