If Cleveland's Brady Quinn-Derek Anderson quarterback battle was Mike Tyson's Punch Out, then Anderson played the role of Glass Joe on Saturday night in Green Bay. If it was a horror film, Anderson was the sexually precocious teenagers that run off into the woods, then die. If it was Simon and Garfunkel, Anderson was Garfunkel.OK, this thing's falling apart. Long story short, Anderson stunk.
Anderson quarterbacked two possessions against the Packers, finishing 0-of-2 passing with one interception and a near-interception. Quinn wasn't sensational -- 7-of-11 for 68 yards and a pick -- but next to Anderson, he looked like Johnny Unitas.
It was bad enough that, after Tramon Williams intercepted an Anderson pass midway through the second quarter, Cleveland coach Eric Mangini reinserted Quinn into the lineup just before halftime -- almost an unheard of preseason move.
But let's be honest about this: if either of the pair needs to go out and win the spot, as opposed to simply not losing it, it's Anderson.
Quinn's in the third year of a five-year rookie contract. The Browns drafted him as their future franchise QB, and have since opted not to trade him, despite multiple reported opportunities. They're not keeping a promising 24-year-old quarterback around just to sit him on the bench.
Placing Quinn second on the depth chart, though, becomes much more reasonable if Anderson shows he's the guy Cleveland saw in 2007. Anderson threw for 3,787 yards that season with a 29-19 touchdown-to-interception ratio and went to the Pro Bowl. Last year, in 10 games, he had 2,000 less yards and 20 less touchdowns.
On Saturday in Green Bay, Anderson didn't look much like a Pro Bowler. He looked like Garfunkel -- and that's not another crazy analogy; he looked like how I would imagine Art Garfunkel would look playing quarterback in the NFL.
That's not going to be good enough to win the starter's role.
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