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Home > Blogs > Dawging the Browns > Archives > 2009 > August
August 2009
Anderson should be the starter
The quarterback derby, at least as it relates to who starts the opener Sept. 13 against Minnesota, is mercifully winding to conclusion. One of these days, even if it’s 10 minutes before that first game, we’ll know.
Head coach Eric Mangini hasn’t asked me (shocking, I know), but I vote for the guy with the track record, however brief it may be. I vote for Derek Anderson.
Not to say Brady Quinn couldn’t get the job done, but Anderson made the Pro Bowl two years ago while receiving all kinds of praise and plaudits from teammates as the Browns exhibited an explosive offense week after week.
We tend to forget Anderson led the team to a 10-6 record in his first season as a starter. Sure, he tossed those interceptions against the Bengals with the playoffs at stake, but the simple fact that the team cracked double figures in wins for the first time since the franchise returned in 1999 should count for more than it seems to be counting for with some fans.
In some fans’ minds, the case for Quinn seems to be that he isn’t Anderson. In a previous post I said it probably has to be Quinn at the start, but mainly because I thought fans would be less forgiving of Anderson if he made a couple of mistakes.
That said, I have a feeling Mangini is going to pick Quinn based on his greater mobility, then turn to Anderson if Quinn bombs or gets hurt. It seems the “competition” might be more about getting both ready to play than it is about picking one over the other.
Meanwhile, Mangini continued to play his cloak-and-dagger games with the media today, refusing to name a starter for Saturday’s third preseason game against the Tennessee Titans, the so-called dress rehearsal.
Most teams want their starting quarterback on the field for the bulk of the snaps with the first team in the dress rehearsal, but since Mangini doesn’t have one yet, he cautioned against reading anything into who plays when against the Titans.
“Somebody has to (start), but the goal is to get a balance,” Mangini said. “That hasn’t changed.”
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Browns barely on fantasy radar
If a correlation exists between a team’s fantasy rankings and its actual outlook, the Browns are in real trouble.
Just glancing at some of the fantasy rankings makes you think the real fantasy is that this team will win six or seven games.
Running back
Jamal Lewis is No. 1 on the Browns’ depth chart and maybe No. 1 in your heart (although that might be a stretch), but you’ll be hard pressed to find him in the top 20 among fantasy RBs. Saw one list where he’s ranked 37th with this comment: He kind of looked like he’d had it last year, team’s rotten and now he’s 30.
If Lewis is washed up, that should increase the value of Jerome Harrison and maybe even rookie James Davis, who has been appearing on some recent lists.
Quarterback
Nobody quite knows what to do with this position because it remains so unsettled. One list I saw today had Derek Anderson ranked ahead of Brady Quinn, probably based on last week’s exhibition game in which Anderson looked like his 2007 Pro Bowl self more often than not.
Another list lumps Anderson and Quinn together at No. 26, which was slightly higher than Joe Flacco, Marc Bulger and whoever emerges as the Tampa Bay signal-caller.
Receivers
Braylon Edwards generally isn’t cracking the top 20. An Associated Press fantasy writer lists him No. 25 with the comment: “Maybe he’s done a lot of finger exercises or gone to an opposable-thumb-usage clinic or something. Will probably only be drafted by people who did not have him last year.” Ouch.
Edwards is the only Browns receiver mentioned.
Tight ends? None in the top 20 anywhere. Come on, where’s the love for Robert Royal and Steve Heiden? Oh, that’s right. Blocking doesn’t count.
Defense/special teams
Again, not showing up in any top 20s, even with Joshua Cribbs around to return kicks. Of course, Cribbs may not be around to return kicks if he goes through with his threat to hold out for more money once the games start to count.
Kicker
I’m thinking Phil Dawson easily could be in the top 20, but nobody else seems to think so. The feeling, I guess, is that the Browns’ offense will be so anemic that even field goals will be hard to come by.
Anyway, there you have it. No great revelation here, but avoid Browns if you want to do well in fantasy.
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Finally a 1-2 running back punch?
Yes, yes, it was against the awful Detroit Lions. More precisely, the awful Detroit Lions’ second-string defense.
Still, rookie running back James Davis looked awfully good carrying the football in Saturday night’s 27-10 exhibition win at Cleveland Browns Stadium.
