Quarterback Derek Anderson continues to be the starter in Cleveland, despite the fact that he’s done nothing to really merit keeping the job.
Inserted at halftime of the Week Three game against the Ravens, Anderson has been bad.
How bad? Asked about Anderson’s 41.7 passer rating, Cleveland offensive coordinator Brian Daboll said Friday, “He’s got nowhere to go but up.”
Daboll also said he put together a tape of 15 bad plays — from only three-plus games — and had Anderson explain what he could have done differently in each case.
Fifteen bad plays. In three-plus games.
In his most recent game (a loss to the Steelers) Anderson completed only nine passes. The prior week, Anderson completed only two in a win over the Bills.
Why won’t they go back to Brady Quinn? Well, if he takes 70 percent of the snaps for the season, Quinn will unlock $10.9 million in escalators for 2010 and 2011. Even if the Browns don’t plan to keep him, those bumps to his future pay will make it harder for the Browns to trade Quinn, since his contract would go with him.
So it’ll be interesting to see if the Browns go back to Quinn after it becomes statistically impossible for Quinn to reach the 70-percent threshold, which is a couple of games away.