When I heard that Brady Quinn had lost his starting job as the Cleveland Browns signal caller and was being replaced by Derek Anderson, I kind of felt bad for him because he just can’t seem to get a break. Was he the product of bad coaching or bad luck?
In college he was recruited by former Notre Dame Head Coach Ty Willingham only to see Ty fired after his freshman year and replaced by New England Patriot QB Tom Brady groomer Charlie Weis. Each year under Weis, Quinn seemed to get better and according to who you were listening to, he could have gone as high as the 1st pick in the 2007 NFL Draft. Now mind you Quinn was exploited badly by the LSU defense in the 2007 Sugar Bowl, and he was also a no-show in games against Michigan and Southern Cal that same season as well. I think in those games Weis was out coached and unprepared, a common site now, so bad coaching gets the nod here.
Who can forget Quinn sitting in the greenroom during the draft as his name slipped from pick to pick then finally getting his named called by the Browns’ with the 22nd pick after they traded a couple of picks to get him. That scene of him sitting and waiting half dressed and chewing gum was an all time classic and ESPN kept showing him fidgeting pick after pick.
Quinn was now being called the Browns’ quarterback of the future and their franchise guy. But someone forgot to tell
Anderson because he had a Pro-Bowl year during that 2007 season and put Quinn’s franchise QB appointment on hold. Last season Anderson struggled out the gate which led to Quinn being called on to finish out the season as the starter, but he broke his finger soon after and the job was returned back to Anderson. Some luck huh?
This year during the preseason both Quinn and Anderson struggled and Browns’ new head coach Eric Mangini decided to play games with the media and not announce his starting QB until right before their 1st game against the Minnesota Vikings. Although he didn’t perform that bad in the 1st game, his week 2 performance against the Denver Broncos raised eyebrows. In that game against the Broncos’ he completed 18 of 31 passes for 161 yards, no touchdowns and 1 pick in a 27 – 6 loss.
Last week after completing 6 of 8 passes for only 34 yards and a pick in the 1st half and down 20 – 0 against the Baltimore Ravens‘, Mangini had seen enough and pulled the plug on their franchise guy. Why do coaches seem to think that by pulling their starting QB at halftime against the Ravens will solve their problems? Anderson kindly came in and threw 3 second half picks as the Ravens’ went on to crush the Browns 34 – 3.
So now after an 0 – 3 start the Browns’ are going with Anderson as their starter as the word panic seems to be creep’n into the Mangini camp. Is Quinn being punish for just plain ol’ bad play calling and a non existent running game or does he just have plain ol’ bad luck? I say bad coaching.
