Item: Romeo Crennel announced that Derek Anderson will start Sunday in Cincinnati.
I tried to make this clear yesterday (cough, cough). Anderson has always been the choice of the coach and his staff.
If nothing else, Crennel is loyal. In this case, I think he made the right decision. Anderson has been working with the starters since the beginning of camp, and there still is a (slim) chance to salvage the season. Going to Quinn might help, but it's more likely to lead to the usual struggles inexperience brings. No, Anderson is not a grizzled veteran. No, he's not played well. But he's had a lot of company in that regard. And if the entire team improves and plays like it can, then Anderson's play will not be such a big, red, sore thumb. However, the goal is winning on Sunday, not making sure all feelings are soothed. This leash should be short, and the Browns should not hesitate to make a change if it seems a change will help win the game. But starting Anderson is the right thing to do.
Said Crennel of Anderson:“He said he needs to play better and that is the thing that we are focusing on going into this game is trying to get him to play better.”
OK then. Evidently the straight-talk express now resides in Berea.
Item: I don't get Jim Brown.
Well I do. Brown is a man who will always say what he thinks, whether people like it or not. He will not be cowed, slowed or influenced by anyone. When he's asked a question, he answers. And that really is a good thing.
But I don't get how his comments Tuesday help anything.
Brown spoke on an internet radio show and pretty much ridiculed Anderson.
"Ive been in meetings all day," Brown said. "I've met with coach, the president of the organizatino, team captains, individual players — we all seem to be in one accord. But it's up to the coach to make the final decision on his lineup this week, but if he makes the right decision on the lineup I think we can be out of this terrible slump we're in."
Brown clearly thought the right decision was going to Quinn.
"We don't have a superstar quarterback," he said. "We have two quarterbacks with tremendous potential. One has played a lot more than the other has, successfully, and also had some failure. If we try Brady this week, it's a change of pace. Why not have a change of pace that might bring you a spark? And if he doesn't cut it, we can bring the other guy back, and we can bring Brady back."
Usually I agree with Brown, and in this case he's got a point. It might have provided a spark, and if there are two quarterbacks the Browns might be able to use both or either depending on how they are playing. I just think I'd have started Anderson. There's nothing stopping the Browns from going to Quinn if Anderson struggles, and there's nothing stopping them from going back to Anderson if need be.
Doesn't it make you wonder this, though: If everyone was in accord, as Brown said, what exactly is the feeling now that Crennel has gone with Anderson? Does this sound like accord, or discord? And did Brown going public with these facts help the situation?
Crennel's comment:"Jim has been speaking out ever since I got here and Jim has an opinion, just like everybody else has an opinion, so he voices his opinion. I have sat down with Jim and he told me the same thing before it came out in the paper, so there is no surprise because that is the way he feels. I am not saying its right or wrong, it is what it is. My decision is my decision.”
Item: Now Shaun Rogers missed practice with a shoulder problem.
But he's expected to play Sunday. Othes who missed include LB Kris Griffin, S Sean Jones, LB Willie McGinest, Rogers, TE Martin Rucker and G Eric Steinbach. WRs Braylon Edwards and Donte Stallworth were limited.
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
If Crennel freezes up again and in unable to make sound desisions as to when he should pull Anderson and put Quinn in,we will never have an experienced backup quarterback.You cant get experience inless you play.I guess Crennel hasnt figured that out yet???Maybe he's just a little slow??
Jim Brown should just stick to slapping around women and getting kids out of gangs. Is he really that dense and/or his ego that gigantic that he doesn't realize that he's a figurehead, a glamour guy who was hired strictly for show? Jimbo, put on that silly green hat, go paint your mustache with that coloring stuff that you, Walt Frazier and Keith Hernandez use, and be quiet. Seriously. I loved watching you run up a storm on Dad's old black-and-white, but you're as relevant to these Cleveland Browns as Chubby Checker is to the latest album from Kings of Leon.
