Per JKL's post.
... I am not a Browns fan. ... when I sat down to do this research, I expected it to be a fairly close call. Here are some excerpts:
1) The Anderson is not as good as his stats indicate ... numbers are bolstered by playing with a good supporting cast ... For me to accept that Anderson is a complete fluke, I have to believe the 2007 Cleveland Browns were the best group of players ever assembled, the reincarnation of the 80's 49ers, but for Anderson, while all other breakout quarterbacks were playing with bums.
This argument is overused by people who havesaid DA is nothing but the sum of his supporting cast. Jamal Lewis went down early in the season and either missed or wasn't 100% in a large portion of the early/mid portion of the year. KWII limped into the off-season and the Browns had Joe Jeurevicious as their #2 WR and he simply is not very good. He's not. Some Browns fans luv him because he's from Cleveland but Joe J. isn't nearly as good as many want to believe. The lack of a running game was apparent in the two key losses to Pittsburgh and that is entirely on the RB not the QB. Also the OC was in his first year calling plays and he hasn't been held accountable for any of DA's late season struggles when DCs began game planning for Anderson. Some Browns fans actually think Rob Chudzinski in his first year calling plays walks on water and can't under any circumstances be second guessed for his game plans later in the year when DA struggled but funny thing is that Derek posted superior stats than the opposing QBs in those same games, errr and a sore spot to many Quinn pimps is DA also posted better stats than the rookie in the one game they both played in. Funny that isn't mentioned or is swept under the carpet by the anti-DA contingent. Superior cast argument is valid but if DA is nothing than the sum of his cast then both Frye and Quinn would have performed better but they both fared worse with the EXACT SAME SUPPORTING CAST. So the supporting cast argument can't be held against DA.
2) ... Derek Anderson is inconsistent, and I've seen him play, sometimes frustrating. But for those bagging on an inconsistent 24 year old, have you seen every other 24 year old quarterback play? I am sure they never bounced passes, forced throws into coverage, made dumb mistakes, or made throws that forced the receiver to make an acrobatic catch.
EXACTLY! Context is what you bring up. People who try to school you about much more they know about DA because they saw him DID NOT see the other QBs and have no context to base DA's performance against. They don't. They look at things in a vaccum and assume they know DA sucks compared to the rest of the other QBs in the league who get their first starts. Anyone who has been around for awhile and has not lived in one place their entire lives understands that their are some geocentric fans in every city who think the world revolves around their team or how they view the players on thier teams and simply don't have the perspective to put their player up against other players in similiar situations let alone the ability to place their players in a historic context. Its nothing against some Clevleand fans, its edemic to all teams/cities/fans. Basically they know what they know but they haven't a clue about how to put what they know into proper context of the big picture.
3) "We've gone as far as we can with Anderson" argument, and its corrolary, the "Quinn has more upside" argument.
This is a fallacy of ONLY ONE can be good theory. The people who rant about that never once for a moment give the simple thought that:
Golly gee whiz, ya know what? Both of those guys may actually be able to start and play well. Quite frankly, its my contention that they both can ball but right now DA is ahead of Quinn, he just is and some can't accept that glaring fact.
4) "The DA we saw over the last 4 weeks is the true DA" argument. ... placing greater weight, on the recent is a normal and understandable human response. I think all games are evidence of the true DA, not just cherry picked selections. But, is it true that young QB's who regress or decline in the second of half of a debut season are worse going forward than those that appear to be getting better? I can't find strong evidence of that. In fact, most of the recent young breakouts actually did regress in the second half of their first season starting. Anderson is not even the biggest regresser, though he did have the most td passes in the first 8, so he had more room to do so. Eli (14td,5int first 8, 9/12 last 8), Bulger (13 ints last 8) and Aaron Brooks (16 ints last 8!) all had much worse second halves compared to the first halves. Brady, McNair, Roethlisberger, Brees, and Griese were also playing worse and the league was catching up to them. Romo was too, though by my method, he was actually about equal. Others who stayed the same from first 8 to last 8 were Brunell, McNabb, Vick and Rivers. The only improvers were Culpepper, Pennington, and Palmer. I don't have game by game data earlier than 1995, but I can say that, while a quarterback at 27 years old is typically better than he was at 24 years old, it is not a smooth process, where every 4-6 games is better than the previous. Guys like Favre (24 interceptions) and Brees regressed in year two, after solid first seasons starting.
Big Ben sucked down the stretch for Pittsburgh. I'm sure Steeler fans are clamoring for Charlie Batch to replace Ben because Big-B wavered down the stretch. Its a TREND it MUST MEAN SOMETHING! LOL, obviously the bigger picture comes into play for Big Ben but not for DA in some people's eyes. What they see is all that matters and they won't change. Ofcourse if Charlie Frye were on the bench instead of Brady Quinn you wouldn't hear a peep about these obvoius and undeniable trends and a host of other things. Bias for the backup/hometown hero is off the charts. Their are big differences in style. DA has the gun and knows how to work the pocket. He's aggressive and in the perfect offensive system for his skills. And yes, the supporting cast fits hand/glove with him as well. If the Browns switched to Quinn they would need an upgrade at the second WR and they'd also need a more effective pass catching third down RB with speed because the offense would turn to a lateral/WC type offense to suit his skills. Also Quinn would go thru growing pains and although I'm confident he will succeed, cheack that make it VERY CONFIDENT he'll succeed, I know from following the game for a long time AND ALSO from living in many places and seeing many different QBs break into the league that he'll more than likely struggle. Additionally, I am HIGHLY CONFIDENT that Derek Anderson will improve ESPECIALLY with his completion percentages.
The Browns QB situation is currently rock solid and very few teams in the league can say the same thing.
It's pretty silly to point toward Anderson's Pro Bowl nod as an indication he's something special.
