Cleveland Browns Defeat the Buffalo Bills 6 to 3; Anderson Out, in comes Ratliff?
The win-less Cleveland Browns defeated the one win Buffalo Bills in an offensive-less game, with the final score of 6 to 3.
The highlights, yes, there were a few. Let’s begin with the return of Jamal Lewis. Early in the week, Lewis was not even considered to be able to play versus Buffalo. Later in the week, Lewis was possibly going to play, but would be eased into action. Here is the Jamal Lewis stat-line; 117 yards on 31 carries. I’m glad to see they took it easy on him.
Onto the Browns defense. Only giving up 3 points for the game was an incredible feat, regardless of the opponent. The Browns D had two fumble recoveries, an interception and two sacks. In addition, hey gave up only 288 total yards.
Team discipline was also a huge positive. The Cleveland Browns were penalized only 3 times for 29 yards.
Finally, Dave Zastudil. Zastudil punted nine times with a 42.1 yard average. His long was 57 yards, and 7 out of his 9 punts were inside the 20 yard line, with 2 punts downed at the one yard line of Buffalo!
Now onto the bad. Let’s reflect back to the Browns, Ravens game from Week 3. Brady Quinn’s first half consisted of him going 6 for 8 with 34 yards passing, and one interception. This performance led to his benching in favor of Derek Anderson. Anderson’s second half versus the Ravens produced 3 interceptions, and 92 yards on an 11 of 19 performance.
This week versus Buffalo, Anderson was 2 of 17. TWO OF SEVENTEEN. No, not a typo… TWO OF SEVENTEEN FOR 23 YARDS, WITH A PICK. 60 minutes of football, and all Derek Anderson could produce was 23 lousy yards!
Based on this, how can you honestly keep Derek Anderson in the line-up as your starting quarterback. Buffalo’s D is not Baltimore, Philly, Pittsburgh or Minnesota. 23 yards? I have never been more disappointed in a Browns win than I was today.
What’s the fix?
The way I see it, you have two options… Start Josh Cribbs and run the old Houston, Andre Ware college “run and shoot” offense, keeping in mind that Cribbs was a starting college quarterback at Kent State, or, throw the keys to Brett Ratliff. Obviously going back to Brady Quinn is not on any of the coaching staffs’ minds, or we would have seen him in the second half.
photo www.sportsshooter.com
Derek Anderson’s performance cannot be described in words, period! This offense would be more productive with either Cribbs or Ratliff under center. It was rumored that in the pre-season, Ratliff looked the most polished in the new offense, as he came with head coach Eric Mangini from the New York Jets, and I would bet anything that Ratliff’s performance would carry a higher quarterback rating than what Anderson produced today. I am positive that Josh Cribbs could complete more than two passes, and he would rack up well over 100 yards on the ground. Watching Cribbs under center would be the most exciting thing I could ever remember seeing out of a Browns offense over the last 1 1/3 seasons! Hell, Kevin Johnson, the Browns 1999 second round pick, who was a wide receiver out of Syracuse did better when he was placed under center in an emergency role.
Anderson’s play was appalling, what is your opinion?
Kurt Fraschetti / ProFootballinsight.net
Kurt@profootballinsight.net
My opinion is you are not factoring in the ten drops. When you hit a receiver in his hands he needs to catch it, regardless of it’s speed. And Anderson’s velocity was not the factor today. Cold or not they need to catch the damn ball.
Brownie4life,
2 of 17… That stat will remain with me until I see something worse! Everyone in Cleveland bashed Braylon for his drops. Braylon opened up the field for the rest of the offense. You had to cover him, sometimes double him. There is not one receiver that commands a double team on the Browns anymore! I do agree with your views on the drops, but ultimately D.A. was 2 of 17, period. What bothers me about this entire situation was how Brady Quinn was done, or done wrong. Derek Anderson had a worse half of football then Quinn in the Ravens game. I think that Eric Mangini is playing a game with this season to manipulate the fans into wanting Ratliff in as the starter, just like he has wanted all along. He just could not go through with it immediately because Quinn was a first round pick, and D.A. was a pro-bowler in 2007. He had to let these two hang themselves before he could put in Ratliff to save face with the media if Ratliff did not produce… My opinion.
Thanks for writing in.
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DA did have a bad game but the difference is that he had a bad game in 34 mph winds. Remember the game in Cincy in 2007 in strong winds when DA threw pick after pick? Yesterday’s game was what happens when DA doesn’t force passes and the Browns run the ball well.
The first few drops were his fault for putting 50 yard velocity on a 5 yard pass but a lot of those passes should have been caught. If you think Ratliff or Quinn would have done any better you are way off. Sounds like you were looking for an excuse to rip DA. Lets see how he does next week at Pittsburgh.
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