Of jerseys and men

This past weekend, I attended Roverfest in downtown Cleveland along with my wife and several members of our extended family on her side. This post is not about Roverfest, but about something I noticed there. We all know this is Browns Town, and I saw numerous people wearing Browns paraphernalia at the show. The ones that I noticed in particular were the Browns jerseys with the numbers and names of individual players on them: 38, Langham; 10, Quinn; 16, Cribbs; and 32, Brown.

This got me to thinking about the mentality of buying a team jersey with a player's name on it. It's the closest thing you can get to wearing the same thing an actual player wears, short of putting on the entire uniform, with helmet, pads and all. But what of the player you're honoring?

• Antonio Langham was a decent player for the Browns, a first-round draft pick in 1994 as a cornerback out of Alabama. He went with the team to Baltimore, then wandered about the NFL a bit, even coming back to Cleveland in 1999. This makes him one of only two players who played both for the original Browns and the expansion Browns (the other is Orlando Brown). He finished his career in New England in 2000. So he's been out of the league for a full decade, and only spent three years in Cleveland.

• Brady Quinn, we all remember, was supposed to be our savior as quarterback of the future. He grew up in Ohio as a Browns fan, and that endeared him to us that much more. Only problem is, when he got a shot as the starter, he wasn't very good. We can argue about whether he got a true opportunity, as many quarterbacks struggle in their early careers before finding their way later; it won't change the fact that he got traded to Denver last off-season. So that guy was wearing the Browns jersey of a guy who currently plays for the Broncos.

• Joshua Cribbs is another guy with a Northeast Ohio background, having played his college ball at Kent State; and he's one of the favorite players of every Browns fan I've ever talked to. He has been with the Browns since they signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2005, and has done absolutely everything that's been asked of him on the field. His primary job is returning kicks—and he is sensational at that, holding the NFL record for touchdowns on kick returns—but he also covers kicks and has shown absolutely no hesitation to make a tackle; and plays wide receiver and occasionally wildcat quarterback on the offense. I remember when he was a rookie, and said words to the effect that he would play on the line if he was asked. If I were to wear any jersey worn by a member of the current Browns roster, it would be this guy's. ... But who's to say that in 2014, you won't be wearing the jersey of someone who plays for the Jets or the Titans or the Ravens or Steelers or anybody else? Remember that Cribbs and the Browns had a contract dispute just this past offseason, before the Browns got him to sign a three-year deal worth $20 million. There's no guarantee he'll finish his career here.

• And that brings us to Jim Brown, the greatest Brown of them all, and in fact the greatest athlete ever to play for a Cleveland team. (LeBron's departure ensures that Brown will keep that title for the foreseeable future.) He was the NFL's all-time leading rusher for 19 years after he retired, until Walter Payton broke his record in 1984. He has now been passed by several other running backs in terms of total yards, but none have topped his career average of 5.2 yards per rush. And he'd have certainly held that record longer if he'd played longer — the dude retired at age 29 to become an actor. In 2002, the Sporting News named him the greatest football player of all time, at any position. And best of all, he played his entire career, 1957 to 1965, with the Cleveland Browns. The team paraphernalia I wear is usually limited to a team T-shirt or sweatshirt, with the occasional team hat thrown in, because I root for the name on the front of the uniform, not the back. But if you're going to wear a jersey for an individual player from Cleveland, this is the guy whose jersey you want to wear. He will never, ever be anything else but a Cleveland Brown, and he will probably always be the greatest ever to wear that jersey. I have not always liked him as a person, but at least he never killed anybody, and I did enjoy his performance in I'm Gonna Git You Sucka.

In case anyone's wondering, I didn't see any Cavaliers jerseys at all. Probably a number of attendees used to have #23 jerseys with James on the back, but got rid of them a few weeks ago. And that only proves my point. Cheer for the uniform, not the player. And if you're going to try to identify with a player, make sure it's one who can't break your heart.

Delhomme is l'homme

So the Browns have given up on their young former quarterback of the future and given the job to a grizzled veteran who has had some success in the NFL. Sounds kind of like getting rid of Tim Couch and bringing in Jeff Garcia a few years ago, but this time the roles are played by Brady Quinn and Jake Delhomme. (Incidentally, Delhomme is two years older than Couch, who hasn't taken an NFL snap since 2003.)

