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.

In fact, that last factor was always the tie-breaker as I went through my rankings: who would I rather have starting for my team, with everything else being equal, if my life depending on winning a football game?

I separated the players into distinct tiers as well so you can see where I think dropoffs exist.

The real fun and the main idea of this post is to generate discussion, criticism, and debate in the comment section below. These rankings are just my opinion and I’d love to hear yours.

Let’s do some ranking.

Tier 1: The First Ballot HOF Franchise Anchor Super QBs

1 – Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts

1a – Tom Brady, New England Patriots

Do I really need to list out their accomplishments or explain why they are the only two men in this tier? Good, I didn’t think so.

Trying to decide between Tom Brady and Peyton Manning would be like trying to choose between a Heidi Klum or a Minka Kelly screensaver for your computer. You’re going to be happy either way, and while both have their staunch supporters, each side can recognize the greatness of the other.

That Tom Brady and Peyton Manning are the two best QBs of the this decade is inarguable.

Here is why I put Peyton Manning ever so slightly ahead of Tom Brady: I don’t think that Peyton’s greatness will go down in history as being linked with any particular coach as Brady’s will be linked with Bill Belichick. Thus, to me, the statement “all else being equal” tips the scales to Manning because we’ve never seen Brady without Belichick nor have we seen Manning with Belichick.

Can you imagine?

Yes, Peyton had some great years with Tony Dungy, but he was drafted by Jim Mora and is continuing his excellence with Jim Caldwell as he moves into the third stage of his career. What both QBs have done with so many transient parts around them has been impressive, but Peyton has dealt with it atop his team’s coaching staff as well.

There really is no wrong answer here, but as we get ready for Colts-Patriots this weekend, I’d love to get a sense of where the majority opinion stands on this issue. Because we are Midwest Sports Fans, I assume that Peyton will win this, but let’s find out anyway.

Tier 2: Impeccable Franchise Anchor QBs

3 – Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers

You know that I’m not the biggest Roethlisberger fan, and that I consider him to be something of a tool, but even the biggest Browns fan or Big Ben hater has to give Roethlisberger his due credit now. The guy has won two Super Bowls, he consistently comes up big in important spots, and is reaching a Brady/Manning-like level of being a guy that 11-, 12-win teams are built around on a year-in, year-out basis.

He’s not the prettiest, the most text book, or the most statistically impressive. But if he’s on your sideline, everyone else will believe victory is possible regardless of circumstance. That’s a powerful, proven presence that cannot ignored.

4 – Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints

This choice could cause some consternation because Brees has not yet won a Super Bowl, nor played in one, yet there are Super Bowl QBs below him.

Here is how I look at that: Do you think that the Giants would not have won the Super Bowl in 2007 with Brees as their QB? Do you think Philly and their pass-happy offense would have been worse off over the years with Brees instead of McNabb? I don’t.

I just think Brees has had to wait a little longer for his opportunity, which appears as if it might be coming this season. He has proven time and again that he is a true franchise QB, an impeccable leader, and a guy who can rally a team (heck, even a city) when the chips are down.

I still rue the day that the Dolphins passed on him in the draft and when they passed on him after he left San Diego. Give this guy Tom Brady’s career and he just might have three Super Bowls too.

Tier 3: Proven Franchise QBs

A quick note about this section. Each QB in Tier 3 has the potential to be a Tier 2 QB, but for one reason or another has question marks that prevent even their most ardent fans from having 100% confidence in them. Certainly though, these are all guys that you’d be proud and excited about having as the QB of your team right now. At least I would.

5 – Brett Favre, Minnesota Vikings

There is obviously a pretty big caveat with this one: he’s got to be healthy. But Brett Favre, right now, is playing the quarterback position as well as anyone in the league. He has 16 TDs with only three INTs against the backdrop of everything else that he has done in his career. Once again, Favre is authoring an amazing story.

Now, it remains to be seen whether Favre can keep it going for 16+ games. He wore down as last season went along, and could very well do the same thing this year. But in the right situation — and let’s be honest, Minnesota is the perfect situation for him right now — Favre is a legit superstar QB even at 40.

Look down the list and tell me you’d feel more comfortable with those other guys leading your team right now than Favre. Yes, they may be less annoying, less wishy-washy, and less self-centered than Favre is…but I just cannot justify putting anyone else above him.

6 – Eli Manning, New York Giants

6a – Donovan McNabb, Philadelphia Eagles

One thing separates Eli from Donovan McNabb in my mind: he has a Super Bowl title.

That’s it.

Eli has not reached the same statistical benchmarks as McNabb, he does not have as many playoff wins, and he is not as exciting a player. But bring Eli in your locker room and everyone immediately believes a Super Bowl is possible because he’s done it.

I do think, however, that even the strongest Eli supporter still has at least some trepidation regarding Eli’s ability to play at an elite level year-in, year-out. Did he catch lightning in a bottle in 2007? Can he win regardless of his supporting cast? We’re going to find out, as Eli’s career is far from a finished product.

As for McNabb, no matter his accomplishments — and make no mistake, five NFC Title games and a Super Bowl appearance is a terrific resume that is vastly underrated — we cannot say that a locker room full of players would immediately believe they are Super Bowl bound because McNabb walks through the door. It’s just the nature of the beast, and will be that way until he closes the deal in February.

8 – Kurt Warner, Arizona Cardinals

Like Favre, Warner’s age and proximity to retirement make him hard to place, yet his resume and continued excellence dictate that he has to be ranked pretty high on the list.

Warner proved last year that he is still an elite QB in leading the Cardinals to the Super Bowl. He didn’t win it, but he certainly played well enough to do so. His defense just couldn’t stop Ben Roethlisberger in the final minutes.

Warner is still capable of 5-INT duds like he threw up two weeks ago, but more often than not he is going to get the ball to right player at the right time. Plus, he’s been in every situation you can possible imagine and immediately commands the respect of any locker room he walks into.

If it weren’t for his age, I’d put him above Eli and Donovan, but they have more years ahead of them to try to match Warner’s accomplishments, plus have a less checkered history of injury.

Tier 4: Franchise QBs with Skins on the Wall

And by skins on the wall I am talking of course about playoff berths.

Fans of the teams these guys play for expect each to move into Tier 2 or Tier 3 by the time their career is over, and they’ve already come close to making the leap. All have the talent to do so, but it remains to be seen if they can take that next step.

For each one of these guys, moving into the next tier will be a function of one thing and one thing only: more playoff success.

9 – Philip Rivers, San Diego Chargers

I am a huge fan of this guy and came close to putting him in Tier 3. Yes, he makes funny faces and his whole nice-Christian- guy/supreme-trash-talker persona seems a bit incongruous, but this guy wins, and wins often, and is superb in clutch situations when his team counts on him.

Plus, go down the list below him and tell me (other than the aging and oft-injured Matt Hasselbeck) who has proven himself more than Rivers. He’s been in the playoffs every year he’s been a starter, made it to an AFC Championship game, and is another guy that commands the attention and respect of his teammates because they believe he will lead them to victory.

You can take any guy lower than Rivers on this list and I’ll play you head-to-head, with similar supporting casts, and I wouldn’t doubt victory for a second.

10 – Carson Palmer, Cincinnati Bengals

There was a time not long ago when Carson Palmer was on the verge of entering the upper-upper echelon of QBs in the NFL. When he led a young, talented Cincinnati team to the playoffs in 2005, everyone thought it was the beginning of a long run of playoff berths for Palmer and the Bengals.

But then the weight of the Bengals’ cursed franchise (or, namely, Kimo Von Oelhoffen) came down on Palmer’s knee. His injury shattered the team’s hopes in 2005 and began a spiral that saw the Bengals plummet to their usual lowly depths and saw Palmer fall off the elite QB radar screen.

Let’s face it, to truly be an elite franchise QB you have to be playing in January and February. Palmer hasn’t been the last few years, but appears poised to do so this year. He’s always had the Aikman-like talent and look about him, but he has been surrounded by chaos. Now he appears to finally have a focused, selfless, defensively competent team around him that is worthy of his talents.

11 – Tony Romo, Dallas Cowboys

Clearly numbers 10 and 11 on this list don’t have many playoff skins on the wall, but they have at least led their teams to the playoffs. Romo has had an ignominious experience in the playoffs, and has become a punchline for the tabloid headlines his personal life has generated, and he is referred to as Mr. November, but there are signs that he finally is starting to harness his potential and “get it.”

We won’t know for sure until December rolls around, at which time Romo must maintain the high level of play he’s had for the past month, but he appears to be maturing on and off the field and finally is the guy in Dallas. This is his team and the decision to jettison Terrell Owens is looking better and better by the week.

12 – Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons

Ryan has not even completed his second season in the NFL, but he makes this tier for good reasons. He clearly has the talent, he’s already taken more playoff snaps than Jay Cutler, Matt Schaub, and Aaron Rodgers combined, and he has the kind makeup and countenance that suggest he can someday become a Tier 2 or even Tier 1 QB.

Yes, he’s struggled a bit here lately in throwing too many interceptions, but if the playoffs started today he would be there once again. That’s the mark of a franchise QB and Ryan most certainly is that. He just needs more experience, but I don’t doubt that he will make a steady climb up this list in the years to come.

13 – Matt Hasselbeck, Seattle Seahawks

This is a tough one because Hasselbeck is the one guy in this tier who has actually played in a Super Bowl. He’s also played in more playoff games than Palmer, Romo, and Ryan combined. But when I check my gut feeling, I’d rather have all four of the guys above him with all else being equal.

