MERGED THREADS---DA Vs. Quinn

[PlaygroundLegend]

 

Derek Anderson Should Start For The Browns

Posted on: June 9, 2009 1:24 pm Edited on: June 9, 2009 5:39 pm Score: 186

Admit it, you’re in love. You just can’t stop thinking about him . You’ve seen his commercials, watched his press conferences, and even purchased some of his merchandise.

 

Like our King, he is one of Ohio’s native sons, with the dashing good looks and charisma to warrant coronation himself.

 

He descended from the holy grail of academic institutions, Notre Dame, and was even blessed with a recommendation from the esteemed offensive guru, Charlie Weis.

 

Admit it, you love Brady Quinn.

 

And I don’t blame you. His golden-boy image and persona represent everything good in the world of sports, and you can’t help but love him for that.

 

If left up to you, Brady Quinn would be named the starting quarterback for the Browns tomorrow, and all would be right in the dark, gloomy world of Cleveland sports. The crown prince would rightfully take his seat at the helm of this offense, and the Cleveland Browns would be a better team for it.

 

There’s only one thing standing between Quinn and his inevitable succession to the throne—a Scappoosian pocket passer named Derek Anderson.

 

Ah yes, Derek Anderson. You remember him, don’t you? He’s that clumsy 6'6" passer from Oregon State who started for the Browns in 2008. He’s the awkward quarterback with the goofy smile who seemingly wasn’t able to get the job done. With scruffy facial hair and a disheveled mop of brown hair, he’s the pauper attempting to steal the spotlight away from the publicly crowned prince Quinn.

 

Despite his outward appearance and statistical incompetence, Derek Anderson is in fact the right man for the job and should start for the Browns come opening day.

 

 

And you should love him too.

 

 

Before I get into why Anderson is the clear-cut choice for Cleveland this fall, there is a common misconception that must be cleared up immediately.

 

Read my words closely: Derek Anderson was not the reason for Cleveland’s anemic offensive production last season. Far from it. Injuries ravished the 2008 Browns like the plague—hitting virtually all facets of Cleveland’s seemingly explosive offense.

 

Preseason injuries limited wide receiver Braylon Edwards and scratched Donte' Stallworth from the season opener. Game-changing return specialist Josh Cribbs missed time with a bad ankle. A revolving door of offensive lineman created a mix-and-match group void of chemistry and lacking in talent.

 

Oh yeah, and Anderson began the season with a concussion.

 

All of these factors contributed to a Browns team that limped into their Week Four bye with a 1-3 record.

 

Once the rested Browns regained some of their key offensive personnel, they were fully able to compete with the best of the NFL. With Anderson under center, the Browns handed the 2007 World Champion New York Giants their worst loss of the season.

 

A three-point loss to Washington and a 14-point defensive meltdown against Baltimore dropped Cleveland to 3-5, costing Anderson his job and destroying what little hope the team had for rest of the season.

 

Had the circumstances been different, Derek Anderson never would have lost his job in the first place. A few timely touchdown passes (or receptions) against Pittsburgh, Washington, and Baltimore would have left Anderson, and the Browns would have been 6-2 through the halfway point of the season.

 

Now, I could sit here and pick at the schedule all day, but what’s done is done. The Browns win and lose games as a team, so it’s difficult to point toward one play as the decisive factor in a game.

 

It is difficult to make a case for what happened in the past, but it is much easier to look ahead to the future and see what needs to be done.

 

 

 

New head coach Eric Mangini must produce immediate results to ensure a successful stint in Cleveland. Browns owner Randy Lerner recently ended a turbulent three-year relationship with former GM Phil Savage and coach Romeo Crennel. The young, slightly naïve owner silently stood by with checkbook in hand as Savage spewed out more green than a Craftsman during summertime.

 

Unfortunately for Lerner, that spending never produced results, which undeniably cost both men their jobs.

 

Coming off the verge of a three-year relationship, it will be understandably hard for Randy Lerner to trust again so quickly. The easiest way for Mangini to make an impression upon a heartbroken owner is to win football games.

 

 

This is where Derek Anderson comes in.

