The NFL’s One Hit Wonders: Single Season & Super Bowl Outliers…With Songs To Match

Christian Okoye

[Editor's note: This was originally posted back in January, but it got lost in the Super Bowl shuffle. Keith did a great job on it though, so we're cycling it back to the front of the site for those of you who missed it.]

You know how sometimes when you hear a one-hit wonder song on the radio or on the jukebox at a bar, it makes you think of a certain time in your life and all of the memories of that time come flooding back?

For some reason, those songs resonate.  They are the songs that everyone knows the words to, even if they are embarrassed to admit it.  The best one-hit wonders activate that mental and emotional time machine in a person.

Sports do the same thing for me.  I tie events in my life to notable sports players and seasons.

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Derek Anderson got into another Twitter fight. SMH.

This dude really needs to get some thicker skin.

Link.

Photo Story: No Laughing Matter – The Inappropriate Giggling of Derek Anderson

derek-anderson-laughing

Last night, the Arizona Cardinals were throttled by the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football. Yes, the same San Francisco 49ers who were themselves throttled at home by the Tampa Bay Bucs one week prior. Arizona lost because it’s defense was lethargic, it could not run the ball, and its quarterback was both indecisive and inaccurate.

Making matters worse, said quarterback – the infamous Derek Anderson – was caught by MNF cameras late in the game smiling/laughing (depending on your interpretation). Anderson was asked about it during his post game press conference and had his Denny Green/Jim Mora/Herm Edwards moment that will go down in press conference infamy.

As the dust settled today, Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt announced that Anderson would remain his starting quarterback. He also attempted to hold a serious discussion with Anderson about his inappropriate and untimely giggling. What follows is a photo diary that captures the noteworthy moments of this critical conversation between player and coach.

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Fantasy Football Week 10 Sleepers

How important are waiver wire sleepers? I’ll tell you.

As you know, I’m currently competing for a pair of Super Bowl tickets in the P&G-sponsored Blogger Fantasy Football League*. I faced one of my stiffest opponents in Week 9, and I only had a chance to win because of one move: less than 30 minutes before kickoffs of the early games on Sunday I picked up Chargers WR Seyi Ajirotutu.

With Antonio Gates out, and the Chargers facing the Texans, I figured Seyi had a chance to have a good week. Two TDs and 20+ fantasy points later, it turned out to be one of the best moves I made all season.

Granted, I didn’t highlight Ajirotutu in last week’s waiver wire sleepers column, but I did highlight names like Josh Freeman, Willis McGahee, and Nate Burleson, all of whom helped you win if you were paying attention.

Who are this week’s waiver wire sleepers? Read on and I’ll highlight a bunch of guys with a chance to be the different between winning and losing in Week 10.

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A sleeper emerges at QB in Arizona after another high profile scouting failure in the NFL

Do you really want to work in the personnel office of a National Football League team? Or even be someone on TV, radio, or the Internet suggesting who the best players available in the NFL Draft will be? Would you dare say publically who a specific team should consider in regards to the franchise’s needs??

Then get ready to be humbled, and often.

Just the quarterback position alone proves the total crapshoot in trying to determine what a player’s ability or potential may be. And very often it comes down to attributes that cannot be measured at the NFL Combine or even on a Wonderlic test. Maybe it’s that ‘swagger’ rating used in the Madden 11 game.

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Breaking News: Brady Quinn Out for the Season With Foot Injury

Per two recent tweets by TheOBR, citing a WEWS report that I have heard elsewhere as well, Browns QB Brady Quinn will miss the rest of the season and will be replaced by Derek Anderson.

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NFL Quarterback Power Rankings

jay-cutler

No position in the NFL is more highly scrutinized, debated, and discussed than the quarterback. It’s impossible to build a consistent winner without one (and people who follow the Cleveland Browns would tell you that it’s impossible to find one period).

After this weekend’s Packers loss to the Bucs, Aaron Rodgers was a popular topic of conversation on Twitter. I made the comment that he has not shown me that he has the “it” that people always talk about when it comes to QBs. Some agreed and some disagreed, but it got me thinking about where Rodgers falls in relation to today’s crop of QBs.

