Cleveland ? On a day when the Browns offensive line did not surrender a sack, Trent Dilfer somehow passed himself off as a wounded party.

The Miami Dolphins sustained several scary injuries Sunday, but it was Dilfer who went public with a bruised ego.

This could only happen to the Browns. The franchise supplies its best all-around team effort of the season in a 22-0 victory and the quarterback uses his postgame news conference to grouse about playing time.

Dilfer did not take his ball and go home. He handed it to understudy Charlie Frye on the field before telling reporters minutes later that he didn’t appreciate the fact that Frye was rotated into the game in the first and second half.

Oh, well, it’s not like the quarterback is supposed to put the team’s interests ahead of his own.

“I’ve never been a part of it (a quarterback rotation),” said Dilfer, who was 11-of-18 for 137 yards and a touchdown. “I’m not going to comment a lot on it, but it makes my job a lot harder and I disagree with it. But at the same time, I came here to win football games and give this franchise everything that I have.

“I look myself in the mirror and know that I’m doing that and nothing will change that. And I will not change one bit professionally, and I’ll support whatever decisions are made wholeheartedly.

“But I’m not going to stand up here and say that I agree with it. If you’ve ever played quarterback in this league, which nobody in this room has, rhythm is one of the biggest parts of it.”

Dilfer makes a valid point about rotating quarterbacks, especially given that the Browns had a 9-0 lead when Frye was first inserted.

But hasn’t Dilfer had 10 weeks, not counting preseason, to find his groove? It’s not there.

The Browns are 4-6. They are as far removed from the playoff picture as the Dolphins’ Sage Rosenfels should be from his next NFL start.

The organization has every right to tinker. And it’s starting to experiment not because the media thinks Frye is the better option or because fans favor the homegrown backup.

The Browns are giving Frye a shot because Dilfer’s subpar performance warrants it. Coach Romeo Crennel and general manager Phil Savage have been patient. They didn’t want to burn Frye’s red shirt.

But how much longer did Dilfer expect them to stand idle as he missed open receivers the way he did last week with Braylon Edwards in Pittsburgh and again Sunday as he overthrew Antonio Bryant in the end zone?

Dilfer went off the deep end. The veteran overreacted to media queries on a day when he simply should have celebrated all things team.

He questioned his coach’s decision making. He threatened to walk out of a news conference after being asked if he expected the rotation to continue. Playing quarterback for the Browns is hard enough without making such unforced errors.

Dilfer is no longer a 22-year-old, first-round draft pick. He isn’t the future. He’s a proud transitional quarterback who seems to sense his last chance as a starter slipping away.

He did a class thing by giving Frye that ball and ruined it by figuratively trying to take it back. The duality of the moment was quite sad.