BEREA, Ohio -- Seven months into the controversy, just one week into training camp, the two men competing for the Cleveland Browns' starting quarterback job suggested here Friday afternoon that they are about ready for the matter to be resolved.

One way or another.

"I just want to get this whole thing over with," acknowledged Tim Couch, the four-year starter, but now in a battle with career journeyman Kelly Holcomb for the top job. "I just want to know if I'm the guy or not, so we can get this thing going, so we can get on with it. . . . (But) you just try to stay patient and not get too frustrated."

But it was obvious Friday, as both Couch and Holcomb offered their strongest insights yet into the competition, that frustration and uncertainty have become factors in the head-to-head battle. Neither player was very sharp Friday in combined workout sessions with the Buffalo Bills, a team the Browns will meet in a live scrimmage Saturday morning.

The prevailing wisdom is that Couch, the top overall pick in the 1999 draft, and a player in whom the Browns have invested millions, will get the nod if the competition is close. But there is also a strong perception that some players favor Holcomb, whose resume includes just three regular-season starts, and who served as the backup to Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning before signing with the Browns in 2001.

Some veteran teammates concurred; the sooner the decision is made, the better the Browns will be.

Even one former Browns player, tight end Mark Campbell, now a backup for the Bills, weighed in with an opinion. Campbell noted that the tension over the quarterback spot began early in the offseason, right after Holcomb threw for 429 yards in a Jan. 5 playoff loss at Pittsburgh, and has persisted.

Said Campbell: "Knowing both those (quarterbacks), I'm sure it's a drain on them. You just hope they get it over with, for the sake of the team."

While neither candidate figures to blink anytime soon in the figurative stare-down, each may grow bleary-eyed reading the reams of copy generated by one of several quarterback battles being waged across the league. Cleveland is considered a playoff contender and the decision between Couch and Holcomb is a critical one.

Holcomb, in fact, referred to the incessant interrogation surrounding the competition as "monotonous," and agreed he will be relieved when a decision is made by coach Butch Davis, even if he doesn't win the No. 1 spot on the depth chart.

Davis has said that he will choose a starter by the third preseason game, on Aug. 23 at Detroit, but told ESPN.com on Friday a decision could come sooner. The third game, he said, is the "drop-dead point," the latest date at which he will identify the starter. Davis assessed Friday that the competition remains a close one. He also downplayed the angst his quarterbacks claimed they are experiencing.

"I think their frustration," Davis said, "has not so much to do with the process as it does the annoyance of having to deal with the external things."

Translation: Holcomb and Couch are weary of the media scrutiny, of having to answer the same repetitious questions, and of having the story continue as a daily headline.

"One of my strengths, at every level I ever played, is my competitiveness," Holcomb said. "But sooner or later, it gets to a point where everyone wants some answers. If it not me (as the starter), that means I didn't do the things I had to do to win the job."