Browns QB: Anderson or Quinn?

In 2007, the Browns surprised everyone with how well they played ending the season at 10-6. Following the 2007 season, everything was looking pretty good and the Browns were hoping to build from their 2007 season. Well, things didn’t go accordingly to plan. In 2008, the Browns ended up with a 4-12 record. What happened? The Browns got Shaun Rogers from the Lions, Donte Stallworth, Terry Cousin, and Corey Williams from the Packers. They had some good pieces to build from their 2007 season, but tings never really took off for them. Before the season started in 2008, we knew they were going to lose some games against tough teams like the Cowboys, Steelers, Ravens, Colts, Eagles, and Giants (they beat them, what a surprise). The reason why they lost was that they weren’t consistent in the QB position and WR as well. Braylon Edwards was out for the early part of the season because of a foot injury and Joe Jurevicius was out for the entire season.

Then on November before their game against the Broncos on Thursday Night, Brady Quinn was announced as the starter for the Browns. Quinn did pretty well for his first start from what I saw. Then on November 23, Quinn was pulled and then Anderson was put in from the bench. So the Browns were not consistent with the QB position. I think the Browns should’ve stuck with Anderson as their QB for the entire season before Quinn had his first start. I knew Anderson wasn’t playing well (9 TD, 8 INT, 1615 yards), but they should’ve given him more chances and he didn’t have all his receivers healthy early on in the season. If the Browns waited and gave the WR’s time to get healthy and establish something with Anderson, maybe he would’ve never had been benched. At the QB position, you can’t change a QB in the middle of the season when it doesn’t need to be done. The Brown made the change at QB because they gave into the fans demand for their hometown boy Brady Quinn. The Fans wanted Quinn to be the starter when they saw Anderson playing poorly. The Browns gave in. You need to do what best for the entire team. Don’t let the fans dictate what the team does. If Anderson got injured then go ahead put in Quinn, but Anderson was pretty much demoted when he shouldn’t have been, in my opinion.

Well that was last season. Since then both QB’s (Quinn and Anderson) got injured during the end of the season and the Browns had to resort to their 3rd QB. Also Romeo Crennel was fired and GM Phil Savage was too. Now with new head coach Eric Mangini, there are some QB questions for the team. Who will ultimately be the team’s starter? The Browns new GM George Kokinis said that there isn’t any hurry with releasing Derek Anderson. He believes that next season he will have the two QB’s compete for the job.

If it was up to me, I would’ve had Anderson keep the job and not have had benched him. Then that wouldn’t have given me the opportunity to see Quinn play in a game. When I saw Quinn play, he did ok. He made short throws and kept the chains moving, which is what every QB should do. He did make the long throws when he had to, but he did what the coach wanted him to do and that was get the chains moving. Even though he only threw 2 TD and 2 INT, his presence won me over. He seemed like a real leader on the field. I think I would pick Quinn over Anderson. The Browns did draft him in their first round for a reason. They see the future of the Browns in Quinn’s hands. You can have a little QB competition, but let’s remember why the Browns drafted Quinn. Plus Quinn has bigger guns than Anderson. I didn't know QB's arms were suppose to be that big.

On a side note Mangini is looking at RB Derrick Ward who will be a free agent. “Yeah, he's a guy that we'd look at it. I can tell you we're looking at all the free agents,” Mangini said. If the Browns get Ward, it will help out their running game a lot. They can’t depend on Lewis any longer. If they get Ward, they can use Lewis and Ward in a two monster back like the Titans and Panthers did last season.