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No winner in QB demolition derby |
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Written by Jim Ingraham; News-Herald.com
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Friday, 01 September 2006 |
 Here's what passes for drama in the annual Hopefully Nobody Will Get Hurt Bowl, a.k.a. The Last Exhibition Game Of The Exhibition Season:
Derek Anderson or Ken Dorsey?
Think of it as the quarterback equivalent of "paper or plastic?"
Thursday night, the Browns and the Chicago Bears convened, at regular-season prices, no less, to play a meaningless game at Cleveland Browns Stadium.
Meaningless in the big picture, maybe. But not to Anderson, Dorsey, and a dozen or so other players on both teams, for whom this game was potentially the difference between a career in the National Football League or a career showing sweaty insurance men how to operate the Stairmaster at the local health club.
For Anderson and Dorsey, the game had pecking order implications. Who, it was to be determined, would be the quarterback who jogs into the huddle when starter Charlie Frye (please circle one) walks, limps, is dragged or carried off the field?
And who is in charge of nothing more complicated on the sidelines than clipboard maintenance?
These are important questions, because this is Cleveland, and this is where the Browns play. And, not to be morbid about it, but injuries are a way of life here. The Browns have a pile of injured centers right over there to prove it.
Coaches, and general managers, get paid to anticipate the worst. An injury to Frye would fall into that category. If and when that happens, are Anderson and Dorsey enough? If so, in what order? If not, then what?
So while the Hopefully Nobody Will Get Hurt Bowl seemed inconsequential to thousands of empty seats at Browns Stadium, there was still stuff going on.
Anderson, who had been the third quarterback through the first three preseason games, was the second man into the fray Thursday night, replacing Frye after the first two series of the first quarter. The theory was to see how Anderson performed against the opposing team's second defense, rather than the "all the other guys on the team" he had been facing as quarterback No. 3.
At 6-foot-6, 229 pounds, Anderson, if nothing else, looks good in a uniform. Through most of the first half he looked better in a uniform than in the pocket - partly because he had trouble getting there, and not much success when he did.
At one point in the second half, he tripped over one of his own linemen, for a four-yard loss, then on the next play completed a pass. Unfortunately, the player he completed it to weighed 303 pounds - Bears defensive tackle Antonio Garay.
Interceptions are bad anytime, but interceptions by defensive linemen produce the kind of scowl Crennel flashed after that one.
To his credit, Anderson rallied the second offense to a late score in the second quarter, guiding the team to a seven-play, 53-yards touchdown drive, culminated by a five-yard touchdown pass to Frisman Jackson.
At halftime Anderson was 10-for-20 for 95 yards, and one touchdown plus one interception, and a quarterback rating of 59.4, which is, let's be honest, almost 60.
Anderson also quarterbacked all of the third quarter, and averaged 36 inches per completion. He was 1-for-2, for one yard.
Dorsey, who used to be somebody, was given the fourth quarter, and only the fourth quarter, to state his case. Although he quarterbacked the University of Miami to a national championship, and had a record of 38-2 in his three years as a starter, he is best remembered by Browns fans for being sacked on the last play of Ohio State's victory over the Hurricanes in the 2002 national championship game.
Dorsey's professional career has been a weak footnote to his college career. He's basically had none. He wore a San Francisco uniform last year, and the Browns acquired him in exchange for Trent Dilfer, who is best remembered in Cleveland as a guy named Trent who once played quarterback for the Browns.
In the one quarter he played, Dorsey seemingly did nothing to suggest that he, and not Anderson, should be the No. 2 quarterback. Of course, mediocrity is in the eye of the beholder, and in this case, the only two eyes that matter are Crennel's.
How he feels about what he saw behind Frye Thursday night will be revealed in the next nine days, leading up to the Browns' season opener vs. New Orleans.
Who will be the Browns' No. 1 backup quarterback? Anderson? Dorsey? Or a yet-to-be-traded-for-or-signed-after-being-released-by-another-team mystery man?
As teams begin cutting their rosters in the countdown to Week 1, there will undoubtedly be some quarterbacks available. Will they be better than Anderson and/or Dorsey?
Or better than Vinny Testaverde, who is old and unemployed at the moment?
This is what passes for drama in the wake of the Hopefully Nobody Will Get Hurt Bowl. So stay tuned. The Browns lost 20-7, but the best news is that it didn't appear that anybody got seriously hurt.
Hopefully, anyway.
©The News-Herald 2006 |
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