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In Cleveland, hope dies last

Archive for the category “Derek Anderson”

06 Oct 2010

Ruminations and Ramblings

Thoughts on a October Wednesday:

  • The NFL hit Browns safety T.J. Ward with a $15,000 fine for his hit on Jordan Shipley. As expected, the Bengals are still crying over the hit.”I just want to let it be known that it wasn’t malicious intent to knock him out or to get him hurt,” Ward told The Plain Dealer. “It was just part of the game. I just reacted to what I saw and tried to make a play. The way it happened, I didn’t really try to hit him with everything I had, but still it was a pretty violent hit. I wasn’t trying to aim for his helmet in any way. I just hit what I saw. It all happened so fast.” Something tells us that Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco will have one eye on Ward when the teams meet again in December.
  • It was three years ago yesterday that the Indians and Fausto Carmona beat the Yankees in Game 2 of the Divisional Series in the game where the midges attacked Joba Chamberlain’s fat head. Seems more like 30 years after the way the Indians have played the past few years.
  • Very glad the Browns apparently were not involved in the talks to acquire Randy Moss from the Patriots. While the team does need a major upgrade at wide receiver, it’s hard to see how someone like Moss, while talented, would have fit in with the culture that Eric Mangini is trying to build in the locker room and on the field.
  • Not sure how we feel about the news that Boston Red Sox principal owner John Henry wants to buy Liverpool. Certainly getting rid of the current owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett is a positive, and the fact that they are opposed to the sale seems like a good sign. But some are urging caution, making the point that Henry wants the team as a business venture, rather than as a passion. But maybe that’s not a bad thing. The Dolans bought the Indians in part because they are fans and that hasn’t work out so well. Maybe someone with deep pockets that stays out of the way – like Randy Lerner at Aston Villa – isn’t all that bad of a scenario.
  • You kind of hate to feel good about another team’s misery, unless it is Pittsburgh, but the news that Max Hall is the new starting quarterback in Arizona gives us a good chuckle. You do have to feel bad for Cardinal fans, though, as they tried to talk themselves into Derek Anderson the way we did in Cleveland for three years. The worse part is betting against Anderson was a nice safety valve to have each week; now that’s gone.
  • Only 11 more days until Pittsburgh. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here a bit.
Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Indians, Derek Anderson, Liverpool, T.J. Ward | Leave a comment
17 Sep 2010

Week 2 Picks

After a disappointing opening week of 0-2-2 in the 2010 Cheddar Bay Invitational over at Cleveland Frowns, it’s time to start the comeback.

This week, we like:

Penn State (-21) vs. Kent State

Green Bay (-13.5) vs. Buffalo

Houston (-3) vs. Washington

And the money pick: Atlanta (-6.5) vs. Arizona.

Here’s why:

  • As a starting quarterback in the National Football League, Derek Anderson has never won consecutive road games (I know that’s not the same as not covering, but work with me here).
  • Last week against St. Louis, he threw 15 passes to Larry Fitzgerald – 12 of which were off the mark.
  • In Bill Simmons’ weekly picks column on ESPN, a reader asked “Have Ken Whisenhunt and most of the sports media ignored the past two seasons of schizophrenic Derek Anderson games? There is only one way your season ends with Derek Anderson: with your face in your hands, weeping.”
  • Browns fans in Cleveland haven’t forgotten.
  • The Cardinals are on the road this week against Atlanta.
  • Derek Anderson is the quarterback.
  • Until he proves otherwise, he is still Derek Anderson.

Confidence is high this week.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Derek Anderson, NFL, point spreads | Leave a comment
31 Aug 2010
3 Comments

Time To Move On

Now that Jim Brown has had his 15 minutes, it’s time for the Browns to move on with the Ring of Honor and the season.

Brown clearly is upset that team President Mike Holmgren is now between Brown and owner Randy Lerner. Brown wrote his own job description – raise your hand if you got to do that at your job – and now that Holmgren has changed his role, Brown is taking his ball and going home.

According to The Plain Dealer, Brown delivered a letter to Holmgren that explained why he’s upset, saying in part that:

“That job description included two things that I think are important. As Executive Advisor to the owner, my job was to use my intelligence, and my logic to advise Mr. Lerner. The second most important thing to me was a clause in that agreement that stated that I answered to no one except Randy Lerner. These two thing were highly important to me because I truly believed, with my educational background, having been a Cleveland Brown for 9 yrs, and having a pretty good knowledge of football, that I could contribute in a valuable way to the organization.“

Brown failed to mention that the time he used his experience to advise Lerner coincided with one of the worst periods in team history. But why get bogged down in facts?