Hasselbeck has been a very good QB for many years. I also think that he has benefitted from being in a very poor division that has provided him with an easier annual path to playoffs than the guys above him on this list. But the sad truth for Hasselbeck is that he’s now on the downside of his career and will probably be a constant injury risk as he gets older, considering he is already dealing with back problems.

Hasselbeck has had a great career and I don’t want to minimize it by placing him at the bottom of this tier, but power rankings are equal parts looking forward and looking back. The looking forward part just isn’t as rosy of a picture for Hasselbeck anymore.

14 – Joe Flacco, Baltimore Ravens

Flacco appears to have a lot of the same qualities as Matt Ryan, and also took his team to the playoffs in his first season. In fact, Flacco even won two playoff games and almost made the Super Bowl as a rookie. So why isn’t he higher on list?

I don’t think that Flacco was asked to do as much as Ryan. Yes, his poise and game management ability were impressive for a rookie, and that’s why he makes this tier in the first place, but I still feel like he has the most to prove of anyone in Tier 4.

Flacco is the one guy in the top 15 of these Power Rankings that has not yet dealt with the pressure of being the focal point of his team. He is becoming the Ravens’ focal point more and more, but Ray Lewis is still the alpha dog in Baltimore. I think Flacco will need to emerge from Ray’s shadow, as he gains more experience and wins, to move up the list.

Tier 5: Talented but Skinless Franchise QBs

The quarterbacks in this tier all have talent and the keys to a franchise, but have yet to take a snap in the playoffs. As with the Tier 4 QBs, fans of the teams these guys lead ultimately expect them to journey up this list, but they have to make the playoffs and win there first.

15 – Jay Cutler, Chicago Bears

He is the most talented of the guys in this tier, but has a severe fatal flaw to me: his attitude and body language. This opinion comes from an outsider’s perspective, but I just don’t ever recall seeing a winning QB with the kind of deflated body language and pouty faces that we see from Cutler. I can’t imagine that inspires a lot of confidence, belief, and trust with his teammates.

Yes, he has a cannon. And yes, he has great competitiveness and confidence. But he also throws too many INTs and the Broncos went from a yearly playoff team to a home-in-January team when he took over.

There are just too many questions about Cutler for him to be any higher than this.

16 – Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers

Rodgers does some good things and has the potential to be a very good QB for a long time. But like Cutler, Rodgers has a fatal flaw that kills his team time and again. In Rodgers’ case it is his propensity to take sacks. He simply has to learn to protect down and distance better or his teams will always be facing an uphill battle.

Rodgers’ other deficiency is that he has not yet shown the ability be a great 4th quarter QB. Until he does, he will never be able to be considered among the elites, no matter what his cumulative stats are at the end of the season.

17 – Matt Schaub, Houston Texans

Another really talented player who racks up great stats, but who is defined by his fatal flaw: he can’t stay healthy. He has played in every game this season, which is a major reason why the Texans have a winning record, but he can only be ranked so high until he plays a full 16-game schedule and we get to see him in the playoffs.

Tier 6 – The Grizzled but Inconsistent Veterans

18 – Kyle Orton, Denver Broncos

I don’t think Orton was ever quite as bad as he was made out to be during his Chicago tenure, but he certainly is not as good as people are making him out to be through eight games in Denver. And after being exposed a bit the last two weeks, the Orton hype will probably start dying down. He is what he is: a solid but unspectacular QB who protects the ball relatively well but needs great skill players and a great defense to win.

19 – Jake Delhomme, Carolina Panthers

I’ve always been a Delhomme fan and it was hard to have to leave him out of Tier 4. This is a guy who came within seconds of winning a Super Bowl, a guy who has been to the playoffs a good amount, and a guy who has engineered plenty of 4th quarter comebacks.

But the sad truth is that Delhomme’s solid career is ending with a whimper as he either seems to throw 4-5 INTs in a game or play it conservatively and get only 100-150 yards. Delhomme is no longer the future in Carolina and may not even be the present as soon as next season.

But I’ll tell you this, for what it’s worth: if I needed to win one game, I’d take him over any of the guys ranked lower on this list. He’s got too many skins on the wall not to at least give him that level of respect.

20 – Matt Cassel, Kansas City Chiefs

He burst onto the scene last year as Tom Brady’s replacement but it is hard to know just how much stock to put into his 2008 numbers. A lot of QBs would have succeeded playing with Randy Moss and Wes Welker with Bill Belichick and Josh McDaniels calling the shots. Cassel is getting his chance now to lead a franchise and is having an okay season below-the-radar in Kansas City. But like any other purported franchise QB, he’s got to have success in the playoffs to move up the list.

21 – David Garrard, Jacksonville Jaguars

Garrard appeared to be an up-and-comer as recently as 2007. He threw 18 TDs, on 3 INTs, and got a nice new contract from the Jags. But his entire team struggled last year amidst devastating losses on the offensive line. This year, Garrard is playing similarly to last year, which means he is just a pedestrian, average quarterback.

Because of his experience, I like him more than any of the guys lower on this list, but he is not quite what the Jags were hoping for when they signed him to the extension. By all accounts he is a great guy, he is just not a great QB.

22 – Vince Young, Tennessee Titians

Yes, Vince is still a young player, but I think we can safely consider him “grizzled” at this point. He’s won Rookie of the Year, been booed and benched, and now regained his starting job and won two straight starts. He still has a long way to go to become a consistent QB, but the potential is still there.

Of all the guys in this tier, Young is the guy I’d have the least confidence in right now, but he’s also the only guy I could see moving up two or three tiers as his career progresses.

And simply because they have to be ranked somewhere and I don’t want to think of another Tier name…

23 – Jason Campbell, Washington Redskins

It would have been great to see how Campbell’s career would have gone had he been able to stay in one offensive system from year-to-year. With all of the turmoil in Washington, Campbell has never really gotten a fair shot. His inconsistent career is the appropriate manifestation of the constant flux in Washington.

24 – Marc Bulger, St. Louis Rams

We can all agree that this guy is toast right?

Tier 7 – The Unknown Youngsters

We don’t really know anything about Mark Sanchez, Chad Henne, Matthew Stafford, or Josh Freeman, except that none of them are as good as Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco. I will say that I am not a huge fan of this year’s rookie QBs and would take Chad Henne over any of them. Only time will tell of course, so we’ll just have to wait and see.

Tier 8 – JaMarcus and the Rest

JaMarcus Russell, Derek Anderson, Brady Quinn, Trent Edwards, Alex Smith, Shaun Hill, Matt Leinart…all of these guys have been given varying amounts of opportunity and none have seized the opportunity to start (or in the case of Anderson and Russell, to start with any level of effectiveness). I have better things to do than parse through the wreckage at the bottom of this list.

Suffice it to say, these guys all suck until they prove otherwise.

So there you have it. I now step aside and leave the comment section to you. Where do you agree/disagree? Is anyone placed in the wrong tier? Your feedback and opinions are much anticipated and appreciated.

**********

* – Philip Rivers screaming photo credit: Hugging Harold Reynolds

* – Jay Cutler photo credit: Walking the Sidelines

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.

Unfortunately for Anderson, he was not given an opportunity to make amends for his JUGS INT nor his JaMarcus-esque QB rating. Brady Quinn was given the start against BYE, a move that Eric Mangini said was necessary for the future of the franchise.

“We are going to go with Brady this week,” Mangini explained at his Wednesday press conference. He then proceeded to move his mouth but no words came out, a new tactic for dealing with the press that ensures no information is given away that could compromise the immense competitive advantage the Browns have enjoyed so far this season.

After about ten more minutes of this pantomimed talking, a frustrated press corps simply began to get up one-by-one and exit. Finally the last reporter left and Mangini smiled, knowing that the precious information to which he’s privy — information that could lead to victory — would be safe from the evil, prying press for yet another week.

But that would be the last smile of the week for Mangini, who watched his team drop another crush home game yesterday to BYE by the final score of 27-6. The Browns fell behind 10-0 early and never were able to recover.

Brady Quinn was ineffective early in the game, much to the chagrin of Mangini and offensive coordinator Brian Daboll. In fact, Quinn’s struggles with accuracy were so pronounced that Anderson was informed he should start warming up. Unfortunately, Anderson went 3-10 on his warm-up tosses and was intercepted by a ball boy.

That’s when the Browns made the call to Brett Ratliff.

What ensued were the most exciting seven minutes of Browns offensive football anyone can remember.

Ratliff took over with the Browns on their own 41 thanks to a solid kickoff return by Josh Cribbs. He then proceeded to do the unthinkable and strung together three consecutive first downs. The drive stalled then stalled as BYE’s defense stiffened and the Browns kicked a field goal.

Incredibly, the Browns forced a three and out on BYE’s next possession and Ratliff once again led the Browns on a field goal drive. The score was 13-6 at this point with all of the momentum on the side of the Browns.

But then reality set in, and BYE proceeded to score 14 unanswered points to seal the victory.

Needless to say, players were despondent in the locker room afterwards.

“Usually BYE week is such a breeze,” said veteran running back Jamal Lewis. “To tell you the truth, I’ve never experience a BYE week like this. It seriously felt like BYE just whipped our asses this week. I’m exhausted mentally, physically, and emotionally.”

Lewis was then asked if his retirement was still imminent.

“We just lost on our BYE week, what do you think?” he replied.

