On Sunday, Giants quarterback Eli Manning will end a streak of 210 consecutive starts, after coach Ben McAdoo decided to replace Manning with Geno Smith. During that extraordinary streak, every other team has had to replace its quarterback at least twice.
But when we talk about stability at the quarterback position, the most ridiculous comparison is always to the Browns, who never can find a quarterback and stick with him. And while the Giants have started just one quarterback over the last 210 games of regular-season football, the Browns have started a preposterous 24.
Manning’s streak began on November 21, 2004, when he was called upon to start in place of the struggling Kurt Warner. On that day the Browns started Jeff Garcia at quarterback in a 10-7 loss to the Jets. Garcia was hurt in that game and replaced by Kelly Holcomb, who would start the next week. Holcomb himself started only one week before he was replaced by Luke McCown. So just three games into Manning’s streak, the Browns had already started three different quarterbacks.
It didn’t get much better after that. Here’s the full list of quarterbacks who have started for the Browns during the same time that the Giants have started only one quarterback: Jeff Garcia, Kelly Holcomb, Luke McCown, Trent Dilfer, Charlie Frye, Derek Anderson, Ken Dorsey, Brady Quinn, Bruce Gradkowski, Colt McCoy, Jake Delhomme, Seneca Wallace, Brandon Weeden, Thaddeus Lewis, Jason Campbell, Brian Hoyer, Johnny Manziel, Connor Shaw, Josh McCown, Austin Davis, Robert Griffin III, Cody Kessler, DeShone Kizer, Kevin Hogan.
On Sunday, Kizer will make his sixth consecutive start, while Smith will start his first game for a Giants team that also plans to give rookie Davis Webb some playing time this year, and may go shopping for a new quarterback next year. Finally, the Browns and Giants are on similar footing at the quarterback position.