My dad said yesterday that he didn't feel Quinn got a real shot in Cleveland, and he may have a point. A lot of young quarterbacks struggle until they've had a couple of years' worth of starts under their belts, and maybe 2010 would have been the year he'd have shown why the Browns took him with their first-round pick in 2007. But obviously, Mike Holmgren and the Browns' new regime felt they couldn't spend any more time finding that out.

So now the job belongs to Delhomme, who took the Carolina Panthers to the Super Bowl in the 2003 season, but who is coming off his worst year as a pro. I truly don't mean to keep comparing him to Couch, but I happen to have just looked at Couch's page on nfl.com, and Delhomme's 59.4 passer rating last year was worse than any year Couch ever had. He's 35, and I don't see a whole lot of reason for optimism that he'll do any better this year. (Incidentally, presumed second-stringer Seneca Wallace posted an 81.9 rating last year for the Seahawks, albeit throwing just 120 passes as Matt Hasselbeck's backup.)

My assumption is Holmgren plans to draft a quarterback in April, and keep Delhomme around to keep the job warm until that quarterback is ready to take over. So we're starting over at the quarterback position, as we've done so many times before. It does get tiresome, doesn't it?

Derek Anderson insults you on the way out the door

Ex-Browns quarterback Derek Anderson couldn't resist taking some shots at Cleveland fans upon his release yesterday. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't really matter much what an ex-Brown thinks about Cleveland, but it did cause a bit of a stir in the local media. You may recall that Anderson, a Pro Bowler in 2007, stank his way through the next two seasons and lost his starting job to the also-subpar Brady Quinn. After being shown the door yesterday, he said in an e-mail to the News-Herald that Browns fans "don't deserve a winner" and that he never forgot being cheered when he injured himself against the Colts in 2008.

Look, I understand his feelings being hurt that people cheered when he got hurt. That's happened in Cleveland before — see Couch, Tim — and the fans weren't actually cheering his injury, they were cheering because he'd been playing abysmally and his injury meant the backup would get a shot. That's not very nice, but I guarantee it happens in other NFL cities too. Anderson is an adult, and should not have taken it to heart.

The release came a day after the Browns traded a late-round 2011 draft pick for Seahawks backup Seneca Wallace, whom new team President Mike Holmgren knows from his days in Seattle. I'd be a bit surprised if Wallace becomes the starter, but he'll probably get a shot to compete for the job unless they get Donovan McNabb or somebody like that. I don't think Holmgren has much confidence in Brady Quinn.

Quinn not so mighty

So it turns out Brady Quinn hurt his foot on that 24-yard scramble in the fourth quarter of Sunday's game against the Chiefs, and his season is over. Quinn got the starting job out of training camp, then lost it at halftime of the third game of the season, then regained it a few weeks later after former Pro Bowler Derek Anderson was even worse. And so the Derek Anderson era begins again in Cleveland, almost certainly for the very last time. Unless Anderson gets hurt too, he'll start the last two games of the season, and quite likely never wear a Browns uniform again. If he is back next year, he'll probably be the third-stringer, behind Quinn and whoever else Mike Holmgren picks up in the offseason.

Quinn had an uneven year, to be sure. He completed 53% of his passes, throwing eight touchdown passes and seven interceptions. His 67.3 passer rating is 26th in the NFL, sandwiched between down-and-out veterans Marc Bulger and Kerry Collins. But he did improve over the course of the year, according to his coach. Eric Mangini says he was impressed with the way Quinn adapted the no-huddle offense, and of course he did go for a stretch of 150 passes without throwing an interception before having two picked by the Chiefs. And he didn't exactly have Jerry Rice and John Taylor to throw to. Guys like Mohamed Massaquoi and Brian Robiskie may yet develop into stars, but they're rookies right now, and play like it most of the time. Quinn definitely showed some promise this year, and with just 13 NFL games under his belt, he looks like he could really become something.

