Brady Quinn Did Improve As the Season Progressed

This article is a response to recent articles by Daniel Wolf and Steve Tater. Both are writers that I have the utmost respect for even when I respectively disagree with there points.

It does get tiring defending Brady Quinn. Here is a quarterback where the opinion on him is split. If we were in court, this would be a hung jury. That is okay though because to me, he is a player worth fighting for.

Although I have never met him, I have family who went to Notre Dame who did. Everybody who I talk to say he is just a stand up guy. I would be shocked if Quinn were one of those athletes we hear about on the news for a bad reason when his playing days are done.

The kid is already working on his law degree. With all he has been through in Cleveland he still maintains a strong faith in the lord.

So I am sorry I root for a player like that, but if believing in Brady Quinn is wrong than I don't want to be right.

Having said all that, I do get that it is the NFL and he has to produce on the field regardless of the kind of person he is.

In regards to Brady Quinn, I have come to the conclusion that there are two kinds of fans. There are those who believe in him and those who don't understand. People are afraid of what they don't understand.

I constantly hear from those who don't like him that they don't understand what is the big deal about Quinn. His tangible skills are nothing special and his arm is nothing to get excited about. I certainly understand those sentiments because it is exactly how I felt after his sophomore year at Notre Dame.

Then in his junior year I saw something about him that is rare. He has something that is more important than tangible skills. He has the ability to see things before they happen. That is why he was able to lead the Irish as far as he could in spite it not being that great of team.

There are still some who don't give him credit for the player he was in college because they are still hung up on the tangible skills. I remember his senior year against Michigan State in the rain. Nothing was working offensively until Charlie Weis allowed him to go no huddle.

Think about that, Weis is known for his massive ego. Yet this offensive genius allowed a college kid to call the plays at the line. The rest of the year the no huddle was a regular part of the offense. He was so effective with it because of his ability to see what the defense was doing before they did it.

I don't ever remember a college quarterback being allowed to run a no huddle with such frequency. I am sure there has been some, but I don't remember who.

The funny thing is many think Jimmy Clausen is a better quarterback than Quinn because of his superior arm. I love Clausen and do think he will be a great pro, but he can't even compare to Quinn at Notre Dame. I only remember Weis allowing him to run a no huddle three times.

Yet, people think Clausen is way better despite only going to the Hawaii Bowl. It is because he is an easy one to understand. He has a great arm. That is easy to measure.

Quinn brings things that can't be measured on a stat sheet. His ability to run a no huddle is the main one. Yes, he still has much to improve on at the NFL level.

However, he did improve on alot throughout the year. He did throw well against San Diego and Detroit. Then his stats weren't that good against Pittsburgh. Most gave him a pass on that one because of the weather conditions which were cold and had winds up to 35 MPH. The word was that he managed the game well.

Then against Kansas City, we expected a better passing effort from him. Unfortunately, we didn't get it. So the Quinn haters and doubters came out. Sure you like to see better stats and Quinn himself would have liked to have better stats.

However, there are factors that might have contributed to it. The running game was working better than it has all year. When it is working that well, stay with it. Isn't also possible that the reason the running game worked so well was because the Chiefs were defending against the passing game that had improved in recent weeks?

Maybe the reason the passing game was off was because the Chiefs were defending it. His two interceptions were the result of defenders sitting back in the coverage. That doesn't excuse the throws, that is something he has to learn and that is the next part of his development.

It isn't that crazy to think that the Chiefs were geared at stopping the pass since the running game was nonexistent for most of the year. Sure Jerome Harrison had 285 yards on the ground and that is a monster game. However, for the season he has 587 yards. That means for the rest of the season he has only 302 yards.

The next highest rusher is Jamal Lewis with 500 yards and he is on injured reserve. It is not that far of a reach to think that the Chiefs didn't respect the Browns running game.

This reminds me of a scenario when I was in basketball in junior high. We had one really good player that carried our team the whole season. We had only lost twice. Then we had a tournament at the end of the year. In the finals the team double and triple teamed our star player.

The rest of us got more easy lay ups than I can count. We won. Our coach told him afterward that it was his best game of the year. Although he only had four points, the attention he drew made him just as important as he would have been if he scored 30.

Sometimes we get way to caught up in stats in determining a player's value. Stats are one way to measure value, not the only way.

Hockey has this thing called a plus/minus rating. To me that is a very valuable tool. What it is is that everytime a your team scores a goal with you on the ice you get a plus. When your team gives up a goal with you on the ice, you get a minus. That is a good indicator if more good or bad things are happening when you are in the game.

Along those same premises, did the overall offensive production increase after week eight? We know the answer to that. Prior to week eight the team had six touchdowns. Since week eight they have 14. Offensive production increased tremendously since Quinn has been back in.

Another thing to look at which can't be measured with stats is the no huddle. I mentioned that earlier about how he was effective in college. This season the Browns have used it more regularly as the season progressed.

Last Sunday, it was featured a lot. That means Quinn was calling many of the plays at the line of scrimmage. That means he would read the defense and call the play based on what they were going to do. That means he was the one who saw the running game was open and he called it at the line of scrimmage.

I am sure coaches did tell him to feature the running game before going on the field, but he still was the one calling the plays in the no huddle.

He could call a ton of passing plays in the no huddle to boost his stats but he chose to take what was there. Doesn't that tell you something about him?

I am not saying Quinn has arrived. He still has a lot to improve on and he will have to consistently put up better stats. However, you can tell by watching him both on the field and in interviews that he just looks more comfortable than he did early on.

It is important to remember that the receivers also contribute to passing stats. The reality is that there is talent among the receivers but they are very inexperienced. That has to be considered too.

I know Holmgren is a very good evaluator of offensive talent and we don't know what he will do with Quinn. He did say that you don't judge a quarterback until he has 48 starts. That could be good for Quinn, at the same time it could be good for Derek Anderson.

The future for Quinn is unclear, but let me tell all you doubters that I will admit I was wrong about him when and only when he is running an offense that isn't completely outmatched by the defense every week and he still puts up inconsistent numbers.

In the meantime, I hope Anderson plays decent these last two games so the Browns have some leverage in trades.