Thus, I set out to rank the quarterbacks currently holding starting NFL gigs, taking into account their current age and skill level, future potential, past accomplishments, and the general confidence level I would have if that player was the QB of my team.

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Cleveland Browns Look to Rebound From Crushing Loss to BYE

Entering this Sunday’s home matchup with BYE, the Cleveland Browns were sitting at 1-7 and in 5th place in the AFC North behind Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Notre Dame.

Despite the team’s poor start to the season, plus the turmoil caused by the firing of George Kokinis and threats of a Monday night protest next week, hopes were high that a second victory would be forthcoming.

“We don’t want to take anything for granted,” former starting quarterback Derek Anderson said. “I once got intercepted by the JUGS machine in practice. I thought it was Steve Heiden. So humility will not be an issue for this week.”

How right he was.

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Top 10 Most Likely Candidates to be the Next GM of the Cleveland Browns

doc-brown-delorean

In case you have not heard, George Kokinis was fired yesterday from his role as GM (General Mute) of the Cleveland Browns.

He had been on the job for less than a year and was reportedly at odds with head coach Eric Mangini as early as training camp. Rumors have since swirled that former Colts, Browns, and Giants GM Ernie Accorsi will be hired by Browns owner Randy Lerner soon.

We here at Midwest Sports Fans, however, are not so sure. Accorsi is a GM with a pretty successful track record and his hiring would almost seem to be too logical and sound a choice for the Browns.

So we put together top 10 list of candidates who – based on the Browns moribund history since being reinstated in 1999 -are probably more likely to be named General Manager than a former Super Bowl architect.

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Led by Lewis, Browns Defeat Bills 6-3 Despite Awful Anderson (Ratliff Time?)

jamal-lewis

The previously winless Cleveland Browns defeated the one win Buffalo Bills in an offensive-less game earlier today, with the final score finishing at 6-3.

The highlights were not plentiful, but yes, there were a few.

Let’s begin with the return of Jamal Lewis. Early in the week, Lewis was not even considered to be able to play versus Buffalo because of a lingering hamstring injury. Later in the week, Lewis was possibly going to play, but would be eased into action. And then here is the Jamal Lewis stat line from Sunday: 117 yards on 31 carries.

I’m glad to see they took it easy on him.

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Browns Show Glimpses of Hope But Still Lose in Overtime

It’s amazing how much faith Browns’ fans have.

Terrible performance after terrible performance, the fans are there. They’re hoping and praying, but still have faith that their Brownies can win.

Even after an 0-3 start, this Sunday was no different.

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Derek Anderson to Start Sunday for Browns

Derek Anderson replaced Brady Quinn in the second half of last weekend’s game against Baltimore, and he has replaced him moving forward as well.

Eric Mangini, as promised, announced his decision on the Browns’ starting quarterback position today. His decision: Derek Anderson will start, in hopes of sparking a moribund offense that has scored one touchdown in the last…year? Decade? Century?

How long and how bad has it been?

Anyway, it’s possible that this is the most inconsequential QB announcement ever.

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Browns Lose Big, Mangini Loses Team?

derek-anderson-ravens

Is it too late to give the Browns’ name, its colors, and history back to Baltimore?

When Art Modell sold the city of Cleveland down the river and moved the Browns to Baltimore, Clevelanders clamoured to keep the Browns’ name and create a new Browns out of…well, what would become a bunch of misfits led by poor schlep Chris Palmer in 1999.

After Sunday’s 34-3 humiliating annihilation at the hands of the former Browns, it is time to consider the 2009 Browns the latest group of misfits, and call the total new Browns a failed experiment.

But where to go from here?

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Chad Pennington Injury Update: Out for Season With Torn Capsule in Throwing Shoulder

chad-pennington-injury-update

I root for two teams: first, the Cleveland Browns, who I grew to cheer for over the past 7-8 years; and second, the Miami Dolphins, who I grew up cheering for.

After yesterday, it appears that neither of my favorite teams has a quarterback any longer.

