Anderson Standing Out for the Wrong Reasons
Apparently, the Pro Bowl is all of a sudden a big deal to Cleveland fans. Derek Anderson’s poor showing in Sunday’s Pro Bowl is starting to garner some heat, even from The Plain Dealer’s Tony Grossi. I’m not going to defend Anderson because he didn’t look like a quarterback that belonged in the Pro Bowl. Passes were overthrown, intercepted, and nearly picked off in a number of other cases. However, as some might suggest, this is actually not the Apocalypse.
This was nothing more than a meaningless (emphasize meaningless) exhibition game and I don’t think it necessarily matters that a quarterback who hasn’t played since the end of December plays less than expected. However, no small misstep goes unnoticed in Cleveland, and in this dreadful downtime in the sports calendar, the best story we can come up with is a push of the trusty panic button. You know, five other Browns were in that game, and two of them played very well.
Let me ask you this: is Anderson’s performance going to affect his contract talks? Personally, I don’t think it will – the merit of the Pro Bowl is especially low. While nobody should be panicking, D.A. did not do himself any favors by keeping in line with his poor showings down the final stretch of the season.