Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Perspective...


I have a theory on how some fans perceive what they see, like for example, those that think Derek Anderson is a good QB.

I'm old enough to know not only when this team was good, but was consistently good. I mean, like win 6 out of 7 & call that normal. So while I may not be the smartest guy around, I do have the perspective of longevity. So here goes.

We have not had a truly good team in 20 years (with the exception of the 1994 squad), so those that are about 32 years old or younger truly don't know good when they see it. That sounds like an insult & feel free to take it that way if you wish, but I think it's true. Not once did I think, when DA was chucking the ball all over the place that he was "good" - I thought he was a pleasant surprise but needed some longevity in order to move into the "good" category. He never did. His "good" period lasted two months.

That's a very low bar of competence, and one that fans of, for example, the Steelers, would find laughable. And it's why they laugh at us. Because we've lost our perspective of what "good" is. Trust me, the Browns teams of the 1960s - those ones that were churning out 10-win seasons (in 14 game seasons) - those teams knew what "good" was.

In short, this long period of losing has warped our perspective. To the point that we're pointing fingers over who's to blame over a missed 4th down pass & over whether it was too high. The old Browns would laugh at that.

So in summary, DA is not good. Never was. He was Clint Longley-good (Cowboy fans will get that reference). He excited a fan base that was desperate to embrace any player that just stopped the sucking. And for weeks 2 thru 9 last year, DA did that. But he's not good. Be clear on that.

Honestly, there's only a handful of players on this team that are truly worthy of the old-school Browns tradition of "good" - Winslow, Lewis, Thomas, Steinbach, Rogers. That's about it. Others have potential, like Quinn, Edwards & S. Jones. The rest would have a hard time carrying Leroy Kelly's jockstrap.

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