Sunday's game against the Raiders will be Anderson's seventh start of the season, and there's precious little reason to expect much out of him. His passer rating of 36.2 would be dead last in the league by a wide margin if he had enough attempts to qualify, and it seems like eons since his Pro Bowl year of 2007. This is his fifth chance to be the starter. The Raiders are pretty bad, so it's possible that he'll luck into a victory the way he did against Buffalo, but I'd be shocked if he does very much.

1-15, here we come

Brady Quinn had by far his best day as a pro in yesterday's game against the Lions, and when he completed his fourth touchdown pass of the day to Michael Gaines, it looked good for the Browns to get their second win of the season. A Jamal Lewis run for a 2-point conversion gave the Browns a 37-31 lead with 5:44 to play. But ...

Phil Dawson's kickoff went out of bounds, giving Matthew Stafford and the Lions the ball at the 40. Fortunately, the drive ended with a Brodney Pool interception at the goal line with 3:40 left on the clock, giving Quinn and the Browns' offense the chance to put it away. The Browns managed to get one first down, taking the ball as far as their own 42 before they had to punt -- forcing the Lions to use the rest of their timeouts in the process.

Browns punter Reggie Hodges is no Dave Zastudil, but he sure did his job on this one, punting it 47 yards to the Lions' 11, where former Brown Dennis Northcutt fielded it and returned it one yard to the 12. So with 1:46 to go, the Lions had to go 88 yards with no timeouts. ... And the Browns employed what we all know to be the worst defensive scheme in the world, the prevent. It's intended to prevent big gains by allowing smaller ones. And in Eric Mangini and Rob Ryan's defense (no pun intended), it almost worked. The Lions did manage a few 11- to 17-yard gains, but their receivers were unable to get out of bounds to stop the clock, so at least in theory, the time off the clock was worth the yardage for the Browns.

When the clock got to 0:08 with the Lions having the ball at the Browns' 32, things were looking pretty good. They had one shot, maybe two, at the end zone. They might have been able to complete a quick pass to the sideline to get a little closer, but that's a risky proposition because the Browns were covering the sidelines pretty well. So they took one shot at a touchdown. The Browns put on a three-man rush and dropped everybody back to cover the end zone. It worked like a charm, as Pool intercepted Stafford's hail mary.

But Hank Poteat pulled the boner of the year, tackling a receiver who probably wouldn't have had a shot at the ball anyway. A defensive pass interference call in the end zone gives the offense the ball at the 1, and because the game can't end on a defensive penalty, the Lions got one more chance even though there was no time left on the clock. But Stafford got hurt on the previous play, meaning the Lions had to send out a completely un-warmed-up Daunte Culpepper to run the play. The Lions had no timeouts left, so there was nothing to be done about it. Presumably, Culpepper would just hand the ball off, since you can't expect a cold quarterback to throw the ball, or even run it himself.

And that's when Mangini pulled the coaching boner of the year, calling a timeout that gave the Lions a chance to evaluate Stafford and decide he had one more play in him. I understand that Mangini wanted to take a minute and make sure he had his defense set up properly, but it seems he totally failed to take into account the benefit the Lions would derive from a timeout. As we all know, Stafford came in and threw a touchdown pass that tied the game, and Jason Hanson's extra point ended it.

Hank Poteat feels awful for causing that penalty, and while it was a stupid thing for him to do, it was done in the heat of battle. Mangini has no excuse for calling that timeout.

The Browns have six games left. The schedule goes like this: Cincinnati (currently 7-3), San Diego (7-3), Pittsburgh (6-4), Kansas City (3-7), Oakland (3-7), and Jacksonville (6-4). The Raiders have looked terrible at times, but they managed to beat the Bengals yesterday behind backup quarterback Bruce Gradkowski. If he plays, the Browns will lose that game. Kansas City has had a bad year too, but they beat the Steelers yesterday. I have a hard time imagining the Browns managing to get another win this year. Yesterday's game was their best shot, and they blew a 21-point lead against one of the NFL's worst teams. This team is cruising for 1-15, which would make them the worst team in Browns' history -- even worse than Tim Couch's 2-14 expansion team in '99.