Brown also made some not so subtle claims that Holmgren dealt with him in a racist manner. I have no doubt that Brown has seen and experienced things in his life that I can’t even imagine because of his skin color. If he wants to view his position change through the prism of racism, I can’t really speak to that.

But if he doesn’t want to show up Sept. 19 when the Browns honor the inaugural Ring of Honor class, that’s on him. The team will still show a video clip of his career, the fans will still cheer and the game will go on.

One of the few positives out of this situation is that Holmgren is on hand to deal with this. If this had occurred last year, head coach Eric Mangini would have been the face of the franchise and he would have been dealing with reporters and questions, taking time away from his real job – coaching the team.

Now, Mangini can point down the hall, say “talk to Mike,” and get back to what is really important – getting the Browns ready for the season-opener against Tampa Bay.

Establishing a Ring of Honor is a smart – and overdue – move by the Browns. It’s too bad the induction of the first class will be overshadowed by Brown’s insistence on making himself the center of attention.

***

Good news on the Shaun Rogers situation. Although it would be even better if we actually saw him on the field.

***

More good news, as Tampa Bay cornerback Aqib Talib will be suspended for the season-opening game against the Browns.

Talib’s suspension is for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy. He was also fined one additional game check for an incident in August 2009 where Talib punched a cab driver.

Talib is one of the top defensive players on the Tampa Bay roster after being taken in the first-round of the 2008 draft. Talib led the team last season with five interceptions and he had four in his rookie season.

***

I can’t believe the Cardinals are actually considering making Derek Anderson their starting quarterback. He may be the luckiest guy on the planet.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Derek Anderson, Jim Brown, Mike Holmgren, ring of honor, Shaun Rogers
27 Aug 2010

Someone Else’s Problem

You have to hand it to Derek Anderson – he (or his agent) sure know how to pick his teams.

Anderson has gone from competing in Cleveland with a former high-profile college QB (Brady Quinn) who may not have the goods to play in the NFL to competing in Arizona against a former high-profile college QB (Matt Leinart) who may not have the goods to play in the NFL.

And now the Cardinals are making the mistake of thinking Anderson is the answer at QB as they are reportedly going to start him Saturday night against Chicago in their third preseason game – generally the game that teams use as a final tune-up to get their starters ready for the regular season.

At least some Cardinal fans seem to know what they are getting themselves into. Cardinals Gab describes the QB situation by writing:

“you’ve destroyed Leinart’s barely there confidence to get a look at a quarterback that probably isn’t a better option anyway. Anderson’s still learning the Cards’ system and the INTs will mount, most likely at a rate that will outstrip his TDs. I think it’s tough to say that Anderson is per se a better quarterback than Leinart right now. As a result, a single successful performance won’t tell us much about whether Anderson should start over Leinart.

“I’ve always felt that Leinart doesn’t need to be a stud for the Cardinals to win. I would take a safe, albeit vanilla offense under Leinart over a high risk-high reward offense under Anderson. Derek’s style of play will most likely lead to an increased number of turnovers. This will put a tremendous strain on a defense that has new players everywhere on the field. I’ve yet to see a team consistently lose the turnover battle and win games.”

But just like in Cleveland some Cards fans are inexplicably defending Anerson, like Rabel16 who commented on an Arizona Republic article on the switch by saying:

“Have we forgotten that DA HAS proven himself in the league? He was a Pro Bowl QB a couple years back and remember he was playing in Cleveland for crying out loud, which is comparbale (sic) to playing in AZ in the 90’s. There is plenty of upside and it is very obvious that he has much more command of the offense. Leinart is lackadaisical and there is no spunk in his step, which carries over to the rest of the team. DA is a prototype whiz qb. Effectively run the ball and go up top to Fitz. Start DA, cut Leinart, end of story… ”

Sound familiar?

And media personality Mike Lombardi has weighed in, claiming the Cards may just cut ties with Leinart if they decide to go with Anderson. Of course, we all know first hand about Lombardi’s “analysis” in these parts.

I don’t wish Cards fans any ill will, but I’m sure glad Anderson is their problem now.

Posted in Derek Anderson, Matt Leinart, NFL, scatter-armed quarterbacks | Leave a comment

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