5 Cleveland Browns quarterbacks who were not as bad as we thought
How could Pro Bowler Jeff Garcia be bad?
Jeff Garcia got a late start as an undrafted free agent who played in the Canadian Football League before getting his shot in the NFL. He wound up playing till he was 39 years old, and made the NFL Pro Bowl four times, in 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2007. In between, however, he did not have good seasons for either the 2004 Cleveland Browns (3-7) or the 2005 Detroit Lions (1-4). Garcia took the San Francisco 49ers to the playoffs prior to coming to Cleveland, and he took Philadelphia and Tampa Bay to the playoffs after he left.
Now, this is an IQ test. Do you believe that either the Cleveland Browns or the Detroit Lions were held back by Jeff Garcia? It turns out the 2004 Browns were 1-5 without him, and the 2005 Lions went 4-7.
In case you had forgotten, Butch Davis was a highly intelligent coach, but a poor general manager, preferring to focus on players he knew from his college days, and ignoring personality problems. Defensive tackle Gerard Warren was a questionable pick and wound up getting into trouble with the law.
Running back William Green was reportedly arrested for drunk driving and marijuana possession, landing him in the league’s substance abuse policy, and soon thereafter was allegedly involved in a domestic violence issue in which he was stabbed in the back. Defensive end Courtney Brown was struggling with knee injuries which eventually ended his career prematurely. After trading a first and second-round pick to move up for Kellen Winslow, Jr., the rookie was injured in his second game and put on IR. So there were some major pieces missing in 2004. The talent level on the team was just not there.
Overall, Garcia’s numbers were not impressive for the Browns. In 10 games he threw for 10 TDs versus nine picks and a passer rating of 76.7. One game in particular, versus the Dallas Cowboys, he completed 8-of-27 passes for only 71 yards and three interceptions, and a passer rating of 0 in a 19–12 loss. That was the low point. Not surprisingly, he was getting sacked more than at any point in his career.
He was even a bit worse in Detroit the next year, throwing for only three touchdowns versus six interceptions in six games, with five starts, subbing for Joey Harrington.
Then, however, he went to Philadelphia and when Donovan McNabb went down, he led the Eagles to a 5-1 finish and then won a playoff game for them before going down to defeat at the hands of the New Orleans Saints by 27-24.
Just to prove it was no fluke, he signed with Tampa Bay as a free agent, and took them to the playoffs, and made the Pro Bowl again.
That does not sound like an untalented quarterback.
No, we have to conclude that the 2004 Browns were a bad football team that made a good quarterback look bad. Also, do not underestimate the power of the 2005 Lions to make a quarterback look bad.