 

Like any other position in football, real live experience is the best predictor of future success. Anderson has started 31 games compared to the four started by Brady Quinn. Anderson has thrown 43 touchdown passes in his NFL career—five fewer than the number of passes Quinn has completed to this point.

 

Although Anderson’s career completion percentage of 54.6 isn’t eye-popping, it looks much better against Quinn’s 49.5.

 

Whether you love him or hate him, Derek Anderson is a solid veteran quarterback who gives the Browns a chance to win on Sunday. Brady Quinn may be great one day—however, now is not the time to find out. Eric Mangini must show drastic improvement to win over the players and the fans, and that improvement starts with an experienced signal caller running the offense.

 

If the team remains healthy and Anderson plays within himself, the Browns will surely surprise some people.

 

They will win football games—and that’s something that everybody will love.

 

 

 

 

http://sircheeks.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/b...024142/15472029

[PlaygroundLegend]

10 bucks says Lums wrote this....

[Guest mz.]

Just wow.

 

I'd love to have offered a more insightful critique but I'm literally speechless.

[Guest ATENEARS]

I'm all for starting Anderson on Opening Day.

[pl4tinum]

Why do we have to "win now" so badly? Since when does a coach get 1 year to turn a team around? This team's been horse shit since 1999 (at the least), so a couple more years of shit with the QB the fans want isn't going to hurt.

[SoCalBrownsFan]

I love how the douchebag who wrote this POS article is named SirCheeks, it must be another moniker for Lumburgh.

[Gips]

Whether you love him or hate him, Derek Anderson is a solid veteran quarterback who gives the Browns a chance to win on Sunday

 

Sounds more like RAC to me! lol

 

I can go with whomever the regime deems is our best bet...i dont think DA in the end is a bad qb but i think BQ will be more effective out of the box in the sense of being more athletic ,spreading the ball more effectively around and making more intelligent decisions overall..both have been coached by the same subpar coaches and suffered the same coordinators inferior gameplans and i still think DA can be coached to a true probowl level but i also know BQ is smarter and learns faster so the learning timesink for either to be as good as they should be is similar...

 

And having either as a backup puts us in a decent situation going into the new season...but my money is on bq starting with a very short leash we fans and the coaching staff really need to see what he has to offer...

[Guest mz.]

Uhm... huh? Why not?

 

DA obviously needs another 30 starts to prove what he's got, or the Browns under a 1st-year coach and GM and very clearly rebuilding are in win-now mode.

 

I accept both arguments.

 

[AZBrowns]

I agree that Derek Anderson should start for the Browns in week one....

 

....if he clearly beats out Brady Quinn for the job

 

or

 

....if Quinn is injured.

 

That's all that matters.... who wins the competition.

 

These Quinn/Anderson support articles are meaningless. What happens on the field is what matters.

 

I really just don't care who starts.

[choco]

he was great when the rest of the offensive personnel were firing on all cylinders.....struggled when they struggled.

 

 

we still need to find out who quinn is though, so for that reason i disagree. but i'd much rather have DA as an alternative than a dorsey or a gradkowski.

[DieHardBrownsFan]

I'm all for starting Anderson on Opening Day.

 

Me too. Anderson is the starter. Quinn will be traded before the end of the season, probably to MN. He is way over hyped IMO. Let's go DA!

[Greythan]

Literally nothing new.

 

Same can be said about most articles that are Pro-Quinn.

 

Its hard being a die hard Browns fan: I'm consistently underwhelmed by so-called-journalists who publish a first draft email as an article. This guy introduced NOTHING in terms of content that hasn't been dissected a 1,000 times on these boards. Other than Pluto or some random gem from another writer, there's really no point in reading anything other than what is contained in this community.

[hammertime]

Me too. Anderson is the starter. Quinn will be traded before the end of the season, probably to MN. He is way over hyped IMO. Let's go DA!

 

 

Sarcasm? Trade DA and be done with it. Cancer should be removed. DA didn't choose to be a problem, but he is.

Quinn can follow but not this year at least.

[Guest Aloysius]

Once the rested Browns regained some of their key offensive personnel, they were fully able to compete with the best of the NFL. With Anderson under center, the Browns handed the 2007 World Champion New York Giants their worst loss of the season.