First, in Cleveland, anointed starter Brady Quinn played so poorly through the first ten quarters of 2009 that he was benched in favor of a guy, Derek Anderson, who played so poorly last year that he was benched after being given a contract extension.

Then, during the Dolphins’ loss to the Chargers, Chad Pennington — a revelation last year during his first season in Miami — went down with an injury and was replaced by Chad Henne. The young QB from Michigan sputtered and could not lead the Dolphins to victory, and now it appears that Pennington could be out for the season.

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New Browns Beat Writer Terrell Owens Confirms that Brady Quinn Will Start at QB

Browns name Brady Quinn starting QB, news broken by Terrell OwensThere are a number of people who I thought might break the news of whether Brady Quinn or Derek Anderson had won the Browns QB derby prior to kickoff of the Browns-Vikings game this sunday.

Perhaps Mary Kay Cabot would do it, I thought, considering that she covers the Browns beat for the Cleveland Plain-Dealer.

Or perhaps one of our good friends over at the Orange & Brown Report would do it, considering they always seem to be out in front of important Browns news.

Or maybe ProFootballTalk would break the news, considering their ever-growing number of league and team sources, plus their obvious ins with agents around the league.

Well guess what…had I bet any money on any of those three options breaking the news, I would have lost. I also would have failed to realize that there is a hot new reporter in Berea breaking the important Browns news these days.

Follow the links to StubHub for great deals on Cleveland Browns tickets and all NFL tickets.

And you can follow him at http://twitter.com/terrellowens.

Browns name Brady Quinn starting QB, news broken by Terrell OwensYes, ladies and gentleman, the following tweet from the NFL’s most divisive receiver was the first public acknowledgement of what we all already assumed anyway: that Brady Quinn will be the starting QB for the Cleveland Browns in 2009.

Congrats 2 Brady Quinn 4 starting job w/Cleveland Browns!!

And I know this because shortly after Owens’ tweet was posted, ProFootballTalk and the Plain-Dealer (via the aforementioned Cabot) posted the news that Quinn would be the starter:

Brady Quinn has won the quarterback competition and will start Sunday’s game against the Vikings, a league source told The Plain Dealer today.

There is no word on whether or not Terrell Owens was, in fact, the league source that confirmed the news to Cabot, but she does mention PFT’s reference of T.O.’s tweet at the end of her short article. Does that strike anyone else as odd? 

For the record, I enjoy Cabot’s work and think she does as good a job as she can considering the tight-lipped nature of the current Browns administration, so my observations here are somewhat tongue-in-cheek. Still, it is rare that you see a beat reporter such as Cabot provide attribution to a tweet and a blog, inferring that they are relevant in the breaking of the most important story on her turf this offseason.

Seen another way, maybe it is just a sign of these twitterrific times we live in and an implicit commendation for the rapid rise of PFT from “just a blog” to a legitimate NFL news and rumor site.

Either way, it does amuse me that the identity of the Browns starting QB could not even be kept a secret for more than 24 hours after Eric Mangini reportedly met with Quinn and Derek Anderson to inform them of his decision. Not that I thought it would stay a secret…but I did at least expect it to stay private a little longer than it did.

Browns name Brady Quinn starting QB, news broken by Terrell OwensI actually thought it was a good idea by Mangini to keep it a secret as long as possible. There aren’t many advantages the Browns have going into Sunday’s game against the Vikings, so he might as well hold onto every one he can, regardless of how small or insignificant.

Nonetheless, the cat now appears to be out of the bag, and Brady Biceps can assume complete leadership over the offense.

I think it’s the right move, all things considered, and hope that he begins to fulfill the promise that made him a 1st round selection. Most importantly, I hope the Browns coaching staff is committed to sticking with him. The last thing I want to see is another frustrating game of musical quarterback chairs like we saw last year.

This is Brady’s time, and we should know at the end of 2009 whether we have a franchise QB or a 1st round bust. I’m hoping for the former and think it’s time for the Browns to go all-in and find out.

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* – Terrell Owens photo credit: The Onion

* – Brady Quinn photo credit: The Play in California