Browns sell out, Lewis pops off

So it seems the Browns sold out Monday night's game against the Ravens just in time to avoid a blackout. I guess enough people are eager to see Brady Quinn's triumphant return (OK, his return, anyway) to the starter's job. I don't have high hopes for him or the team in general, but as it turns out, I've got Tuesday off from work, so I'll stay up and watch it. That doesn't mean I'm happy about how late it will start, but I keep harping on that, and even I'm tired of hearing me say it.

In other Browns-related news, Jamal Lewis popped off yesterday about how hard Coach Mangini is working the team. Money quote: "You can work hard as you want. You can work all day, seven days a week all the way up to Sunday in practice. But at the same time, if you're going to work like that, then maybe on Sunday you're probably not going to get what you want out of your players."

Lewis went on and on like that. Lewis is frustrated, as well he should be. He's having the worst season of his 10-year career as an individual, and this is no doubt the worst team he's ever played on. I don't think he should be running his mouth to reporters instead of talking to his coach, but since he's planning to retire after this season anyway, he really has nothing to lose. I'd bet there are other players on the team who feel the same way, and maybe they're right. I liked the Mangini hire when they made it, but now I'm thinking he was the wrong guy at the wrong time.

Pathetic. Just pathetic.

Let me start off by saying I didn't watch the Browns' 30-6 loss to the Bears yesterday. It wasn't some sort of protest or conscientious objection, though if these Browns weren't so terrible, I might have chosen to stay home and watch. But my wife wanted to go to a Chinese auction that was being drawn at 2 p.m. at Windham High School, and that sounded like more fun to me than watching the Browns get the crap beaten out of them yet again. And it was! I didn't win anything, but my wife won a Windham football jersey (No. 8; and I wore it the rest of the day, just for the heck of it), a scrapbook set and a lunchbox set.

As the auction wore on, I was checking in from time to time on the Browns, who were predictably pathetic. They were down 16-0 at the half, by which time Derek Anderson was 2-for-9 for 13 yards with an interception and a lost fumble. He had also been sacked once for an 11-yard loss. Eric Mangini must be a very pig-headed man for not going with Brady Quinn to start the second half. As bad as Quinn was at the start of the year, Anderson has played about as badly as I've ever seen an NFL quarterback play, and I'd frankly rather see Brett Ratliff out there right now. The only thing Anderson has proven this year is that he's got no business running an NFL offense.

Anyway, Mangini stuck with Anderson, who rewarded him with a 4-for-8 passing performance in the second half, for 63 yards, and scored a rushing touchdown that was set up by a shanked punt and four Jamal Lewis rushes. Anderson never threw the ball on that one touchdown drive, which started at the Chicago 30.

Lewis announced after the game that this would be his last season, and if I were one of his teammates, I'd be tempted to join him. It can't be fun to play on a team like this.

So it's Anderson

I don't have a whole lot to say about the decision to start Derek Anderson instead of Brady Quinn against Cincinnati that I didn't say in my previous post in which I wondered if it mattered much. But I'll give it a shot.

As I first contemplated this, it seemed to me it would be a better idea for Eric Mangini to just keep running Quinn out there unless and until he determines that Quinn is never going to be the quarterback the Browns thought he was when they drafted him. If he's already reached that conclusion, it's a hasty one; if not, my first inclination is to say, give the kid a chance. It's not like the Browns are going anywhere this year.

Anderson's had his shot. But there's a case to be made for him to get another one. As the primary starter, he's produced one Pro Bowl season and one sub-par season. The sub-par season was more recent than the Pro Bowl season, which is why it sticks in our minds more. But this is still the same guy who led the Browns to a 10-6 record two years ago. I don't know where he's been hiding it, but we definitely won't see it again if he never gets another chance.

So I don't know. Wishy-washy enough for you?

My, but these Browns are bad

Browns coach Eric Mangini hasn't decided who's going to play quarterback on Sunday against Cincinnati. My question is, does it even matter?

Brady Quinn has been turnover-prone, as he's thrown three interceptions and lost two fumbles in the first three games of the season. He has thrown one touchdown pass, putting a meaningless score on the board late in the two-touchdown loss against Minnesota to open the season. He went 6-for-8 against Baltimore last week, but for a measly 34 yards. He hasn't been able to convert third downs worth a darn. His 62.9 passer rating is 30th in the NFL. He's still young, so maybe he'll find something if Mangini keeps putting him out there, but right now, this team is going nowhere with Quinn.

