BEREA, Ohio -- Naming Colt McCoy the Browns' starting quarterback for the remainder of the season might not be a bombshell announcement. But it truly was out of character for Eric Mangini to commit to anybody at the position for longer than one game.

More times than not, Mangini has tried to keep the opponent guessing. He usually doesn't even name his quarterback for the next game until Friday. Sometimes he has gone an hour before kickoff on Sunday before revealing it.

So why the change now?

"I felt like he's earned this opportunity and I want to give it to him and I want to see how he continues to grow," Mangini said. "This is by no stretch just throwing a young guy in for the sake of throwing a young guy in. If I didn't think that he could go out and lead us and be successful doing that, then I wouldn't make this decision. But I do feel that way and I feel strongly about it."

The long-term commitment is more curious considering that McCoy has not played since suffering a high ankle sprain on his left leg Nov. 21 in Jacksonville. So McCoy is just into his fourth week of recovery from what the team is acutely aware is a four- to six-week injury.

McCoy has been anxious to return. On Thursday, he walked with a discernible, if slight, limp.

"I'm excited my foot's getting healthy and I have the opportunity to get back out there," McCoy said. "This is an injury I had never known about, heard about. It doesn't really swell up. You've got to wait till it heals. It feels pretty good."

Mangini said he made the decision after consulting with offensive coordinator Brian Daboll and quarterbacks coach Carl Smith. He said he told President Mike Holmgren his plan "but ultimately it was my decision."

True to form, McCoy deflected all questions about what a personal triumph it was for him to rise from not being in the team's plans for 2010 to practically being anointed as the franchise quarterback.

"Today's not a landmark day or anything," McCoy said. "I've got to go out and get better and I've got to go out and figure out a way to beat Cincinnati. We're taking one day at a time. I think that's the key for us the rest of the year."

Pressed to explain why he didn't consider it a personal landmark for him, McCoy said, "We were fortunate to play pretty good football when I was in there playing. But it's a team thing. I just want to get us in the right situations, go in the huddle and get us in the right plays, and help us win. Today's no landmark day."

Holmgren, who personally hand-picked the Browns' quarterback roster this season, planned for McCoy to "redshirt" -- or sit out -- his rookie year because he did not want him to carry the pressure of the team's hopes immediately. But those plans were ditched when Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace each suffered high ankle sprains by the fifth game of the season.

McCoy made his debut in the sixth game at Pittsburgh. He not only survived the brutal baptism, but impressed everyone into believing he could handle more. McCoy won his next start against defending league champion New Orleans in the loud Superdome and then won again the following week in his home debut against New England. The Saints (6-0) and Patriots (5-0) have not lost since.

McCoy's win streak was snapped in an overtime loss to the New York Jets, and then he lost the next week in Jacksonville when the offense squandered seven defensive turnovers. In McCoy's five starts, he threw three touchdowns and three interceptions, and was sacked 15 times. His passer rating was 85.3.

"You look at the games that he played and the environments that he had to play in from the start of his experience -- about as hard as you can get in terms of challenges, variation, disguise, environment -- so he pulled up well," Mangini said.

Mangini would not announce who would slide into the No. 2 role -- deposed starter Delhomme or Wallace. Wallace's skill-set and ability to be used in a Wildcat role is presumed to give him the advantage of being active on game day with Delhomme dropping to the No. 3 emergency role.

Delhomme has been McCoy's unofficial mentor. McCoy car-pools with Delhomme every day to work.

"Colt is incredibly lucky to have someone like him in the building at this part of his career because you can't ask for a better team player than Jake Delhomme," Mangini said.

McCoy called Delhomme "the definition of a pro. I can't say enough about him. I know he's going to help me the rest of year and I hope he's here forever."

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If McCoy is healthy enough to maintain the position for the remaining three games, he can allay any concerns about arm strength and whether he can navigate the inclement weather conditions expected ahead.

Holmgren said to The Plain Dealer two weeks ago that questions about McCoy's arm strength are "valid," but he was not overly concerned because of his good accuracy.

"I've played in a few bad weather games in college. Not a lot," McCoy said. "I think that's more of a mentality more than anything else."

Pressed a second time about needing to prove he could win in bad weather, he said, "I guess we'll find out, won't we?"