Outside of Cleveland Browns stadium, the reaction was not any more positive. Browns fan Lew Singhope said it was the worst lost he can remember in his 40+ years as a Browns fan.

“Who loses to BYE?” asked Singhope. “I was just so sure that we’d come out of this weekend with only seven losses. This is just crushing.”

Singhope’s tailgate partner, Damwi Arnogood, agreed.

“Yeah, I’m bummed out,” Arnogood said. “But that’s what separates Browns fans from every other fan base. The schedule may say BYE, but the fans never will. It hurts to lose, sure, but I’ll be here next Monday night at kickoff like I always am.”

Let’s hope that all Browns fans maintain such perspective and are there cheering from the kickoff Monday night. The Old Browns are coming to town, and it sure would be sweet to get win #2 of the season at home, in front of a national TV audience, against the team that was ripped away from the city.

It would certainly be a great way to rebound from what has been a terrible BYE week in Cleveland.

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.

10 – George Kokinis, former Browns GM

That’s right, Kokinis. I know it sounds strange, but Randy Lerner went against the grain this offseason in hiring Eric Mangini less than ten days after Mangini was fired by the Jets. Before you pooh-pooh this one as being ridiculous and totally outlandish, ask yourself: would you really be 100% surprised?

This is, after all, the Browns we’re talking about here.

9 – LeBron James, Global Icon

Right now the Browns are bringing nothing but despair and embarrassment to the city of Cleveland. In this sense, they are much like the Indians. The Cavs, however, and their hometown superstar, are the one positive sports story the city has to grasp onto.

Until LeBron bolts for the East Coast.

Why not sweeten the Cleveland pot by giving him a the GM position with the Browns? He was a good football player in high school and could ultimately pull an MJ by coming down from the owner’s box and suiting up. Then the Browns would actually have an NFL-caliber receiver.

8 – Ryan Russell, Browns Fan Extraordinaire

You know Ryan from his work here at MSF. If you were at the Cavs’ game on Halloween night, you also know him from his incredible Eric Mangini costume, as chronicled briefly in the video below:

Clearly Ryan and Mangini would be on the same page when it comes to player fines. That’s a start.

7 – Gregg Williams, current Defensive Coordinator of the New Orleans Saints

Williams may not have credentials to be a GM, but that’s never stopped the Browns from hiring people before.

Actually, I propose Williams be named GM / Offensive Coordinator. Sounds strange, right? But think about this: the Saints’ defense has actually scored six touchdowns this season, whereas the Browns’ offense has only scored five. The numbers speak for themselves.

6 – Krayzie Bone, rapper and Cleveland native

You know Krayzie Bone from his work with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and his subsequent productions as a solo artist. He is also a native of Cleveland who understands the longtime suffering of Browns fans.

Plus, rumors out of Cleveland suggest that Defensive Coordinator Rob Ryan is sick of being the only person referred to as “crazy” around the office. It’s not that he is offended, he’s just ready for a new nickname. Having Krayzie Bone around would give Ryan a chance to be referred to as “wacko”, “crazy man”, and his own personal favorite phrase: “$&@$!“.

5 – John Elway, Browns Dream Denyer

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, right?

John Elway always seemed to dash Cleveland’s Super Bowl hopes back during the time many, many eons ago when the franchise was competitive. Perhaps he can sprinkle some of his Elway Dust in Berea and reverse the obvious curse that has haunted the franchise since its return.

Sure, it might make the older generation of Browns fans wretch, but wouldn’t everyone get over it if the team made the playoffs? Most every Browns fan I know would sell their souls to the Devil himself for a playoff run. Hiring John Elway would be close, but not quite that bad.

4 – Doc Brown, Inventor

Does the phrase 1.21 gigowatts mean anything to you?

If you’re a Browns fan it should, because imagine all the great things that could be done with Doc Brown as GM and his magic Delorean at the organization’s disposal.

• Go back to 1965 and convince Jim Brown to play another couple of years, thus making more championships possible during the early years of the franchise.
• Go back to 1987 and have someone grab and twist John Elway’s ankle in the middle of the 4th quarter. We wouldn’t want to injure him seriously (well…) but enough so that he couldn’t engineer the famous game-winning drive that haunts the Browns to this day.
• Go back to 1988 and convince Earnest Byner to protect the ball a little bit better.
• Go back to 1999 and draft any of the following instead of Tim Couch: Donovan McNabb, Edgerrin James, Ricky Williams, Torry Holt, Champ Bailey, Andy Katzenmoyer…wait, scratch the last one.
• Go back to the 2008 offseason and not hire George Kokinis…thus rendering his firing yesterday impossible…thus rendering the hiring of Doc Brown impossible…thus erasing all of the previously changed events…thus restoring all of the unhappy memories that define Browns football.

Damnit! We were so close.

3 – Derek Anderson, current Browns starting QB

Think about it: if Anderson has to take over the GM duties, then he can’t play quarterback. We would then be spared from having to watch the only QB in the NFL playing worse than JaMarcus Russell.

The fact there is even a QB playing worse than JaMarcus Russell is mind-boggling…and depressing. And who knows, Mangini might still keep Anderson out there anyway.

Scratch this one. Anderson would probably just give his responsibilities to someone in an opposing franchise anyway…kind of like what he does with the football on a weekly basis.

2 – Jon Gruden, Super Bowl winning coach and Monday Night Football announcer

Have you ever heard this guy say anything negative about anyone on Monday night? In fact, have you ever heard this guy refer to anyone as anything other than a great player or a genius?

I can’t wait to hear what this guy has to say Browns players next week when Cleveland plays Baltimore on Monday Night Football.

On Derek Anderson: “This guy, he’s just an excellent quarterback. He has size, he has a rocket arm, and he’s a guy you can build a winning football team around.”

On Eric Mangini: “This guy, I tell you what, I’ve watched film with him before and he’s a coaching genius. We need to get more press for this guy and get him some Coach of the Year votes.”

I mean, this guy, Jon Gruden, he’s taken to his new position as an announcer and just done a great job. He’s an announcing genius. Not to mention a coaching genius.

Imagine bringing him in as GM. Surely his strategy of positive reinforcement would come with him once he has another NFL job. Hmm…on second thought…

1 – Cleveland Brown, star of The Cleveland Show

The Browns have won only one more game this season than a bunch of cartoon football players would have won, so why not hire a cartoon character to lead the organization? And could his name be any more perfect?

Honestly, this is a match made in Berea.

And from the underwhelming reviews that I’ve seen of The Cleveland Show, it might actually be FOX’s equivalent to the Browns. A perfect match!

Randy Lerner, as sad as it is to say, I think we’ve found the perfect candidate for your franchise.

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.

Onto the Browns defense.

Only giving up three points for the game was an incredible feat, regardless of the opponent. The Browns D had two fumble recoveries, an interception, and two sacks. In addition, they gave up only 288 total yards.

Team discipline was also a huge positive. The Cleveland Browns were penalized only three times for 29 yards.

Finally, Dave Zastudil was outstanding. Zastudil punted nine times with a 42.1 yard average. His long was 57 yards, and seven out of his nine punts were downed inside the 20 yard line, with two punts downed at the one yard line of Buffalo!

Now onto the bad.

Let’s reflect back to the Browns-Ravens game from Week 3. Brady Quinn’s first half consisted of him going 6 for 8 with 34 yards passing and one interception. This performance led to his benching in favor of Derek Anderson. Anderson’s second half versus the Ravens produced three interceptions and 92 yards on an 11 of 19 performance.

This week versus Buffalo, Anderson was 2 of 17.

TWO OF SEVENTEEN. No, that is not a typo, but yes it is a franchise record for passing futility in one game.

TWO OF SEVENTEEN FOR 23 YARDS, WITH A PICK.

 60 minutes of football, and all Derek Anderson could produce was 23 lousy yards!

Based on this, how can you honestly keep Derek Anderson in the lineup as your starting quarterback. Buffalo’s D is not Baltimore, Philly, Pittsburgh or Minnesota.

23 yards?

I have never been more disappointed in a Browns win than I was today.

What’s the fix? (Here’s a hint: it does not include Brady Quinn or Derek Anderson!)

Click here to see the rest…

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* – Jamal Lewis photo credit: John Kuntz via The Plain Dealer

Kurt Fraschetti / Profootballinsight.net
MSF Senior Writer
Kurt@ProFootballinsight.net

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.

The game started off like a typical Browns’ game, with the Bengals scoring twice early to get a commanding 14-0 lead. The Browns had possession of the football for a total of 52 seconds in the first quarter.

The Browns lucked out when defensive monster Shaun Rodgers blocked a Shayne Graham FG attempt. It was a huge relief for the team since Carson Palmer had led the Bengals all the way down to the 5 yard line, a drive that went almost the length of the field. That momentum for the Browns, however, was quickly drowned out by a short 3-and-out.

The game started to brighten up for the Browns after a 58-yard kickoff return by Joshua Cribbs. The Browns marched all the way to the 21-yard line. Then, the things that seem to only happen in Cleveland, happened. After what seemed to be a good drive, Jerome Harrison was stripped of the ball by defensive-end Robert Geathers which was returned for a touchdown.

The day then started to look better as the Browns started to make some plays.

Derek Anderson was starting to connect with his receivers, and the defense was making stops, even forcing an interception. The Browns actually looked ready to play.

They thought they had scored a touchdown on a 24-yard pass from Anderson to the rookie Mohammed Massaquoi. However, he was called out of bounds at the 1 yard line. Derek Anderson then threw a short pass to tight end Steve Heiden in the back of the end zone, and the Browns were back in it.

