One day after Jeff Garcia told a Cleveland radio station that he lobbied the Browns for a chance to soothe their troubles under center, the 43-year-old former quarterback made it clear he wasn't entirely kidding.
"That fire still burns," Garcia told "NFL AM" on Wednesday. "I'm also realistic, though. I'm 43 years old. Who's gonna want a 40-plus-year-old quarterback to come back and play for them?"
The Browns flashed on Garcia's radar after Brian Hoyer went down with a torn ACL in Week 5. Garcia's wife, Carmella DeCesare, is a Cleveland native and prodded her husband to give the Browns a call. He picked up the phone because, well, why not?
"I still do have the tools to be able step in and compete," said Garcia, who regularly appears twice a week on NFL Network's "NFL AM." "And I think that ... competitive spirit that burns within me, that has taken me through 18 years of playing the game, that just doesn't fade away."
Said Garcia: "Maybe I'm teasing myself, or maybe it's just one of those things where I haven't completely left the game, but that's why I played for so long ... and it's hard to put that fire out."
Cleveland's front office hasn't taken the bait, seemingly content to skim the abyss with sleep-inducing Jason Campbell at the controls. The only other option is Brandon Weeden, so the Browns, indeed, are backed into a corner.
Garcia -- we promise -- isn't the answer to their woes.
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