Those who have seemingly lived a nightmare this past week might have one more terrifying scenario to deal with: the return of quarterback Derek Anderson.

According to Mike Cairns of NewsChannel 5 Sports, the Browns are looking to bring back Anderson in a backup role at the very least. Though he was a Pro Bowler after the 2007 season that saw the Browns win ten games, Anderson was essentially run out of town after the 2009 season and proceeded to rip the fans:

Browns fans still haven’t forgotten what Anderson said after his release in 2009. In a email to a Browns beat writer Anderson said. “The fans are ruthless and don’t deserve a winner,” Anderson said. “I will never forget getting cheered when I was injured. I know at times I wasn’t great. I hope and pray I’m playing when my team comes to town and [we] roll them.”

Interestingly enough, Anderson (29) is the same age as the Browns’ current starter, Brandon Weeden. As a backup, he might be able to help Weeden grow into Chudzinski’s offense, but it’s almost unfathomable to consider that both Anderson and Chudzinski could be back in Cleveland at the same time.

Would you welcome him back?

But I do know this: the Browns have been bad for about 13 years and nothing has really changed in that time. I don’t know that Colt McCoy is anything resembling The Answer at quarterback – neither the metaphorical answer, nor Allen Iverson. But here’s the interesting thing: it’s not unanimous.

This past Sunday’s Twitter timeline, which by the way is the best sports-watching companion to ever exist, was full of mixed feelings about McCoy. Some believed that it was nice to not have a quarterback who was the biggest problem, while others ranted about how “We’ll never win with him under center.”

That’s progress, you guys!

The fact that Browns fans are not 100% in agreement about whether or not the team’s quarterback is a complete and utter waste of time is a brand new thing for us, you realize that, right? The last time that happened was early in the miraculous Derek Anderson-led season of 2007. We saw a guy completing some passes, throwing some touchdowns, and even winning some football games. We also noticed that he was missing a ton of passes, but he had enough positive attributes that we looked past some of the negative ones.

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At that time, pretty much everyone growing up in Cleveland was totally consumed with the magic of the Jacobs Field-era Indians. The Cavs were horrible.

By the time the Browns were back, we had graduated high school and moved away.

I look back now and realize my high school time was probably the prime of my sports consumption abilities. I was old enough to work a summer job and drive myself around, yet I lived at home, and had no real responsibilities yet. I had more disposable income and freedom than I’ve had at any other point in my life. (more…)