For the first time in nine quarters, Cleveland had scored a touchdown.

The Browns took a trip down the field but Derek Anderson was intercepted in the endzone by cornerback Jonathan Joseph. After a Bengals 3-and-out, Cleveland made it down the field again. This led to a one-yard rushing touchdown by Derek Anderson.

The Browns had tied it at 14, and what started out looking like a blowout was becoming an intense game.

After the touchdown, Andre Caldwell fumbled the kickoff return and it was recovered by the Browns’ Blake Costanzo. The Bengals’ defense clenched down, only allowing a field goal. This made the game 17-14 in favor of the Browns. A series of field goals later tied the game at 20 and took both teams into overtime.

Cincinnati won the coin toss, and started with the ball on the 15 yard line. Possession changed 6 times until, with 3:23 left on the clock, the Bengals received a touchback and started on their own 20. As Palmer threw his way down the field, things looked good or the Bengals until they reached 4th & 11. There was 1:04 left on the clock, on Cleveland’s 41.

Carson Palmer had just been sacked by defensive tackle Corey Williams, and things didn’t look so great after all.

But then, out of nowhere, Palmer rushed up the middle for a 15-yard gain. That put the nail in the coffin as the Bengals kicked the winning field goal as time expired.

Even though the Browns lost a thriller to their division rival, things looked better on Sunday. The Browns were getting down the field, making plays, and most importantly, scoring touchdowns.

The young players that stuck out were Mohammed Massaqoui and Jerome Harrison.

Massaqoui had 8 receptions for 148 yards. Minus the fumble, Harrison had a good performance with 29 carries for 121 yards. It looks as if Derek Anderson secured himself a spot as the starter for next week with a pretty decent performance. He threw 26-48 for 269 yards with 1 TD, 1 INT, also scoring a rushing TD.

Linebacker D’Qwell Jackson had the most tackles out of both teams with 12. Shaun Rodgers also blocked his 13th career field goal.

Still, you have to think Browns’ fans are getting restless with head coach Eric Mangini after an 0-4 start.

Carson Palmer was clutch for the Bengals, throwing 23-44 for 230 yards with 2 TD, 1 INT. Cincinnati’s leading rusher was Cedric Benson, carrying the ball 18 times for 74 yards.

After this win, the Bengals are in a tie with the Baltimore Ravens for first place in the AFC North Division. After beating two division rivals in back-to-back weeks, the Bengals have to be feeling good. The Bengals play their third rival, the Ravens, next week to determine who will take first place. With this win, the Bengals are off to their best start since 2006.

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.

The Browns’ offensive woes run far deeper than just the QB. But at least the Browns did move the ball a little bit with D.A. in there last Sunday.

If nothing else, having Anderson in there makes Braylon Edwards a deep threat again and forces defenses to respect the Browns’ ability to stretch the field. That, if nothing else, should open up a few more holes for the running backs and make defenses play the Browns a little more honestly.

The downside, of course, is that there is now an exponential increase in the possibly of the Browns’ QB throwing the ball to the team wearing the wrong jersey.

But at least Mangini didn’t drag this out until Sunday. Now we know, Derek is starting.

The question is: will it make a difference?

We’ll see.

The only source of optimism I can find right now is this box score from 2007, which harkens us all back to a time when the Browns seemed like a team on the rise, rather than on the verge of utter collapse. Yes, there was a time when the Browns’ QB threw for 5 TDs in a single game.

At the rate we’re on right now, we’ll be lucky to see 5 TD passes all season.

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?

Open letter to Browns owner Randy Lerner:

“As a successful billionaire businessman, you must know the hiring of Eric Mangini is a mistake. The man is incapable of teaching, coaching, drafting or motivating the players on the Browns, the team that your father, Al Lerner, willed you on his deathbed. Al must be screaming obscenities from his grave.

“If a manager you appointed in your business failed to deliver on his promises, you would fire him — or at the very least — relocate him.

“Mangini believes he is a football god with all the answers. He is incapable of self-criticism — and those kind of individuals do not change or grow.

FIRE MANGINI TODAY. Take the hit to your wallet and find a better coach.

Sincerely,

Cleveland Browns fans from across the world”

The Cleveland Browns not only lost big to the Baltimore Ravens, but lost its team; and perhaps worse, demoralized so-called starting quarterback Brady Quinn and killed the confidence of Derek Anderson who was told right before the second half kick-off he was going in to face the Raven D.

Derek being Derek, his big gun drove the team down the field to a field goal, but his gun also misfired for three interceptions and a QB rating of 30.9. Quinn’s was 42.7. Baltimore’s Joe Flacco’s QB rating was about 110.

Perhaps Terry Pluto, The Plain Dealer columnist said it best: “Until further notice, the Cleveland Browns have become the franchise where quarterbacks go to see their careers die.”

Quinn, who led the Notre Dame offense in college and put up 30 and 29 point respectively against Denver and Buffalo last year, suddenly can’t move the ball?

To quote a frustrated Buffalo Bill Terrell Owens after Sunday’s game, he runs “the plays that are called.”

The lame, vanilla plays called by rookie offensive coordinator Brian Dabold depend on a running back that equals the resurrection of a young Jim Brown. Two running plays up the middle with puny Jerome Harrison and a weak offensive line? Then it is third and seven and Braylon Edwards is not free, everyone else is covered or not looking — so what does a QB do? Either check down and complete a three yard pass (Quinn) or force the throw and wind up with three interceptions (Anderson).

The pathetic thing is, the Browns could have had better players like Cincy’s Rey Maualuga or Clay Mathews Jr. or Knowshon Moreno. And if Mangini was so unimpressed with his QBs, Mark Sanchez was there for the taking.

But Noooo! Let’s get a few Jets retreads instead.

Good draft picks were made in the second round with Massaquoi and Brian Robiskie. But Massaquoi has been a ghost on the field, barely there for one play, then *poof*…disappearing into the Browns bench. And Ohio State stand-out wide receiver Robiskie has not been allowed to dress. (Did Robiskie maybe voice his opinion to Coach or fail to bow with deference? Only the shadow knows.)

And now we hear that up to five Browns players are filing grievances against Mangini, at least two for being charged $1,700 for forgetting to pay for $3 bottles of water from a hotel.

Other players have quit on the field. When Baltimore gets three running touchdowns without any Cleveland defensive player even touching him … can they be this bad? Or have they given up?

You decide, midwestsportsfans.com readers.

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*- Derek Anderson photo credit: SI

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.

Ugh.

And double ugh.

According to ESPN’s Chris Mortenson, the latest injury update on Chad Pennington is that he has a torn capsule in his throwing shoulder. Mort’s sources are telling him that Pennington will not return in 2009.

He is reportedly seeking a second opinion from Dr. James Andrews, but no one is apparently optimistic that said second opinion will yield results any different from the first.

This is now the third time that Pennington has dealt with significant injuries to his throwing shoulder. And for a guy who already had questionable arm strength, this injury can’t bode well for his future as a starting quarterback in the NFL.

I’ll update this post if there is anything new to report on Pennington, but it doesn’t sound optimistic.

As for the Browns…well there isn’t really much to say. Eric Mangini has, predictably, refused to name a starting QB for next week’s home game against Cincinnati. I guess he figures that with our offense looking so horrendously pathetic through three games, not naming a starter is the only possible advantage he has…no matter how infinitesimally small of an advantage it provides.

When both of your quarterbacks are playing like garbage, and getting no help from the other ten guys on offense, the truth is that it probably doesn’t matter who Mangini names.

Heck, at this point, Chad Pennington — right now, injured — might be a better option for the Browns.

It’s too bad the Browns and Dolphins don’t play eachother this year.  At least then I’d know that one of them is guaranteed to win a game this season.

Thanks for reading. Excuse me while I lay my head down on my keyboard and cry.

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* – Chad Pennington photo credit: Donald Miralle/Getty Images via Bleacher Report

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.

Yes, 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.

I 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

Quinn outplayed his rival for the starting gig, Derek Anderson, by going 11-15 with 128 yards and a TD to Braylon Edwards. Anderson was not bad, 7-11 for 77 yards, but could only muster a field goal drive.

However, it looks like this week will only bring disappointment for anyone hoping that head coach Eric Mangini will tip his hand and name a starter with just under two weeks left until the team laces it up for real.

Follow these links to StubHub for great deals on 2009 Browns tickets or tickets to all NFL games.

From our good friends at the OBR:

Eric Mangini said he still is not ready to name a starter at quarterback.

“No decision, yet,” Mangini said in is Monday morning press conference.

…

Mangini said he is committed to going through the whole process, even if that means Thursday’s preseason finale with the Bears.

As I see it, there are three probable explanations for why Mangini still refuses to name a starter, even when all of the signs point to Brady Quinn eventually getting the job:

1. Derek Anderson has performed relatively well in the last two preseason games and is the only one of the two who has played a full season and made a Pro Bowl. Maybe Mangini really doesn’t know yet.
2. The Browns would probably still like to trade one of them, thus reducing the possibility of a QB controversy that could hover over the team all season. As Barry McBride from the OBR pointed out to us this weekend, Mangini would not want to reduce the trade value of either by designating one a backup.
3. Mangini is from the Bill Belichick school of hoarding information and giving out as little as possible. He not doubt wants to have an auspicious debut in front of the home fans in Week 1, and the less time Minnesota has to prepare for a particular QB, the better.

