On several occasions this season, Browns coach Eric Mangini has been coy regarding whether his team’s starting quarterback will be Derek Anderson or Brady Quinn.
Mangini is doing it again.
And the suspense is killing us.
“I know where I’m headed, but we’ll talk about that on Wednesday,”
Mangini said Monday. “I haven’t talked to the
quarterbacks about it yet, so that’s part of it.”
The fact that Mangini is even playing this game is the best evidence of his delusion (but for, you know, his suggestion that there are “remarkable similarities” between the Browns and the Patriots). Both of his primary candidates for the job stink. Derek Anderson’s passer rating of 36.2 is lower than what it would be if every pass he threw simply struck the ground. Brady Quinn played just well enough to be benched after fewer than three games.
Now that Quinn has no chance of meeting the 70-percent play-time trigger necessary to drive up the salaries in the final two years of his deal by $10.9 million, Mangini might be ready to give the 2007 first-rounder another shot.
Regardless, the constant uncertainty can’t be helping either guy feel comfortable when he’s under center. And that’s why the new regime (or what’s left of it) should have picked Anderson or Quinn early in the offseason — and gotten rid of the guy they didn’t want to keep.
And it’s also why the old regime should have had the courage to trade Anderson after the 2007 season, and to entrust the job to Quinn.
The starting quarterback, whoever it is, will have a national audience on Monday night, as the 1-7 Browns face the 4-4 Ravens in a game that ESPN surely wishes it hadn’t drawn.
Now, that’s the way to coach ‘em up. Keep up the good work Eric.
Doesn’t look like Lerner has told him who the QB is yet…
Similarities?
Bill Belichick would have made this decision the first chance he had, to build confidence in the QB he chose. Eric Mangini, I can’t imagine BB playing this “I’m not going to tell anyone” crap.
Face it, you suck as a coach, and you can’t decide who to play because both QB’s suck and you can’t decide which one has the lesser chance of putting the final nail in your coaching coffin.
This time next year, you’ll be HC of some backwater juco, pissing off parents of students who they think will be the next Lawrence Taylor or Joe Montana.
Mangini is aware it’s not August or Septemeber anymore, yes? Though I’m sure he wishes it was. Ah, for the bright, halcyon days of hopeful Cleveland summer….
If Mangini is more concerned with saving $10M over two years than trying to win, build something and stick to the plan, then he may want to go back and review his notes on the 2000-01 Patriots.
This is easily the worst coaching hire the Lerner family has made since this suck-fest of a team has come back to the league. Mangini is so bad, he makes Butch Davis seem like Bill Walsh in retrospect. Did I really just type that?
Yes, it makes us only hate Art Modell even more by the year so don’t even think about letting him in the HOF anytime soon.
Start Brady Quinn you idiot. If you don’t want him trade him away. Derek Anderson is garbage. At least Quinn is very young and will mature into something very good. Maybe Brady should bring his sister into the locker room to boost moral amongst the boys.
Mike Florio, you dead nailed this one. The one thing about Quinn is he actually played decent last year even getting hurt early on. He also played against the better defenses this year and still looked better than Anderson. The only thing that showed up for sure is the incompetence of the head coach.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed for Josh Cribbs.
All wildcat, all the time.
And I bet his QB rating would be better than 36.2.
All of this nonsense means nothing. Mangina has only (only?) 8 games left as coach. Whoever is hired by Lerner will come in and fire everybody and then put his own staff (staph?) in place and then they will screw it up for the next 3-4 years. Being a Browns fan is like being in an abusive relationship. Same old sh-t, just a different day.
to expand on what TheDPR said….Put Josh Cribbs and Brett Ratliff on the field at the same time all game and get rid of Anderson and Quinn and go with a ball control Wildcat scheme
If Mangini starts Anderson, I will not be at the Game Monday night. I will not watch Goofy play QB any more!
“Now that Quinn has no chance of meeting the 70-percent play-time trigger necessary to drive up the salaries in the final two years of his deal by $10.9 million, Mangini might be ready to give the 2007 first-rounder another shot.”
That’s it, Mr. Florio, stick hard and fast to the “conspiracy theory”. PFT truly is the National Enquirer for the NFL, isn’t it?