And that brings up an interesting question: Could this be the first year in a long time that the Browns actually have a 1-2 punch in the backfield? You know, like good teams have. You know, like the Browns haven’t had since Mack and Byner.
Jerome Harrison at this moment remains the backup to Jamal Lewis, but he’s been out with an injury and did not play Saturday.
Davis, a sixth-round draft pick from Clemson, scored on an 81-yard run in the third quarter and totaled 116 yards on 12 carries.
“He looked like he had his head down and his legs moving and that was good,” head coach Eric Mangini said after the game. “I’m looking for his play at the running back position, but the other thing that is real important to me is his contribution to the special teams.”
Solid play on special teams would assure Davis of being active each week, which would be a good first step toward actually getting some carries.
This much is clear: Lewis’s days as the ultimate workhorse are likely over, so the urgency to develop other backs (or at least one) is growing.
Harrison has revealed glimpses of his prolific college self (1,800-plus yards as a senior at Washington State), but durability issues and an inability to pick up blitzes have limited his contributions the past couple of seasons and he figures as more of a change-of-pace/third-down back anyway.
Davis, of course, would not be the first running back to star in a preseason game for the Browns and never be heard from again. Remember Madre Hill? Sedrick Shaw? That said, I thought his explosive performance was the most interesting development to come out of the latest game that doesn’t count.
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A touchdown would be nice
If the Browns break their offensive touchdown drought tonight against the hapless Detroit Lions, surely a celebration will be in order. A dance? A backflip?
No sense acting like they’ve been there before. It’s been 75 possessions, after all, since Jerome Harrison went 72 yards against Buffalo virtually untouched last November.
That was a fateful night in team history for other reasons, of course. After that Monday night win, General Manager Phil Savage sat on the team bus and issued the profane e-mail response to a fan that contributed to his firing at season’s end.
Rest easy, though. Quarterback Brady Quinn says the team has made scoring touchdowns a priority. It’s “obviously vital to us at this point,” Quinn told the Akron Beacon Journal. “It’s one of our keys this week.”
If Derek Anderson has a hand in ending the seven-game scoring drought, his chances of winning the quarterback derby could improve.
Then again, the Lions were 0-16 last season, so scoring just one touchdown probably won’t be enough to satisfy anyone, including head coach Eric Mangini.
“I want to see good football,” Mangini told the ABJ. “That’s what I’m looking for. The urgency for me is to improve.”
If someone does a dance, it probably won’t be Quinn.
“I’m horrible at dancing, so I’ll leave that to the guys who score the touchdown,” Quinn told the Akron newspaper. “If I would happen to run one in, I don’t know, I’ll think of something then.”
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Is it really a must win?
Jim Donovan, the team’s radio play-by-play guy, declares Saturday night’s exhibition game against the Detroit Lions a “must win” today on his blog.
Know what? Ridiculous as that sounds, he might not be that far off.
Donovan’s reasoning is simple. The Browns, 0-1 in the preseason after getting blanked at Green Bay last week, have not won since November 2008, which by the way coincides with their last offensive touchdown.
If only for their own mental health after sweating and straining all these weeks, players are hungry for any indication that the upcoming season will contain more than a couple of wins. So, of course, are the fans.
Some forecasters — indeed some commenters on this blog — suggest the Browns will be in the hunt for the top overall pick in next year’s draft, the “prize” that goes to the team with the NFL’s worst record.
So the “Great Lakes Classic” — can you say that without laughing? — is more than just another preseason spectacle, if you subscribe to Donovan’s logic.
Problem is, what happens if they don’t beat the team that went 0-16 last season, or if their first units are outplayed dramatically as was the case against Green Bay? Then where are you?
Bottom line: You know you’ve stumbled to a low point in franchise history when the second exhibition game is considered vital to the health of your season.
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Pick a quarterback already
Guess you can’t really blame head coach Eric Mangini for taking his time deciding on a quarterback. Having little familiarity with either Brady Quinn or Derek Anderson before taking this job, he needs to be sure, or at least as sure as one can be.
Mangini already has failed once in this league and nothing sinks a coach faster than an error-prone QB. Just ask Chris Palmer, Butch Davis and Romeo Crennel. (Heck, Mangini knows this first-hand after presiding over Brett Favre’s late-season collapse with the Jets last year.)