My gut tells me that Brady is the guy, and that the second and third reasons are the most probable explanations for why the “Brady or Derek” QB question will linger at least through this week. And honestly, it works for me.

Information = leverage and power in the NFL. If we have some irons in the fire for a potential trade of D.A. (and I have no knowledge that this is the case), why not see those discussions through without minimizing his value? And if the offense is progressing without one guy being the designated starter, as it seems to be based on the performance against the Titans, then why not make Minnesota play a guessing game for as long as possible?

We’ll get our answer regarding the Browns QB soon enough. In the meantime, we’ll have to keep guessing…but the advantage is that so will everyone else.

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* – Brady Quinn / Derek Anderson photo credit: Getty via FanNation

And remember, if you are a Cleveland Browns fan, there is no greater Cleveland Browns resource online than the Orange & Brown Report. So click over there and register for premium access. The best part: you get a 7-day free trial to realize how kick ass it is. We know that with Eric Mangini in charge, information will be hard to come by. No one will have more than these guys.

If you don’t want to do the premium access right now, at the very least follow the OBR on Twitter for the latest Browns news as it happens.

Also, follow these links to StubHub for great deals on 2009 Browns tickets or tickets to all NFL games.

Okay, I’ve shilled enough (but I do mean it, these guys are great). Onto the Q&A:

Q: I heard Gil Brandt on Sirius say that the reason the Browns have not announced their QB yet is because they are trying to trade Brady Quinn or Derek Anderson and do not want to hurt the trade value for either. Is there any truth to this, based on what you know? And how do you see the QB situation shaking out?

Barry McBride: Gil Brandt is obviously a great football mind and still well-connected in NFL circles. This isn’t a new thought, however. It’s something we’ve discussed on the OBR ever since Eric Mangini announced that there would be a quarterback competition back in March during the scouting combines.

At the time, there was a lot of speculation that the Browns would deal either Quinn or Anderson for draft picks, and it made no sense to reduce the trade value of either by declaring one of them to be the team’s backup. It’s certainly possible that one or the other will still be dealt, and that this is why Mangini is waiting, although there isn’t anything visibly percolating at the moment.

Another way to look at it is that neither quarterback has stepped up and grabbed the job by the throat. The Browns hoped that either Quinn or DA would make it a non-issue by their performance this Summer, but both quarterbacks continue to demonstrate their respective strengths and weaknesses as expected. Neither has really stepped their game up to the point where the job was clearly won, although Quinn still seems to have the edge.

One other thing to keep in mind is that Eric Mangini’s penchant for secrecy dates back to his time as a defensive coordinator working for Bill Belichick. He has said that one of the toughest things for him to overcome as a defensive coordinator is not knowing which quarterback he will be facing in the coming weeks. He may simply be holding off declaring a winner to make it harder for the Vikings to plan for the season opener.

Q: One of my thoughts regarding DA and Brady is that while Brady should, theoretically, be less prone to the boneheaded mistakes we’ve become accustomed to with Derek, having Derek as the starter would be better for Braylon. And with the Browns devoid of proven playmakers on offense, putting Braylon in the best position to succeed may be the best move for us offensively. Do you agree?

Barry McBride: I like how you’re thinking, but I’m not sure I’m fully on board.

The first thought that springs to mind is that the biggest challenge to Braylon Edwards’ success since 2007 has typically been Braylon himself. While undeniably talented, Edwards seems to suffer from lapses in focus that aren’t dependent on who is quarterbacking. He has memorable dropped touchdown passes that have been delivered to him from both Quinn and Anderson in the past, as recently as the first preseason game against the Packers when Quinn hit him in the back of the end zone.

If anything, Quinn’s softer touch with the football might help Edwards hold onto the ball somewhat, although Anderson’s ability to stretch the field obviously makes Edwards a threat on every play, as does Anderson’s sometimes stubborn desire to focus on getting the ball to him even when dealing with double or triple-coverage.

One other factor that suggests that Quinn might ultimately help Edwards is that it’s critical for the Browns to have credible #2 and #3 receiving threats, and a credible threat of runners catching passes out of the backfield as well. Anderson has a tendency to continually attempt to feed the ball to Edwards (and Winslow in past years), and Quinn’s tendency to go through his progressions quickly might force opponents to take the Browns’ other receivers far more seriously and help reduce the amount of attention that Edwards gets from opponents.

I suspect that we’ll ultimately really only know how Edwards would fare under a full season with Quinn at QB is to give that option a chance, and see how he does.

(As I am posting this, Phil Dawson just kicked a field goal. Browns close the gap to 7-3.)

Q: As a fan who is 1,000 miles away from the action, I can only look at stats and quotes in the paper to make a judgment. With QBs though, leadership, intangibles, huddle command, etc., are so important. Between Derek and Brady, who seems to have more respect from their teammates? Who “commands” the team better? Or have they not separated themselves in this regard either?

Barry McBride: I would give the edge here to Quinn as well, based on what I’ve heard through OBR reporters like Lane Adkins and Fred Greetham.

With some strong personalities on the Browns (as with every team), it’s critical that there not be a question about who is in charge in the huddle. As we’ve been told by players themselves, there’s no question when Quinn is on the field that he’s running the show. Although it’s never been said outright by his teammates, by extension, one can infer that Anderson may be somewhat less of a take-charge guy. I have to add, however, that Lane Adkins has relayed this year that Anderson’s approach in that department has taken a step up. He has a little more of a swagger about him than in past years.

Full disclosure: Someone reading the last two answers may conclude that I’ve got my mind made up about who I think would serve the Browns better in the long run. To that, I have to say, “guilty as charged”.

I was an advocate of drafting Quinn, have advocated giving him opportunities faster, and have been skeptical about Anderson ever since we got our first prolonged exposure to him during 2007 training camp. He’s clearly got tremendous athletic ability and potential that makes offensive coordinators salivate, but I admit that I still see the same quarterback from Oregon State highlight films: rocket arm, sprays the ball all over the field, and has a very high dependence on getting good protection and having receivers who will out-muscle defenders for the ball. That all came together to support him in 2007, and he was a Pro Bowler. It didn’t happen in 2008, and I don’t see it happening in 2009, either. On a team that has those attributes around him, Anderson could be very successful, but the Browns just aren’t there.

Q: Okay, well that about wraps things up. Wait…oh…there are 21 other starting positions on the Browns this year? Who knew?

What is the status of the contract talks with Josh Cribbs? When I watched the Detroit preseason game, it reminded me that we do, in fact, have a gamebreaker other than Dropsie Edwards. To me, especially with his improvement as a WR, Cribbs’ contract demands are not in any way outlandish. Are Mangini and Kokinis just playing a cat-and-mouse game with Cribbs and planning to sign him, or do you think they just are not convinced yet that he is worth more than he is making?

Barry McBride: Cribbs has agreed to come in, practice, and play despite lack of visible progress being made on his contract. Obviously, he’s a key component of the Browns special teams, but the team itself claims to be mystified as to how to price a return man (and obviously is not wanting to give Cribbs the same money that the Bears laid out for Devin Hester). The Browns are also, like most NFL teams, reluctant to tear up a contract with two years left. Although it should be noted that this reluctance rarely is in evidence when players are under-performing rather than out-performing their deals.

As luck would have it, the preseason has given Cribbs a chance to make a serious push for the #2 WR role which, if he wins it, bails both him and the team out by providing some more guidance about where Cribbs’ price should be, as well as a stronger rationalization for doing so. The Cribbs saga has yet to play out, but has already been marked by some of the worst mainstream media reporting I’ve ever seen, as both local and national media elements carve headlines out of virtually nothing more than having their previous assumptions about Cribbs’ intentions proven wrong.

Q: There have been rumblings recently that James Davis could start sneaking his way into more first team action. How patient will Mangini be with Jamal Lewis if Jamal continues to be slow to the hole and sports a 3.5-3.8 yard per carry average? And how does Jerome Harrison fit into this equation? Mangini seemed committed to getting Harrison the ball based on comments from early training camp, but Davis appears to have passed him over the last week. When will Jerome get back on the field and how do you see the attempts being split up between he and the rook?

Barry McBride: I don’t see Davis and Harrison as being much in conflict since they’re different types of backs. Harrison, although he gets more yards after contact than I would have expected, still primarily fits the mold of an NFL third-down back, whereas Davis is more of a between-the-tackles runner, like Jamal Lewis. I see Davis as spelling Lewis, with Harrison appearing more in third down situations. What Davis’ emergence means to Harrison is that he’s less likely to get opportunities to serve as an every down back, although I considered that to be somewhat questionable in any event.

If the interior of the Browns offensive line can’t hold holes open for longer than they have in the preseason, Lewis’ opportunities will go down, since Davis is quicker to the hole. This won’t make Lewis happy, as he still seems to firmly believe he’s most effective with 20-25 carries per game. While statistics bear that out for his career as a whole, it’s a dubious notion at this point.

Q: Real quick before we move to defense, what can Browns fans expect from the offensive line this year? Obviously Joe Thomas is an anchor on the left side, but will this year’s line be closer in performance to the 2007 unit or last year’s sieve?

Barry McBride: I wouldn’t expect 2007-level performance, simply because I don’t believe that Pork Chop Womack can perform at the same level that Ryan Tucker did during that year. We found out in 2008 how critical Tucker was to that unit and to helping out the undersized Hank Fraley and new right tackle Kevin Shaffer. It’s no coincidence, in my view, that the team’s best performance last year came in the one game where Tucker appeared. He has been on and off the practice field all preseason, and I don’t anticipate that he’ll be able to help take the right side of the Browns line up to the next level. Womack and John St. Clair have been steady and professional, although St. Clair has shown in the preseason a tendency towards ill-timed penalties.