Let’s rehash: After Quinn proved incapable of football fundamentals, he was benched. Anderson came in for his first FULL game and played great. He was then given another shot. Over the next couple games, his receivers dropped a shitload of passes. Mangini didn’t blame DA for people who cant catch a ball that’s catchable. Go figure. He earned another game or two.
In that game or two since, Anderson has DEFINITELY stunk it up without much help from anyone. Unlike his first few starts where the receivers could at least take part of the blame, he takes 99% of the blame for the last couple games.
OK, so maybe now Quinn gets another shot. Sorry that happened to fall after 8 games into the season and the gay underwear model won’t get his boner- er, I mean bonUS. It has nothing to do with a conspiracy to keep him from it. Yeesh.
But you know what? Even if the Browns DID keep Quinn out on purpose so he wouldn’t get the $11m, who could blame them? Why the hell would they wanna throw 11 MILLION dollars at a guy who can’t complete more than a 15 yard pass and is petrified at the thought of throwing into single coverage?
Why don’t they just drop $11m into Lake Erie?
Anderson has sucked bad enough for enough games that I’m fine with them giving Quinn another shot- but there’s NO reason to pay him $11,000,000 when he hasn’t proven that he’s worth $1100 yet.
Lose-lose. Whats the point?
Are you kidding me? Well, I guess this proves another weakness for Mangini…he doesn’t learn from past mistakes. I’m not saying either one of them are going to beat the Ravens, but at least give them a fighting chance! You had a bye week…two weeks to decide the dumb quarterback and give him two weeks worth of starting reps…instead, ugh…who cares. I’m a Browns fan, but I hope they lose by 66 on national tv…with 8 people watching.
It’s a good thing Mangini keeps this secret so close to the vest every week. Opposing defensive coordinators must quake in their boots trying to decide whether to gameplan against the ineptness of Derek Anderson or the ineptness of Brady Quinn.
i keep finding myself agreeing with trickbunny’s posts.
florio just shut up about the browns already. you’ve proven you have nothing objective to say during your mangini hatefest. why would we play quinn to give him money when he SUCKS?
I agree with most of what trickbunny has said. I’m not a Quinn fan either, but not necessary to namecall.
But seeing that Mangini is pulling this same crap again, I just give up wondering and/or worrying about this football team. I supported most of his decisions leading up to the year, too… but, uh, yeah, screw it — he’s a pretty stubborn, ineffective coach.
The irony of Mangini doing this stunt again THIS week is that this week’s opponent has already faced BOTH of the QBs, and managed to deal with both successfully.
It was during halftime of the first Ravens game that he switched from Quinn (who could muster virtually no yards or offensive production with 6-8 passing for 34 yards) to Anderson (who got a few more yards and completed 11 of 19 passes to his team but also “completed” 3 0f 19 to Ravens defenders)
So it’s not like any team is going to be particularly worried about which of these 2 QBs they will be facing, but of all teams, the Ravens should feel pretty confident against either.
Quinn has a good arm. His accuracy is the point of discussion. It’s better than Anderson’s accuracy though.
Paul Brown would be turning over in his grave right about now.
This franchise is hopeless.
Considering the overwhelming magnitude of unfortunate, yet loyal fans in the NFL the past decade or so (ie: fans of teams like Lions, Raiders, 49ers, Bengals, Chiefs, Bills, etc) none of them (except maybe Detroit) really have a case for most pitiful fans!
How can you not help but feel sorry for such loyal fans like they are in Cleveland?
trickbunny,
I couldn’t have said it better myself. If they do give Quinn another shot, he had better be able to throw it for more than 10 yards or the score might be 40-3 (the Browns always manage to score a few points).
each day each minute this organization develops into more and more of a joke, long suffering Browns fans are the victims as usual. Mangini is not worth the mentioning anymore, the answer is for Randy Lerner to sell the team.
I wouldn’t be shocked if they actually give Ratliff a shot. As they say, desperate times …
If they go back to Quinn it’s clear that they basically wasted a huge chunk of the season in order to screw their young QB of the future out of about $10 million. Which is always good for morale.
quinn has no accuracy 10 yards or more away from point of departure.
quinn loses by over 21 points a game. anderson loses by under 14 points a game. start anderson.