DA Strikes Back in Round 3 vs. Lions; Is Derek Anderson "The Man"?

Browns Backers,  

doubt - "to be uncertain about; consider questionable or unlikely; hesitate to believe."

You have to wonder sometimes if Browns QB, Derek Anderson knows pop singer, Katy Perry because he has a tendency to be hot and cold. 

When Anderson is hot like he was in the epic and now legendary 51-45 Madden-style shootout win vs. fellow PAC-10 gunslinger, Carson Palmer, he can be a truly formidable QB. 

Who can forget his improbable three-touchdown, 310-yard masterpiece against the defending Super Bowl champion, New York Giants in front of a national audience on Monday Night Football?

But in the back of many Browns fans minds, the reason why he is a pariah in the eyes of the "Dawg Pound" are his "cold" games such as the 2007 meltdown in "The Jungle" by tossing four INT's vs. the Bengals costing the Brown's a wild card birth to go along with his irritating habit of being inconsistent. 

Love him or hate him, Anderson may have either pulled even or even nudged ahead of the QB race and despite it coming against the Lions, beggars can't be choosers.

As I watched from the 20-yard line in section 106, row 16, seat 7. I have to say I came away with the feeling that Anderson clearly won Round 3 on Saturday.

From the start he came out aggressive with some nice and decisive throws in the first quarter including completions to Braylon Edwards, Mohamed Massaquoi and Joshua Cribbs.

If there is any tie-breaker in who gets the starting job of QB, consider that Anderson led the Browns to their first offensive TD since the last days of the Bush administration. 

Now I'm sure that "The Brady Bunch" will rebutt by saying that "it was against Detroit" and "they had a rookie QB", but consider that for once Anderson looked comfortable, confident and accounted for 13 of the Browns 27 points, while Quinn went 3-5 for 29 yards and was sacked on his first play in the game and put zero points on the board. 

Anderson did throw his traditional INT, which immediately prompted chants for Brady, but for once Anderson shook those off and played a good game and provided a much better showing after going 0-2 with a INT in Green Bay last week.  

I also have to say that the Browns may have found themselves a late-round gem in rookie RB, James Davis, who ripped of a nice 81-yd touchdown run to close the game, it would not surprise me to see Davis get some PT this year.  

While Anderson provided some much needed offense, I think maybe Joshua Cribbs should be the QB, considering he scored the most points than any player with 14, if not for a holding call on his first kick-off return being called back.

Here are some accumulated stats for both QB's from both games so far:

Brady Quinn : 10-16, 97 yards, 1 INT, 0 TD

Derek Anderson : 8-15, 130 yards, 2 INT's, 2 TD

This race is coming is heating up and both QB's appear to be in a dead heat, and one of them has to emerge, but on Saturday, Anderson clearly won Round 3.

Later,

Dawgfather.