Alex Mack has a very good shot of displacing Hank Fraley at center, but we’ve already seen him dealing with the rough NFL learning curve. In the AFC North, he’ll have to contend with some of the best nose tackles in the league. Expect mistakes to be made as Mack adjusts to the NFL.

Q: Braylon Edwards is the only “sure thing” in the receiving corps (except when wide open passes come his way, of course). How have the rookies looked? And is Mike Furrey (only a few years removed from a really good season in Detroit) an under-the-radar acquisition to could have 50-, 60-catch impact and play a QB-friendly role like what Joe Jurevicius was in ‘07?

Barry McBride: Furrey looks like a very good third receiver so far, which the team has missed ever since Dennis Northcutt went on his way. It’s doubtful that he could equate to what Jurevicius did (since Furrey will be out of the slot, and JJ was a #2 WR, in any event). It looks like he might be a smart fantasy football pickup late in the draft based on his performance so far in the preseason. He will probably get 30-40 catches from what I’ve seen so far.

Brian Robiskie has been a little bit disappointing since being hyped as a pro-ready NFL receiver, but such hype rarely proves true. Both he and Massaqoui are dealing with the usual struggles you see receivers suffer in their rookie season. At this point, Massaquoi may be higher on the depth chart based on his performance to date. He has looked very solid both in practice and games and should be in line for some playing time as the season begins.

Q: We know that everything defensively revolves around Shaun Rogers, with D’Qwell Jackson providing steady performance at LB, but it seems to me that for the Browns to to improve defensively, two things need to happen: Kamerion Wimbley needs to get to 11-12 sacks and fulfill the potential he showed as a rookie, and the Eric Wright-Brandon McDonald combo needs to become more consistent. Do you agree? And is there anything inherent in the new system/coaching staff that should help these players improve this seson?

Barry McBride: The Browns really needed to improve their game up the middle, and adding Eric Barton alongside D’Qwell Jackson seems to be a terrific move so far. Rod Hood has given Brandon McDonald a little push, but the team’s early scouting of corners for next year’s college draft convinces me that neither may be seen as the long-term answer there. A bigger question at this point is at safety, where the team has little depth behind starter Brodney Pool, whose ability to play is in question following last week’s game. Pool has a concussion history and the team has not revealed why he appeared to woozily walk off the field. If Pool is not available, the Browns defense will suffer.

Wimbley has a chance to perform better this year for a couple of reasons. The first is that the team has improved their consistency and depth in the defensive line, with C.J. Mosely providing a solid addition, and Wimbley needs that in order to have a lane to the quarterback. Secondly, the coaching staff has shown much more enthusiasm for moving Wimbley around from right to left, which is something Romeo Crennel rarely did. By making Wimbley’s position on the field less predictable, he has the possibility for greater success. It will ultimately be up to him to take advantage of his role in this defense.

Q: The NFL is notorious for having teams go from worst-to-first. In the AFC North, Pittsburgh is the defending Super Bowl champ, Cincinnati is starting to become a popular darkhorse candidate for improvement with Carson Palmer back, and though they seem to be terrible every other season and lost Rex Ryan, Baltimore is still Baltimore. Put on your optimists hat (if you can): why is not an outlandish idea for Browns fans to dream of an AFC North title? (Or is there simply no reason to do so?)

Barry McBride: It’s always possible, as long as meteors and comets are around that could possibly smash into Pittsburgh or Baltimore while their respective teams are practicing. Or, better yet, when the two face off in the same stadium.

Outside of that, it’s going to be a rough road for a Browns team that still needs to show that it can get consistent performance on offense and stop the run effectively on defense. Three possibly optimistic signs: (1) This team did go 10-6 just a couple of years ago, so there’s more talent than is obvious from last year’s 4-12 record; (2) Barring the loss of Pool. they could always get lucky with injuries, which is always the great unknown going into every season; and, (3) Mangini did manage to turn the Jets around during his first year as head coach.

An 8-8 season is not totally unreasonable, but I still believe that the team has a significant uphill battle ahead of them. They face six tough games within the division, and will have to have a large number of things go right for them in order to make noise in the AFC North.

Thanks for the great questions!!

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[Editor's Note: And we thank Barry McBride for taking the time to answer our questions.  Now that you've enjoyed the Q&A, hop on over to the OBR and sign up!]

* – Brady Quinn / Derek Anderson photo credit: Getty via FanNation

But who knew that through their front page layout designs they also send subliminal messages about NFL quarterback competitions?

Earlier today, I was trying to find the point spread for the Bears-Broncos preseason game to add to Tyler’s post. My first stop when needing such information is typically BetUs (unless I want to see an amalgamation of spreads from a variety of sources, then I go to DocSports). When I traveled over to BetUs earlier today, I was surprised by what I saw on their home page. 

Here is a screenshot:

Seems pretty normal right? It’s almost NFL season, so they are promoting their NFL sportsbook, and there is what appears to be just a generic football player used as window dressing. Generic, gray colors with no logos to associate the player with a particular team. Pretty standard stuff for what you see on sportsbook websites.

Follow the links to StubHub for great deals on Cleveland Browns Tickets and all 2009 NFL season tickets.

But then I did a double take.  And I thought to myself, no, that couldn’t be…could it? So I looked a little closer:

Wait a minute…that’s not just some generic football player. It’s Derek Anderson! Quarterback of my beloved Browns! He of the surprising 2007 Pro Bowl season, and the man currently entrenched in a preseason battle for the starting QB gig in Cleveland with the pretty boy golden domer.

I wanted to be sure though. The generic colors had me slightly unsure of myself, and I figured a quick Google image search might do the trick. And, lo and behold, there on the first page of the search was this picture:

This particular image (by Julie Jacobson of the AP) was found at OregonLive.com and confirmed my suspicions that, yes indeed, BetUs had chosen Derek Anderson to be the icon for their football sportsbook.

This immediately galvanized two pressing questions in my head:

1: Does BetUs know something that the rest of us Browns fans do not?

As has been well documented, Eric Mangini has said repeatedly that neither Anderson nor Brady Quinn has seized the upper hand in their battle for the starting gig. Quinn played well in the first preseason game, Anderson played well in the second one, and both will see time in the third game against Tennessee, ostensibly to decide this thing once and for all.

But BetUs’s business is making predictions. Why would they put a guy in their front page banner that was going to lose? (Unless, of course, they think Anderson will cover the spread…) Could it be that the BetUs folks have done what no else has been able to do: get a straight answer from Eric Mangini on the most important question of first Browns training camp?

Umm…probably not. Still, on a website in which pretty much every sentence is making some sort of prediction, it’s hard not to infer the subliminal message being sent here.

2: Is Derek Anderson, perhaps the most unpredictable quarterback in the NFL, really a good icon for a site like BetUs?

Obviously my insinuations in Question #1 are somewhat nonsensical. This question, however, is quite valid.

The goal of people laying their hard earned cash down on NFL games is to reduce risk and volatility in an effort to give themselves the best possible shot of winning more bets than they lose so that they can ultimately turn a profit. Bettors are always striving to find the “sure thing” wherever it may be.

Ask any Browns fan if Derek Anderson’s play even remotely resembles a “sure thing” and you will no doubt be met with cackles and guffaws as said Brown backer recounts in his or her head the unexpected rise of Anderson in 2007, his failure down the stretch when a playoff berth hung in the balance, and then his struggles last year when many people were drafting him as a #1 fantasy QB.

Sure thing? I don’t think so.

Derek Anderson is capable of flashes of greatness, and on the other hand just as capable of flashes of complete ineptitude. The problem, for his coaches, teammates, and fans, is that no one ever really knows which flash will occur when. (Or whether Braylon Edwards will actually hang onto D.A.’s perfectly thrown of flashes of greatness when they occur…)

If I were a bettor (and as I said, I am not) I would think an image of Peyton Manning or Tom Brady might be a little more comforting than Derek Anderson. 

But then again…might the people at BetUs, trained in predicting the future and dependent on that ability for revenue, be offering up a subliminal message about the 2009 season? In a league in which the Dolphins can go from 1-15 to 11-5 and in which Derek Anderson has already made a Pro Bowl, is it that unreasonable that the Cleveland Browns, under a new regime, could be the surprise of the NFL and that Anderson could once again be a top-3 QB in the AFC?

Stranger things have happened, and now BetUs will have the ability to say “see, we told you so” if it does.

Or maybe it’s just a slow Thursday and I’m procrastinating at work and none of this means anything. Perhaps my yearning to cheer for a winner this season has led me to seek out signs of impending success where none actually exist.

Either way, Derek Anderson should be excited about the fact that he’s a cover boy. With D.A.’s starting job in question, and the other QB on the Browns likely to have more fitness magazine covers than Pro Bowl appearances in his career, such honors may be few and far between.

Now we’ll just have to wait and see if BetUs’ subliminal prediction comes true. Regardless of who Eric Mangini picks though — Derek Anderson or Brady Quinn — that player will have to play much better in ‘09 than he did in ‘08. Otherwise, there will be at least one sure thing in the NFL again this year: betting against the Browns.

**********

[Full disclosure: BetUs does sponsor an ad on this site, but this was not a sponsored post.]

