Poor Brady Quinn
September 30, 2009 - 12:20 pm by Ryan Phillips
Head coach Eric Mangini announced today that Derek Anderson will take over the starting quarterback role for the winless Cleveland Browns. That will leave everyone’s favorite former Domer, Brady Quinn, holding a clipboard during this Sunday’s contest with Cincinnati.
Quinn, who seems more interested in working his pecs than developing his quarterbacking skills, won the starting job during training camp but has lost it after just three games. And it was a spectacular three games. The kind of spectacular that left him with a 62.9 quarterback rating and half of the Cleveland faithful recovering from strokes caused by screaming at the television.
Let’s break down Quinn’s three performances thus far, shall we?
Week one vs. Minnesota, 34-20 loss
21-of-35 (60 percent), 205 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception, 5.86 yards per attempt, 5.0 sacks (GET RID OF THE BALL BRADY!) and a 74.1 QB rating.
Week two at Denver, 27-6 loss
18-of-31 (58.1 percent), 161 yards, 0 touchdowns, 1 interception, 5.19 yards per attempt, 4.0 sacks (GET RID OF THE BALL A-HOLE!) and a 58.7 QB rating.
Week three @ Baltimore, 34-3 loss
6-of-8 (75 percent), 34 yards, 0 touchdowns, 1 interception, 4.25 yards per attempt, 1.0 sacks and a 42.7 QB rating.
Quinn was pulled at halftime of the Baltimore game. For those of you thinking that putting up those numbers against the Ravens’ defense isn’t so bad, consider that one week earlier Philip Rivers torched Baltimore for 436 yards through the air.
Quinn’s quarterback rating of 62.9 ranks 30th out of 33 eligible players. Just for fun: David Garrard, Seneca Wallace, Byron Leftwich, Kevin Kolb, Shaun Hill, Trent Edwards and Kyle Orton are ahead of him. I’ll give Cleveland fans a second to stop banging their heads on their desks…
Quinn has been so bad that he is being replaced by a guy who threw three interceptions in relief of him on Sunday. Quinn’s leadership abilities are so atrocious that Mangini saw Derek Anderson go 11-of-19 (57.9) for 92 yards, 0 touchdowns, three interceptions and a 30.9 QB rating in the final three quarters against Baltimore and said “Yep, that’s my guy.”
The fact that Mangini is already (supposedly) on the hot seat in Cleveland and went with Anderson is telling. He has seen what Quinn can do and has decided that if he’s gonna go down, he’s gonna go down with the other guy. That tells me two things. First, Quinn does not have the trust of his teammates. Mangini obviously feels like the team will fight harder for Anderson. Second, the talent difference between Quinn and Anderson is minimal.
The two signal callers were dead even for most of training camp and it was the final quarterback battle in the NFL to be decided (the players were informed of the decision just four days before the opening game). Mangini probably went with Quinn because of his status as a first round pick and someone the Browns gambled on (they traded a first round pick in 2008 and their 2007 second rounder to move up and snag him).
Anyone else think the Browns should be burning up the phones trying to work a deal to get Michael Vick to Cleveland? At least he’d provide some excitement, though he’d probably have to avoid the Dawg Pound as a requirement of his probation.
I just feel bad for Notre Dame fans since they’ve talked Quinn up as a franchise quarterback since he was a freshman. It’s a shame. Why can’t he be more like Mark Sanchez?
6 Responses to “Poor Brady Quinn”
The thing about Quinn was always his accuracy. I remember watching him his last two years, and his accuracy was always a step off. Jeff Samardzija, Mo Stovall, Darius Walker, John Carlson and Anthony Fasano all made Quinn look better than he actually was because they would adjust to his throws. Walker was always pulling balls off his hip because Brady threw behind him. There was plenty of praise thrown to the receivers and tight ends and all, but they are the ones that made Quinn look sensational, not the other way around.
Especially now, watching Ji-Ji-Jimmy, you can see a huge difference between the accuracy of the quarterbacks. Clausen at least hits guys in stride. Quinn’s receivers (especially Samardzija) always had to make acrobatic catches because of where Quinn placed the ball.
In other words, I’m not surprised by his lack of NFL success. If he doesn’t have talented receivers to make him look better, then he’s…well…exactly what you see before you in Cleveland.
By MJenks on Sep 30, 2009
And, actually, ND fans didn’t talk him up as a “franchise” quarterback since he was a freshman. When he arrived on campus, the other quarterback he had to compete against was Pat Dillingham, who was a walk-on given a scholarship. Pretty much, at that point, ND fans wanted someone-anyone-who could throw the ball. This was after Davie had pretty much run the gamut of anyone on the team that didn’t have a noodlearm. Such names as Arnez Battle, Matt Lovecchio, Carlyse Holliday, Gary Godsey and Dillingham aren’t exactly names that rank up there with the Four Horseman.
By MJenks on Sep 30, 2009
MJ,
Fair enough, it should read “all the Notre Dame fans I know” were talking him up to be a franchise quarterback since he was a freshman. But, you are right that the Quinn hype didn’t really go overboard until he was a junior.
And you’re spot-on correct about his receivers. I’ve always said that (even on this here blog back when Quinn was in college).
By Phillips on Sep 30, 2009
Even though Samardzija was the one who got all the hype, it was Walker who really made Quinn what he was. He had excellent hands, ran his routes, and was able to pass block and get out for the check-down.
I guess I didn’t read this here blog back when he was still in college. Gross incompetence on my part. Hell, it took me a year to find you guys AFTER you switched out from Blogger. Sheesh.
As for the Quinn hype…yeah, it got dialed up after Cholly’s first season, mostly because Quinn didn’t look completely at a loss like he did his first two years. And while I liked him well enough, I saw what he was-a good college quarterback who would struggle in the NFL.
By MJenks on Sep 30, 2009
Nice work. You too, MJenks.
Another thing that has to be considered is the $11M incentive payment that Quinn stands to lose if he doesn’t take 70% of the snaps this season. It looks like he might have been playing not to lose that $11M. On one hand, who can blame him, and who out there wouldn’t have been affected by such a contingency, at least subconsciously. On another, if true, what an a$$ for putting his $11M above the team, and good riddance.
By Cleveland Frowns on Oct 1, 2009
Quinn has the 3rd worst QB rating since 2008, yeah. Something that might be applicable to your point is the fact that Anderson has the absolute worst rating since 2008. Quinn’s been bad THIS year, Anderson has been bad for both this and last.
By Alex on Oct 1, 2009