Derek Anderson Named the Starter Against the Cincinnati Bengals
There it is. Brady Quinn has been benched in favor of Derek Anderson for Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Well, maybe not favor so much as the alleged necessity to make some sort of change at the position. I said at the beginning of the season that if Anderson was named the starter after training camp, I would already give up on Eric Mangini. I would really like to consider doing it now. He stuck it out with Quinn for two games and, after one good drive followed by a disastrous end to the game, Mangini decided it was time to pull the plug.
I am not sure what people expect to happen with Anderson in there. There isn’t going to be some magic solution to this already disastrous season. Whether or not Quinn is an NFL quarterback at this point can hardly be left up for debate – he simply was not given enough time to develop and prove himself. Was Peyton Manning, well, Peyton Manning in his first year? Absolutely not. I’m not trying to compare the two, but we’ll never know Quinn’s full potential if he continues to sit on the bench.
As for Anderson, he might provide a bit of a spark to this ultra-conservative offense. In the end, though, there is no doubt he will revert to his gunslinging, interception-laden ways. This is absolutely the worst decision that Mangini could have made. He made everyone agonize through the preseason with this “quarterback competition” and has already pulled the plug on the supposed winner. It really is quite amazing; I have never seen a coach lose the faith of the team’s fans as fast as Mangini has. Not to mention the grievances ($1700 for forgetting to pay for $3 bottles of water in the hotel? Really?) some players have already filed on Mangini.
While we are at it, let’s start to get wide receivers Brian Robiskie and Mohamed Massaquoi involved in the offense as well. If Mangini is serious about giving this team the best chance to win, why are two of the Browns’ second-round picks essentially non-existent?