Seeing as how it is Monday, and my beloved Chicago White Sox are currently riding a three game winning streak that has them back in their rightful spot atop the AL Central standings with K.C., allow me to indulge in a little bit of my own Overreaction Monday. But first, allow me to set the stage.

I hate the Cleveland Indians.

Not a little bit, but a lot.

You see, during my formative years as a Chicago White Sox fan, the mid- to late-90s, the Cleveland Indians were unbelievably good. They had guys like Kenny Lofton, Carlos Baerga, Manny Ramirez, Albert Belle, and Jim Thome, and they dominated the White Sox seemingly every season. At that time a guy that my dad worked with was also a big Indians fan, and an annoying one at that. (My apologies for being redundant.) The Indians’ on-field superiority over the White Sox the majority of that time, combined guys like Paul Sorrento, and mixed in with my dad’s co-worker’s complete arrogance all coalesced to form a severe hatred for all things Cleveland Indians that continues to this day.

To put it into perspective, I don’t hate them as much as the Cubs — but it’s close.

So it is with great joy that I look at the current AL Central standings and see the Cleveland Indians, many experts’ preseason AL Central favorite, sitting at 1-5. The White Sox, last year’s AL Central champion and a World Series champion this decade, got no love heading into this season. The Indians, however, a franchise that consistently underperforms expectations and that has proven itself incapable of winning a championship, was fawned over all offseason as an up and coming AL contender.

If the Indians end up losing tonight and fall to 1-6 (currently they are down 4-0 to the Royals as I write this) you can stick a fork in them. I know it’s early and that there are still over 150 games left and blah blah blah. Cleveland may very well win a bunch of games again in August and September when they already have a double-digit deficit in the standings to get close to .500 (sound familiar?), but the odds say they won’t be sniffing the playoffs.

With all of this being said, this post is about to take a decidedly depressing turn for me.

You see, as much as I cheer against the Indians, that is how hard I cheer for the Cleveland Browns. And as much as it pains me to relive the awful memories of last season, I am about to delve into a comparison of the eerily similar 2008 Cleveland Browns and 2009 Cleveland Indians. In fact, you may have noticed that up and to your right in the sidebar we have begun a 16-game countdown to see if the Indians can outperform the Browns’ putrid 4-12 season from a year ago. So far, as bad as the Browns were in 2008, the Indians have been worse.

Call them the anti-Cavs. Seriously, what would Cleveland do without LeBron and the Cavaliers?

Anyway, let’s go through some of the reasons why the 2009 Indians are much more like the 2008 Browns than they would ever want to be.

Follow the link to find great deals on MLB Baseball Tickets including tickets to Indians games. Be there when the Indians lose another one!

Lofty Preseason Expectations that Came Crashing Down Immediately

The Browns were a trendy pick to compete with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC North heading into 2008, on the heels of a surprising 10-6 2007 season that finished on the doorstep of the playoffs. However, the Browns opened up the season with a trouncing at the hands of the Cowboys, then lost a close, disgusting game to the Steelers, and then got absolutely dominated by the Baltimore Ravens. Not even four weeks into the season and the Browns were already doomed to playing an unwinnable game of catch-up for the entire season.

The Indians were a trendy pick to compete with the White Sox, Indians, and Twins in the AL Central heading into 2009, on the heels of a strong second half in 2008 that saw them reach the .500 mark after a horrible start. However, the Indians opened up the season losing 9-1, 8-5, and 12-8 in a three game sweep at the hands of the Texas Rangers, one of the worst teams in baseball for the last half of this decade. Then the Indians laid a 13-7 egg in their home opener against Toronto, followed up by a 5-4 loss to fall to 0-5. Not even a full week into the season and the Indians were already doomed to playing an unwinnable game of catch-up for the entire season.

Cliff Lee is Derek Anderson

Derek Anderson entered the 2007 season for the Cleveland Browns as a lightly regarded former Ravens cast-off who had a strong arm but a future as a back up QB at best. After Charlie Frye looked like Soliel Moon Fry in the Browns’ first game of the season, and then was subsequently traded, Derek Anderson stepped in and proceeded to author one of the most unexpected Pro Bowl stories in the history of the NFL. For all of his efforts though, he faded a bit down the stretch and the Browns fell short of the playoffs.

Unfortunately for Anderson and Browns fans, 2008 had to start. In 2008, Anderson looked like a shell of the player we all saw in 2007 and ultimately lost his job to Brady Quinn after being booed off the field in his home stadium. From rags to riches and back to rags, and now he enters the 2009 season locked in a QB battle with Brady Quinn that very few Browns fans hope he wins.

Cliff Lee entered the 2008 season coming off of a 5-8 season in 2007 in which his ERA was 6.29 and he spent time in the minors. Yes, Lee had won 14 games or more for 3 straight years (including a very solid 2005 campaign in which he went 18-5), but many in Cleveland were ready to write off Lee’s future as a front end of the rotation starter. Then, out of nowhere, Cliff Lee put together a 22-3, 2.54 ERA season, authoring one of the most unlikely Cy Young stories in the history of Major League Baseball.

Unfortunately for Lee and Indians fans, 2009 had to start. In his first two outings of this season, Cliff Lee is 0-2 with a 9.90 ERA and looks a hell of a lot more like Derek Anderson circa 2008 than he looks like Cliff Lee circa 2008. Lee certainly has a chance to turn things around, and very likely will. But let’s remember that Derek Anderson’s worst start of the year was his third, against the Ravens. How will Lee’s third start go? Indians fans better hope it’s a lot better.

Grady Sizemore is Braylon Edwards

This one is sure to piss off all of the Indians fans.

Braylon Edwards was one of the 20 or 30 best players in the NFL in 2007. After steadily improving from his rookie to sophomore campaign, Edwards exploded with 80 catches and 16 TDs in 2007. Then in 2008, inexplicably, Edwards turned into…

***We interrupt this post for a special bulletin. At this very moment, as I write this, Joakim Soria just struck out Jhonny Peralta looking to close out a 4-2 Royals victory over the Indians, dropping Cleveland to 1-6 on the season. Be right back. Time to go update the sidebar.***

…Travis Hafner circa 2008. (You remember Travis Hafner right? The guy who hit .308 with 42 HRs in 2006 and then hit .197 with 5 HRs in 2008?)

Entering 2008, Braylon Edwards was a can’t-miss future superstar who had supposedly only scratched the surface of his potential in 2007. He was being talked about in the class of WRs just below Randy Moss and Larry Fitzgerald. He was a sure-fire Pro Bowler and a rock for the Browns to build upon for the future. Now, after 2008, the Browns seem to be just waiting for the best offer before unloading Edwards and his massive ego and stone hands.

What a difference a year makes, huh?

So all of the Indians fans are now wondering how exactly their beloved pretty boy Grady Sizemore is like Braylon Edwards. Well, have you seen Grady Sizemore’s stats so far this year? He is hitting .207 with 12 Ks and an OBP of .324, which is far less than his career OBP of .370.

Hmm…Grady Sizemore is a 26-year old, can’t-miss, sure-fire superstar. Braylon Edwards is a 26-year old, can’t-miss, sure-fire superstar. Edwards was pathetic (by his own standards) in 2008, especially at the start of the season, and his team severely underachieved. Sizemore has been pathetic (by his own standards) in 2009 at the start of the season and his team is severely underachieving. Notice a trend?

In all actuality, I don’t think Grady Sizemore is anything like Braylon Edwards. I hate Grady Sizemore because he’s an Indian, but I respect his ability and would take him on my team any day. Braylon Edwards? Not so much. He is certainly talented, but with far too big an ego for so little professional achievement. (Truthfully, the more apt comparison for Braylon Edwards would have been Travis Hafner, but he’s actually having a halfway decent start to this season…and it’s more fun to piss off Indians fans by going after the Golden Boy.)

I am sure there are probably more comparisons I could make between the 2008 Browns and 2009 Indians that might get Cleveland fans riled up, but what’s the point? The purpose of this exercise was to create a long and drawn out way to say that the Indians suck and appear poised to follow the 2008 Browns in woefully underperforming expectations, and I think I accomplished that. (And, for what it’s worth, my next comparison was actually going to be a positive one for the Indians: Shin-Soo Choo is Jerome Harrison — get this guy at bats! — and I don’t feel like being positive about the Indians. They suck, are diminishing the reputation of the AL Central, and made me think about the 2008 Browns season. Screw the Indians.)

The question now becomes can the 2009 Indians win more games in their first 16 than the 2008 Browns won in their 16-game slate? And after that, can the Indians actually make a run to get back in the playoff race? I don’t know the stats on 1-6 teams making the playoffs, but they can’t be good. You can say it’s early in the season, and you’d be right. You would also be saying the same thing that Browns fans were saying early last year, and the Browns actually battled back to be 3-4 after 7 games. 1-6 sucks no matter how you want to rationalize it.

All I know is that I can’t wait for May 11-13. Sandwiched between a tough home series against the mighty Texas and a road tilt against AL East stalwart Toronto are four off days for the White Sox players to get a little rest, recovery, and relaxation; and, on three of the days, a little record and stat-padding.

Ah yes, that first series against the Indians will be nice.

Thoughts?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Grady Sizemore photo credit: Joshua Gunter/The Plain Dealer

If the season were to start today, the Buccaneers would most likely be taking the field with Luke McCown under center, a new head coach roaming the sidelines in Raheem Morris. And while Luke McCown has a few physical tools, it does not take a genius to figure out that the Bucs are looking to upgrade at that position this offseason.