 

A three-point loss to Washington and a 14-point defensive meltdown against Baltimore dropped Cleveland to 3-5, costing Anderson his job and destroying what little hope the team had for rest of the season.

Sure, Derek was good in the Giants game. But he was craptastically terrible the following week against Washington. Braylon was pretty bad as well, but Derek deserves almost all of the blame for that loss.

 

Derek Anderson vs. Washington

 

It doesn't get much attention because DA didn't throw any picks and the Browns were close throughout, but the Washington game is the one that stood out for me. When your OC is trying to give you easy completions and you still badly miss your receivers, it shows that you don't have much accuracy and/or composure.

[Riffer X]

Good Lord.

 

Nothing else to say. Maybe it was the concussion still.

[Riffer X]

I AM SO TIRED OF HEARING ABOUT THAT FLUKE OF A GIANTS GAME!

 

Please someone who can break down the Xs and Os, please go back and look at that film and please tell me if you saw the same things I did. The Giants FLAT OUT Ignored every single thing every other defensive coordinator had proved worked against DA, and played a defense that fed right into what DA does well. Combine that with our defense playing one of its best games of the decade, and you get a one game fluke that gives all the DA supporters a game to hang thier hats on.

 

DA isn't the worst QB in the world. He's just not good enough for my Browns.

 

Not to mention-----The Giants were driving before Wright took it to the house. I was nervous as hell.

[Greythan]

Thanks for the link Alo. And, more importantly, thanks for the continued film work. Its awesome and makes this a better board.

 

Wow. I also remember that game and scratching my head at DA. If you watch it closely you see his problem. DA really can't throw to a spot. It just doesn't seem to compute for him.

 

His best passes are throwing to a guy already in a cut or just starting into one. Seam routes that we all remember. If the route requires a change in direction (like the out fake that Winslow makes early in that video, before turning up field) or throwing to a spot like on the swing pass (cough, JL twice?) it seems like DA just doesn't have the feel. So, once again as we know, take away the middle of the field seam routes and he really struggles.

 

Hard to watch.

[Sez.EJ]

2 words: Bengals game...

 

and now a couple more. When the season is on the line... you don't throw 3 picks to the bungholes. You light it up and crush them leaving no doubt..that's what winners do who have a seasons worth of starts under their belt. Brady deserves his season worth of starts. Derek had his chance and screwed the pooch.

 

[KardiacKid26]

Anderson had only ONE good game this season and it was against the Giants which coincidently was the Browns' best game. There's a reason why Quinn wasn't traded around draft time and he may not be mangini's "guy" but he's gonna be the starter against the Vikings.

[Legacy Fan]

Nearly forgot about the career-ender he threw to Cribbs (6:40 in Al's vid). I distinctly remember wanting to leave the comfort of my lazboy and drive to FedEx field and shove him out of an owner's box.

 

 

*edit*

 

At 15:35 does RAC mumble, "Josh . .blahshv blah... Josh" right before we run a play that is designed for a TD pass to Cribbs?

 

How did anyone with a program not know exactly what we were doing when he came out onto the field?

[Roy.E.Munson]

ok........ now im pretty drunk right now...... but didn't Quinn start against the giants on monday night football last year....... as in 2008...... yes he did... so xxxx derilict anderception....

[Roy.E.Munson]

Well..... shit .... i am that drunk...... DA got the start that night/....... my bad guys........

 

 

 

[Vegasdogg]

Sure, Derek was good in the Giants game. But he was craptastically terrible the following week against Washington. Braylon was pretty bad as well, but Derek deserves almost all of the blame for that loss.

 

Derek Anderson vs. Washington

I had to stop watching around the 6 min mark. Damn he was horrible. And BE gave absolutely putrid effort on many of his plays. But the DA suckage was full throttle.

[greg]

This team's been horse shit since 1999 (at the least), so a couple more years of shit with the QB the fans want isn't going to hurt.

Speak for yourself. I don't want to endure my team losing at all, especially just so that the guy at QB can be named Brady Quinn. If Quinn's the man he'll win the comp and we shouldn't be bad, and if Anderson gives us a better chance of winning he should be starting. The compromise many of you seem willing to embrace just to have BQ is pretty annoying. It should be all about wins and never about one player.