That said, pick a quarterback already.
If nothing else, it might help ticket sales. They’re looking at local TV blackouts in Cleveland if something doesn’t come along soon to excite the populace.
And, really, doesn’t it have to be Quinn? Granted, neither Mangini nor his personnel guy had a hand in drafting the former Notre Dame standout, so he’s not “their guy.” But at least there’s still something of a buzz about him, for whatever reason.
Anderson’s amazing 2007 season makes him intriguing, but I can’t see him starting opening day against the Vikings. Fans are just not inclined to give him a break, and with Quinn sitting there, Anderson would be booed off the field after one bad throw.
Or maybe that’s the strategy. Give Anderson enough rope to trip over, then turn to Quinn. Mangini does have a reputation for mind games, so you’d be crazy to put such a seemingly insane scenario past him.
Of course, this isn’t to say Quinn is the answer, the savior or anything of the kind. At this point, if you’re honest about it, Quinn is much more of a question mark than Anderson, who at least has that breakout 2007 campaign on which to base his case.
What do you think?
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Edwards puts mystery injury behind him
Braylon Edwards practiced Wednesday. All other news, if there is any, pales in comparison.
The receiver had been sidelined for the first four days of training camp with a mysterious injury that was treated like a military secret. Reporters had asked Edwards about it only to have him refer all questions to head coach Eric Mangini, who, in the Bill Belichick tradition, proceeds to say nothing.
The Associated Press today used the phrase “apparent leg injury” to describe what ailed Edwards. One rumor making the rounds was that Edwards hurt himself playing basketball.
Anyway, he’s back, and that’s good news for an offense that will need all the playmakers it can find.
“I felt all right getting back into the mix of things,” an upbeat Edwards told reporters. “It’s one thing to watch on the side and another thing to actually go through and participate. It felt good.”
More from the AP report:
The former Pro Bowler showed no signs of rust in his first practice. He made a leaping touchdown catch of a Derek Anderson pass in the back of the end zone. Edwards went up high and plucked the ball off cornerback Gerard Lawson’s helmet.
“I love football, so being able to go out there and do that reminds me of why I’m here, why I originally started playing football,” he said.
Edwards, who was one day late arriving at camp, disputed reports that Mangini was punishing him by keeping him out of Cleveland’s first six practices. He also dismissed reports that he intentionally sat out to force the Browns to give him a new contract. He is in the final year of his deal.
“The Browns and I are on the same page,” he said. “My teammates and I are on the same page. I have never made any contract (demands). That’s just rumors and hearsay to spark more controversy. I’ve never said anything about a contract. I don’t have any intentions of playing for a contract. I’m just out here trying to be the best that I can be and help this team do good things this year.”
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Practice tackling? Mangini says yes
Finding the right balance in terms of how much live tackling there should be in training camp is sometimes difficult.
Romeo Crennel, who coached the Browns for four seasons and never got them to the playoffs, did not believe in full-contact scrimmages. There was never an emphasis on tackling in camp and it seemed to show up during the season.
Butch Davis, the coach before Crennel, loved scrimmages, thought they were important as a means of getting the team ready. The Browns actually scrimmaged another team under Butch. But his results weren’t much better than Crennel’s, although the Browns did make the playoffs in 2002, the only year since they came back in 1999.
Eric Mangini, the latest coach, seems to be winning over some doubters with his physical approach in the early days of camp. The Browns are conducting actual tackling drills this summer, and I’m thinking it can’t hurt. The team might not be very good, but at least maybe the tackling — woeful for the most part in recent years — might improve.
“Sometimes we’ll do the tackling drill ‘thud,’ so you’re going through the wrap-up, but you’re not bringing the player to the ground,” Mangini said. “Sometimes it’s live tackling, so it’s a balance between the two.”
Getting players injured is usually cited as a reason to keep camp contact to a minimum, but Mangini sees it as a risk worth taking.
“Some of these things are things that you have to do,” he said. “It’s what we do. It’s a contact sport and you have to practice contact. You try to do as much of it as you can without getting to the point where you’re adding risk and also try to maintain the guys’ bodies and things along those lines.
“It is a delicate balance that you’re always trying to adjust and fix and react to how the team’s feeling. All those different things come up.”
