Displaced Cleveland Fan

Just when you thought this season couldn’t get any worse…

Down by 16 points on the final play of the game, the Browns’ lone playmaker, Josh Cribbs, goes down and has to be carted off the field and taken away in an ambulance. Obviously we all hope he will be ok. But really, why run a play like this and put the players at risk when a win is hopeless? It just doesn’t make any sense.

Aside from Cribbs’ injury, there were a couple big questions going into this game:
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Another week. Another loss. This time it was a 24-point beating at the hands of Chicago which lost by 35 the previous week against Cincinnati. The Browns are terrible. If not for a botched punt return by Buffalo, they would be 0-8 right now.

Coach Eric Mangini has stubbornly stuck with QB Derek Anderson, despite four straight awful starts. Coming into this game, Anderson had a league-worst QB rating of 40.6. His 10.5 rating today won’t help. Against the Bears he was 6 for 17 (35%) for 76 yards and 2 interceptions. What’s funny, in a sad sort of way, is that the Bears returned the 2 interceptions for a total of 56 yards - just 20 less than Anderson’s total on 6 completions to Browns receivers.
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The title of the recap over at ESPN says it all - Rodgers, Pack bully Browns in warm-up for Favre, Vikings.

That’s all the Browns are anymore. They are a warm-up. A game against the Browns for a 3-2 Green Bay team amounts to nothing more than an exhibition game, or a scrimmage in practice. The Browns are awful. Plain and simple.
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OK. No one expected the Browns to beat the Steelers. I don’t know if anyone even thought it would be close.

But here’s the thing - Pittsburgh did not play their best game today. They made some mistakes. If the Browns had a decent team, they might have been able to capitalize on one or two, eliminate a couple of their own, and maybe pull out a win. But no. This Browns team is far from being a decent team.
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In a thrilling shoot-out, Derek Anderson led the high-powered Browns offense over the Buffalo Bills in a game for the ages.

OK. That’s not exactly what happened. Not at all. Actually, the only part that’s right is that the Browns won.

Yes. Really. The Browns managed to beat another team in an actual game.

It’s not like they didn’t try to lose the game. Buffalo just wouldn’t take it. Then it looked like they would play for the tie, but the Bills would have none of that. A fumble on a punt return gave the Browns the ball back at Buffalo’s 16 yard line. Even Cleveland couldn’t blow this chance. They couldn’t get in the end zone. But the Browns did manage to kick a field goal for the 6-3 win.
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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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