[hammertime]

Speak for yourself. I don't want to endure my team losing at all, especially just so that the guy at QB can be named Brady Quinn. If Quinn's the man he'll win the comp and we shouldn't be bad, and if Anderson gives us a better chance of winning he should be starting. The compromise many of you seem willing to embrace just to have BQ is pretty annoying. It should be all about wins and never about one player.

 

 

"just so the guy at QB can be named Brady Quinn"

 

Umm Greg, were running out of options. If its not BQ then Ratcliff. DA is not going to be a starter in c-town. Injury is the only way DA sees the feild this year.

[roach]

Why do we have to "win now" so badly? Since when does a coach get 1 year to turn a team around? This team's been horse shit since 1999 (at the least), so a couple more years of shit with the QB the fans want isn't going to hurt.

 

Wow. That sums up the sentiment around here quite well.

 

How much do your seats cost?

 

[greg]

I noticed that little pat of the ball right before he throws it, is this normal? Do the elite QB's like Manning and Brady pat the ball like that? Probably why he gets so many passes swatted down. [EDIT] Just watched a bunch of Manning and Brady highlights on youtube and NO they sure don't Watching Manning and Brady throwing mechanics is a thing of beauty compared to DA

Both Peyton and Brady pat the ball occasionally, you still see it from time to time. It's obvious they worked on it some with DA from '07 to '08 because he now does it much less but after a certain point you don't want to screw with a guy's mechanics too much. Patting a ball during the windup unfortunately becomes an important routine ingrained into a person's mechanics. Once taken away it can throw off timing, accuracy--everything really.

 

With Anderson's super-quick-release it's likely this was a case of Scherer attempting to fix what wasn't really broken and could explain a lot regarding '08. It's not something you want your QB doing but it's possible to make it work, especially if it really helps them with the accuracy of their throws. When Anderson just wings it out there it flies naturally and he seems to pat it more when he's attempting to be really accurate, and usually on short passes from what I've noticed.

[greg]

I AM SO TIRED OF HEARING ABOUT THAT FLUKE OF A GIANTS GAME!

 

Please someone who can break down the Xs and Os, please go back and look at that film and please tell me if you saw the same things I did. The Giants FLAT OUT Ignored every single thing every other defensive coordinator had proved worked against DA, and played a defense that fed right into what DA does well. Combine that with our defense playing one of its best games of the decade, and you get a one game fluke that gives all the DA supporters a game to hang thier hats on.

 

DA isn't the worst QB in the world. He's just not good enough for my Browns.

I think the Browns defense played harder/better in the Colts and Bills games actually. The Giants defense may have had a weak gameplan but it doesn't change the fact that the Browns offense played near perfect. All strategy aside the Browns executed, and that was the difference.

[Vegasdogg]

Thanks for the link Alo. And, more importantly, thanks for the continued film work. Its awesome and makes this a better board.

 

 

DA really can't throw to a spot.

 

So, once again as we know, take away the middle of the field seam routes and he really struggles.

 

Hard to watch.

Agree on Alo. The man is just full of really great info. I learn a lot from his posts about football.

 

And spot on about DA. He has to throw to man. He cannot lead the receiver. He has to throw ropes right at the receiver, which isn't always east to do so credit to him for his talent. But man that is not very challenging to defend.

 

You're right that his strengths are lasers to the receiver, and taking away his seams and fly patterns and he is not able to adjust.

 

Sad but true, because the guy has NFL talent, just a little slow in developing it.

[Vegasdogg]

All strategy aside the Browns executed, and that was the difference.

Which was always a challenge for RAC - the ability to get his team ready. Place him as HC on a team full of veterans and he'd be a good (not great) coach. But with our youth and lack of experience in big games he just wasn't the task master the team needed. I have no idea if Mangini is 'the guy' but I do know his preparation and situational teaching skills are modeled after Bill B.

 

We just never came out on a regular basis and brought our best. A few games here and there, but overall we were lethargic most of the time, just going through the plays instead of running an offense/defense.