Derek Anderson moved the ball a little bit against the Ravens, leading the Browns' only scoring drive in that 34-3 embarrassment. But he also threw three interceptions. Maybe he was just rusty, and can put something together if he gets a chance. He is a former Pro Bowler, after all. But he put up a 30.3 rating in that game, which is obviously pathetic.

And that Browns defense is just as pathetic as the offense. They're giving up more than 30 points a game. They're 30th in the league in total yards allowed, at 412.7 per game. Couple that with an offense that is dead last in the NFL in total yards, at 218 per game. They might do just as well if they send everybody home and rebuild the roster with unsigned free agents.

Even the Lions have a win now. The Browns are in every sense the worst team in the NFL.

Quarterback follies

I know this isn't exactly breaking news at this point, but I just moved over the weekend, so I've been busy. So sue me. (Actually, please don't. I don't want to pay a lawyer.) But anyway, Eric Mangini has declared that he has chosen a starting quarterback, but he won't tell us who it is. The idea is to make it that much more difficult for the Vikings to prepare for Sunday's game, because they have to allow for either Brady Quinn or Derek Anderson to be running the Browns' offense.

The thing we all have to understand is that football coaches are not like the rest of us. They are paranoid men, constantly afraid that the other coach is going to outsmart them. As well they should be; the other coach is doing the same.

I would guess we're going to see Quinn out there on Sunday, but both quarterbacks had good training camps, and really, there is no wrong choice, unless he puts someone like Brett Ratliff or D'Qwell Jackson behind center. Either way, I'm looking forward to seeing it.

Mangini speaks on SportsCenter

Chris Mortensen's tour of NFL training camps for ESPN's SportsCenter took him to the Browns' camp yesterday, and naturally he spoke to Eric Mangini about the quarterback controversy. Mangini basically said he's going to give both Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn every chance to impress him, and that he won't make a snap decision. (Mortensen asked him to bring us "up to snuff" on how the competition is going, which I don't think is quite what he meant to say.)

"At some point, one will make a really strong case that they should be the starter, and at that point, we'll name them," Mangini told Mortensen. "The most important thing to me is not to make a quick decision, it's to make the right decision."

There was no mention of the recent release of Shaun Smith, apparently for being lazy and insubordinate. I have to say I like the way Mangini is running his camp, based on what I've seen. Sure, giving both quarterbacks a fair chance to be the starter isn't exactly brain surgery, but a lot of coaches would have just named a starter by now so they wouldn't have to worry about it. And he's making sure his players know who's boss. It comes to mind that a certain former coach with a Shakespearean name wouldn't have done that.

Brady Quinn a homophobe?

Reportedly, Browns quarterback-of-the-future Brady Quinn was seen outside a gay bar in Columbus in the wee hours of New Year's Day, shouting insults and trying to provoke a fight. Ironically, I'm blogging about this from America's most gay-friendly city, San Francisco, but that's really neither here nor there; I just thought I'd mention it.

What can we conclude about an alleged event, these six weeks later? Well, if the allegations are true, Brady Quinn is undoubtedly not the only homophobe in the NFL. But he'd be the only one stupid enough to stand outside a gay bar and call gay people names.

I have a hard time believing that this actually happened; my guess is that someone who looks a lot like Brady Quinn did it. But we all know how New Year's Eve can go, and I could believe that Quinn got rip-roaring drunk and lost control of himself. If he really did this, I sure hope he learns from it.

UPDATE: As has been pointed out to me by a commenter, the police arrived that night to find Quinn arguing with someone outside the bar. That makes my former last paragraph seem a little bit ridiculous; I admit I read the story a little bit too fast in an attempt to get out of my hotel and off to breakfast faster. Does that mean Brady Quinn is a closet homosexual? I don't think so, but the anonymous comment poster undoubtedly knows homosexuals better than I do. I don't really care if he's gay or not; he's an idiot if he hung around outside a gay bar to insult the people going in and coming out (no pun intended).