Is this the time and place where we tell Pat he's an idiot?
what worse? jim brown telling it like it really is. or romeo deciding a day after saying quinn will get his chance in practice that anderson will start. crennel is lucky he doesn't have a cute woman's physique or jim brown would toss him out a window in berea. this season is falling apart quicker than chris palmer's runaway train.
fire romeo now!
I don't mind Brown saying what he thinks. I do mind a delusional Brown thinking anybody in the organization gives a damn what he thinks in imaginary "organizational meetings." He's there strictly as a courtesy, nothing more. In the Browns front office, if the real front office guys are the Beatles, then Jim Brown is a glorified Pete Best. He can't have it both ways with that ridiculously bloated "consultant" title, and then purport to speak for the organization by undermining it. If he's going to speak, then do it in one of those blaxploitation movies. Jim Brown, the soul brother. I kinda liked those.
Honest to God, can we just get somebody in here who knows football, can make a decision and understands leadership? Does anyone else wonder what in the name of Blanton Collier the Browns saw in Romeo Crennel (or Chris Palmer, for that matter) that other teams didn't? Or how other teams snap up the hot coordinators du jour with their modern, aggressive, successful coaching styles, while we bring in geriatrics who have been assistants since World War I? This team does have talent, but when you've lost the game on the sidelines before the opening kickoff, and constantly get outcoached during each game, the chance to win on the field is greatly diminished. My gosh, how disappointing this has become – AGAIN!! This is the NFL version of Groundhog Day.
Jim Brown didn't undermine anything! The Browns are undermining the Browns! I'm sick of everyone yapping about the injuries to key players we will ALWAYS have injuries. If this team was properly prepared and coached it should be, at a minimum, 2-1 and ready to go to 3-1 this Sunday. Instead, we will likely go 0-4.
I wonder who the next coach will be?
Jim Brown talking about "accord" is ironic…he should stick to bashing his wife's car with a shovel. But hey, Jim was in favor of dumping Savage at the end of 05. At least he's a consistent meddler.
Granted, some of Jim Brown's personal life actions leave a lot to be desired, but he was talking about football. If anyone in Cleveland Browns history is qualified to speak about the offensive side of the game it is Jim Brown.
Jim Brown played running back more than 40 years ago. He's hardly qualified to speak to whom the coach should start at QB in 2008. His funny little hat may be restricting blood flow to his adled brain. His public comments about an internal strategy matter are not constructive; they only bring attention to Jim Brown at the expense of team cohesiveness. He should try having unexpressed thoughts – for the sake of the team.
I am amazed by the lack of respect for Jim Brown simply for what he means to the Browns. He is our one true superstar who won and went out on top. I think he was right and if Crennel were a smart football man he would make the move Brown suggested. But, even if you disagree, at least show some respect for Brown. And regarding his personal life, he also has spent years helping get kids out of gangs and into productive lives which is more than most have done.
What does Brown getting kids out of gangs have to do with anything? He's a big mouth and a big pain in the ass who's getting checks from Lerner simply because he's a visual link to the old real Cleveland Browns. He doesn't seem to "get" that he's nothing more than a museum piece, a relic on display. He is not being paid to speak. He particularly is not being paid to be a fly in the ointment. If he's so all-knowing and such a genius at making personnel decisions, then perhaps he should join forces with Michael Jordan, like Brown, another world-class delusional ego who was all-world as an athlete and shameless self-promoter, and all-schmuck at everything else. Anytime Brown gets the urge to speak, he should just shove that beanie of his between his cheek and gums.
Ha ha ha ha…. The one and only alan t. been reading these posts for a few years now, and alan gets much negative feedback, but I have to admit, he makes sense to me. And he speaks the raw truth. Sometimes gets a little too wordy to make his point, but if you sift in between the lines, generally seems to have the same thoughts I have. The statement, "truth hurts" is why I believe he gets so much negative feedback.