Is Maxiell Worth the Mid-Level?
October 20, 2008Don’t Look Now…
October 20, 2008If I told you in August that the secondary would become the strength of the team, what would you expect Cleveland’s record to be? 5-1? 4-2? Even though this team is technically only a game out of the AFC Wild Card slot, they are much closer to being the Detroit Lions or Cincinnati Bengals than they are to being a playoff contender. With all of the mess going on with Kellen Winslow’s comments, to me the most telling moment was the play in which Derek Anderson and Lawrence Vickers got into an argument and nearly a shoving match on the field. Vickers is a quiet, no-nonsense player that does his job on every play. Anderson clearly doesn’t have his respect, and that says a lot to me.
You have to listen to Tony Grossi’s chat wrap today. Two things jumped out at me. At about the 9 minute mark Tony begins to discuss Derek Anderson’s play. He talks about Derek Anderson running around on the last drive trying to figure out what the play they wanted called, only to spike the ball after losing 20-some seconds. Derek, of course was panicking because he couldn’t hear the play in his headset. Tony’s point- good QB’s aren’t even listening to the coach there. They know what needs to be done.
The second thing that got to me was his description of the Browns’ locker room after a game like this. It starts at the 22 minute mark. Worth the 2 minutes for that clip alone.
Does the extra week of preparation really make that much of a difference? The only difference in personnel from the Monday night game to this week was Tucker for Shaffer. Is Tucker better than Shaffer? Yes, but it’s not like Anderson spent the day on his back because of Shaffer. Winslow was also available for this one, which should have improved the offense.
So I have to ask the question. Is the team at a breaking point, or is it just the fans?
19 Comments
We both are. Unfortunately.
I hate to agree with you, but I definately do. Never thought by week 7 I’d be thinking about next year’s draft and the Cavs.
Unless they decide to man up and put Quinn in the game!?!?
Seriously, if they look this bad at halftime against Jax, will Quinn play?!?!
Unfortunately, I think Romeo will keep playing Anderson solely because of his play vs the Giants Monday night. It really boggles my mind – season is a wash now. we are 2-4 and going nowhere. Why not try Quinn?
I agree… although a win in Jax will make us thinking “can they pull out a wildcard.” I just think 1 game of six should not justify DA still playing QB. I also wonder how big of a mental boost they could have if within the next two days the Browns announce Quinn will start. It didnt look like anyone had confidence in DA… so why not let quinn try.
Anyone else feel like DA is a reincarnation of Tim Couch? Reappearing deer-in-headlights look, inconsistent play that teases you just enough to believe he’ll turn the corner, drilled into concussions….
Now we just need the subsequent benching, reappearing when Quinn gets hurt, sucking even more and a crying fit and we can party like its 2003 all over again.
I think I’d rather have Couch back then D.A. starting right now.*
*May or may not be true, but it makes me feel better.
[/overly optomistic view time]
We’re only 1 game out of the wild card right now….
[/overly optomistic view time]
At least Couch had the excuse of getting pummeled on every other play. DA would be non-existent if he played behind the o-line Couch had to
Oh man, this season has gotten to the point where we are starting to reminisce about Tim Couch. How disappointing…but it’s the reality the team may currently be in.
It does seem DA has lost his teamates. If that is the case, how can Romeo realistically keep him as the starter? It doesn’t make any sense. I know the most popular guy in a football town is always the backup and fans are sometimes irrational about QB play. But that just isn’t the case here. I have no idea if Quinn has what it takes to be a successful NFL starting QB, but it has to be obvious Anderson does not. So it seems there can be no argument now that Quinn has to be playing.
I listened to the ESPN football today podcast this morning and they panned Anderson and said he is a backup at best and totally folds whenever there are expectations and pressure. Everyone is piling on him now. If I lived in Cleveland I would make a sign and protest outside the stadium.
I will be there in JAX on Sunday (look for the Josh Cribbs jersey in the north end zone): anyone have requests for signs? I’m leaning toward something anti-DA/RAC (Romeo Crennel: the ultimate STAFF infection?), but I have nothing set in stone yet. Also, I have a request: should we pull off a win against the Jags (entirely possible if the team that came out against the Giants shows up), can we PLEASE not have people on here waxing poetic about how “we’ve finally turned it around” and talking playoffs (insert Jim Mora imitation here)? It would be a great win, but still–IT ONLY COUNTS FOR ONE! I just hate seeing hopes get built up too high too fast: that never ends well.
P.S.
the mere mention of Tim Couch makes me very sad inside–bad times, people
DA did the same exact thing before half of the Steelers game but he wasted 30 seconds then called a time out. He is a joke.
I thought the secondary would be ok. I said the loss of JoeJ was much more of a problem than Holly getting hurt, or being a young team.
Their linebackers are terrible too which I always think was their weakness on defense. THEY SUCK.
What does it mean when your most productive linebacker is a 7th round rookie?
exactly.
“STAFF infection” – that’s very clever.
D. Jackson is the most productive LB we have. If Andra ‘human blocking sled’ Davis wasn’t the other inside backer it would help…
so completely unrelated, but i was looking up some info on beau bell’s (remember him?) knee injury and i found out that another beau bell played for cleveland in the 70s. what are the odds!
Is there anyone out there that really thinks (given the field position, opporunities and the play of the defense) that Brady Quinn could not have guided that offense to more than 11 points? We had two drives start in WAS territory in the 2nd quarter alone, producing two 3-and-outs. I don’t care that Quinn’s only played one drive in the NFL, I refuse to believe he could’ve been any more incompetent than Anderson was on Sunday.
Oh, and say what you want about Tim Couch, he had 1/5 of the talent around him that Anderson has and still led a team to the playoffs. Furthermore, he is STILL the last Cleveland QB to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers.
@MacNip
We had an o-line when Couch played?