Displaced Cleveland Fan

Following the Brady Quinn era that lasted a whole 10 quarters, the Browns played their first full game of the new Derek Anderson era against the Bengals.

I freely admit that I am a Brady Quinn supporter over Derek Anderson. I think he has the potential to be a better long-term solution, despite his terrible start to this season. Anderson is a solid guy to have as a backup QB, but as a starter will likely remain somewhere between average and mediocre.

That being said, DA did have a better game today than BQ has this season. The Browns came close to winning this game, going into overtime. But in overtime, they had three chances on offense to win the game, and all three times they had to punt. Unfortunately the defense couldn’t hold on for a tie and the Bengals kicked a field goal with 7 seconds left for a 23-20 win.

There were some positives in this game though:
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Eric Mangini announced today that Derek Anderson will start with Sunday against Cincinnati.

*grumble. grumble. grumble*

I haven’t seen the news conference. Honestly, I have no desire to. But I did see the Cleveland Browns twitter updates. This is what Mangini said about his decision via @OfficialBrowns:

Mangini: “I think Derek did some positive things and I think he can help us improve offensively. That’s what the decision is based on.”

Really? Anderson did so many positive things that we’ve forgotten the three interceptions in one half? That’s an improvement?
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These are stories from around the league that I thought were worth noting. You can read my recap of the Browns week 3 game here.

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Eric Mangini’s former team, the New York Jets, improved to 3-0 after beating the Tennessee Titans 24-17.

According to ESPN, Rookie QB Mark Sanchez (the one the Browns could have taken in the draft, had they not traded down) became the first rookie QB to start and win his first three games.

Meanwhile, the Browns have Mangini yanking Brady Quinn out of the game after the first half in favor of a 3 interception performance by backup Derek Anderson. Just for fun, let’s compare the stats from these two QB’s:
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Somebody please, make it stop!

Just in case you were tempted to think that the Browns season couldn’t get any worse in week 3, here it is. See that picture? That’s Derek Anderson. Remember him? Sure you do. And look what he’s wearing. A helmet. You know why? He played today. No joke. What happened to Brady Quinn? Mangini benched him in favor of Anderson. Yeah, you read that right.
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I was out for a few hours this afternoon and this evening. I left right after this game started. When I got home and saw the score, I thought to myself, “it’s probably good that I wasn’t home following this game.”

Last week the Browns lost to the Vikings by 14 points. The Vikings are a good team on both sides of the ball. On the other side, you have the Broncos beating the Cincinnati Bengals last week on a fluke play in the final seconds. This game should have been close. It wasn’t.
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So begins the Brady Quinn era.

Honestly, I didn’t expect much today. Still, after last night’s loss by Ohio State, I was hoping the Browns could pull this one off. It just wasn’t to be.

Cleveland was leading at halftime, thanks to a punt return TD by Josh Cribbs. They were up 13-10 at the half. While a lead at the half was nice, there was one disconcerting thing about it - no offensive touchdowns. This is what the Browns could not produce the last 6 games of the previous season. Now they were in danger of extending that streak.

In the second half, the defense gave up 24 unanswered points, putting the game well out of reach. After the Vikings’ last score, I turned the TV off. I’d seen enough.
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The competition is over. Brady Quinn is the starting QB for the Cleveland Browns. He will start Sunday’s game against the Vikings.

This decision was supposed to be kept a secret. But Terrell Owens, of all people, “leaked” this information on Twitter.

OK, I don’t really think he let this slip. I think he was just looking to make news. His tweet congratulated Brady Quinn for winning the job. That doesn’t necessarily mean T.O. heard about Coach Mangini’s decision. Judging by the preseason, Quinn was likely going to be the starter. Owens made an “educated” guess (how ironic) and made it look like he was spilling the beans.

The T.O. tweet alone does not make this official, obviously. But Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Mary Kay Cabot confirms that Quinn is the starter.
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