A report yesterday in the Bucs Report at TBO.com by Roy Cummings says that the possibility of a Derek Anderson-to-the-Bucs trade is very real; and that Anderson apparently can be had for as little as a third round pick:

Anderson has one of the strongest arms in the league as well as just about every physical tool you need to be a difference maker at his position. What he doesn’t have is a great understanding of defenses or the game’s nuances.

With a little work and a bit of a push he could be developed into one of the game’s better quarterbacks and word is the Brown might take as little as a third-round pick for him.

When you consider that he’s younger than Luke McCown but has more experience than McCown it doesn’t sound like a bad option for the Bucs to consider, especially with Jeff Jagodzinski running the offense.

Sounds like a pretty good and accurate assessment of Anderson: great physically, lost mentally. One of my first thoughts when Eric Mangini took over the team was that Derek Anderson just is not going to be a good fit. Mangini seems like a very cerebral coach who would want his quarterback to share the same advantage that Mangini must exploit for success: intelligence. And while Brady Quinn is not anywhere near a Peyton Manning-level understanding of the game, the nuances of football seem to come easier for him and he has better instincts that the oft-plodding and perpetually confounded Anderson.

From Anderson’s perspective, this would probably be a great move. Browns fans have soured on him quickly after the surprise Pro Bowl appearance in 2007. Derek Anderson could lead the team to the playoffs, cure cancer, and discover an elixer that would allow Jim Brown to reverse age back to his 50s and 60s self…and Browns fans would still clamor for Brady Quinn to be the starter. In Tampa Bay, Derek would only have to beat out Luke McCown and would have a chance to grow with a new coach in a new system. If I’m Derek Anderson, I’m having my agent stay on this one and help push it along however possible.

From the Browns’ perspective, the obvious first thought is: a third round pick for Anderson? I guess it makes perfect sense after last season’s debacle; it is just obviously disappointing considering how high D.A.’s value was after 2007. But such is the NFL. We rolled the dice on having two above-average quarterbacks heading into 2008 and realized that all we had was wishful thinking and a still-muddled QB picture. Does anyone have 100% confidence in our QB situation heading into next season? Hardly.

Either way, the Browns should certainly look into getting what they can for Derek Anderson. The team claimed Anderson off waivers from Baltimore and, assuming the hypothetical that they can trade him, would have turned a waiver claim into 18 starts, one magical run to the doorstep of the playoffs, 34 TDs, and a 3rd round draft pick in return. All in all, that’s not too shabby.

At the end of the day, if you think you’ve seen the best that Derek Anderson can offer (and I think 2007 was exactly that), you might as well cash in now while there is a buyer in need and add another draft pick to improve other areas of the team.

Then we could just get on with the Brady Quinn era and see if it will be a two-year disappointment (that makes us all what to skydive without a parachute) or a ten-year run of success. I love the Browns and I think they have a chance to rebound in a big way next season, but a lot of it will be up to Brady Quinn — who still has plenty to prove.

What do you think?

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The goal of this series is pretty simple: to learn more about the people behind the blogs that we all read every day. We are not necessarily looking for the featured blogger’s take on their particular sports or teams of interest, but rather to find out more about what makes them, and their blogs, tick on a daily basis.

The first keyboard that we are going to go behind is that of Barry McBride, who runs the Rumor Central portion of my personal favorite Cleveland Browns blog: the Orange and Brown Report. I am almost embarrased to say that I just found their site about midway through the 2008 season, but I immediately paid the nominal monthly fee to join and have access to the greatest insider info on the Browns available anywhere.

Barry was nice enough to fill out the Behind the Keyboard questionairre I sent him, and the results are as follows:

Quick Hits:

• Name: Barry McBride
• Current Blog: Orange and Brown Report: Rumor Central
• Current Blog launch date: December 2008
• Blogging Since: Before they called it blogging. 1996.
• Other blogs contributed to: Greedwatch (1996-98), BrownsTNG (1999-2001), Bernie’s Insiders (2001-2005), OBR (2006-now). None of these sites ever fit neatly under the labels of of blog, fan site, community, news site, whatever. They’ve got elements of each. I like it that way.
• Current Location: Suburbia
• Hometown: I’ve lived in five different places in Ohio
• Day job: Fox Sports Interactive / Scout.com
• Favorite Team(s): Browns, Buckeyes
• Favorite Athlete(s): Bernie Kosar, Phil Niekro

MSF: Why did you start blogging and what keeps you going every day?

Barry McBride: I really got involved in this back in 1995-96 when the Browns were ripped out of Cleveland. I ran a site called “Greedwatch” that was, for all intents and purposes, a blog about Modell and other NFL owners ripping off fans. The technology was different, but it was very blog-like in tone and use of links. The site quickly began just focusing on mocking the Ravens, which was a lot of fun back then. It matured into the OBR, which does a number of things, but includes three different blogging areas for our writers and Browns fans.

What keeps me going everyday is that I just love doing this. I get to talk football with Browns fans all day. I can’t imagine anything else I would rather be doing.

MSF: What has been your biggest challenge thus far?

Barry McBride: It’s all about time management. Juggling a sports site – particularly one that asks fans to support it financially – and another job is tough. You give up a lot of other things to do it, as any hard-core blogger will tell you.

MSF: Are there any athletes/celebrities that you have found yourself, for lack of a better term, obsessed with blogging about? (meaning that you always seem to post about even their most insignificant contributions to the daily sports media cycle). To what do you attribute this “obsession”?

Barry McBride: Back in 1999, I found myself doing multiple updates per day about the Browns’ attempt to sign LB Jamir Miller. It was sad, really… if I could track where Miller stopped for lunch I would do it. These days, anytime I have a chance to make fun of Brian Billick, I do it. It’s my civic duty.

MSF: If you had the opportunity to get one post you have already written in front of the eyes of every sports blog reader in the world, which one would it be and why?

Barry McBride: One entry that I’m particularly proud of is calling out the Browns for sniffing around defensive lineman Christian Peter back in the earlier days of the expansion franchise. I want to win as much as anyone, but after Browns fans watched Art Modell rip their team away, the last thing we needed was for the team that Paul Brown created to be rebuilt using players like this, an accused rapist whose actions sparked a movement. At some point, there are places you don’t want to go in order to try to win. The response we got to the article was incredible, and it was one of our first articles to get the attention of the mainstream press .

MSF: If you were told that you could bookmark five sports blogs other than your own and never visit any others, which five would you choose?

I subscribe to a large number of different blogs. I don’t want to insult any bloggers out there by not listing them, but I’m very fond of a number of Cleveland blogs such as Waiting For Next Year. And MSF, of course. Mark Leonard and Ace Davis on our own Munilot.com blogs are both very good. The blogs I like the best are ones that have a clear point of view, highlight stories that otherwise wouldn’t get much press, and remain staunchly independent.

MSF: What is one prediction that you went on record about that you are the most proud of?

Barry McBride: About halfway through 2007, I told listeners on our radio program that “Derek Anderson’s value is as high as it will ever be”. I was one of the last DA skeptics left after the strong start in 2007, and pat myself on the back for trusting my own eyes about what I saw in camp that summer. I’m proud of that one. Usually I defer to the other writers on our site, but every once in a while, I get something right.

MSF: Are there any on-record predictions that give you great shame just thinking about?

Barry McBride: I predicted the Browns would finish 9-7 last year. Oops.

(Editor’s note: 9-7 was our official prediction for the Browns last season too. I guess we all missed that one pretty badly.)

MSF: Are there any posts you have published and thought later, “why the hell did I post that?” Did you keep it live?

Barry McBride: I got furious about the Indians dumping CC Sabathia last year and ripped on Dolan pretty hard-core. I still think Dolan’s kind of a worthless lump and have a real negative view of some of his business ventures, but went overboard. I realized that I should probably STFU about sports other than the Browns and the NFL, because I don’t know the details as well as I do on my own turf. I wound up pulling them down.

MSF: Bob Knight once said that coaching, for him, was an endless pursuit of the perfectly played game. From a blogging standpoint, how would you define the perfect blog post?

Barry McBride: It’s one that reaches beyond the web browser and changes things in a positive way for fans.

MSF: If you could publicly ask yourself any question, what would it be and how would you answer it?

Barry McBride: Question: What do you think people want to know about you?

Answer: Squat. Fans come to the OBR because of the Browns and their love of sports and the city, and the information and analysis we can give them. Keeping your own ego in check should be Rule 1 for every blogger, particularly a sports blogger.

———-

To read Barry McBride and his fellow OBR writers’ work, click the logo to the right and head over to the Orange and Brown Report.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: if you’re a serious Browns fan, you shouldn’t even think twice about paying for the premium OBR package. In addition to their tremendous in-season coverage, they do a great job of covering the Browns’ offseason maneuvering and draft preparation. (And no, the OBR in no way compensates me for these recommendations. But I love their site, and Barry was nice enough to be first Behind the Keyword guinea pig, so I’ll pimp their great site as much as possible to anyone reading this.)

The Rumor Central portion of the OBR, which Barry McBride manages, does not require any fees. Here are some links to the most recent Rumor Central posts:

• In this post, I make the Internet implode
• Voices of Pittsburgh
• Some positive press for Mangini
• RAC remains at rest
• Some people love being miserable

Thank you to Barry McBride for participating in the first Behind the Keyboard, and thank you for reading. If you have any suggestions for future bloggers that you would like to see highlighted in this series, leave a comment below or use the email address provided for tips at the top of the sidebar.

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