DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum QB Derek Anderson regrets the way he left Cleveland

Ex-Browns QB Derek Anderson regrets the way he left Cleveland

San Francisco -- Derek Anderson said he is in a better place now – personally and professionally – and is able to say he is sorry.

The former Cleveland Browns quarterback is sorry about the way he exited after the 2009 season, when he slammed Browns fans as “ruthless” and wrote in a scathing email that “they don’t deserve a winner.”

He’s even more sorry about his performance in the defining game of his Browns career -- a 19-14 loss in Cincinnati in Game 15 in the 2007 season that cost the Browns a playoff berth and division championship.

On a blustery December day, Anderson threw two interceptions on successive throws just before halftime to pretty much seal the fate of the season. The Browns haven’t come close to the post-season since.

As Anderson recounted his highs and lows in Cleveland while on the precipice of Super Bowl 50 as Cam Newton’s backup with the Carolina Panthers, he revealed just how deeply that game affected him.

“I had the opportunity to take my team to the playoffs and it was one of the worst games I ever played,” Anderson told me on Thursday at the Panthers’ Super Bowl headquarters hotel in San Jose, CA.

That game was eight years ago. Anderson is now the backup quarterback on a 17-1 juggernaut favored to beat the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 50. And that game still is on his mind. It shattered his confidence.

He got beat up two more years in Cleveland, physically and mentally, and then one year in Arizona. And then it wasn’t until his fourth year with Carolina, that Anderson exorcised the demons of that Browns’ game almost seven years earlier.

Anderson filled in for an injured Newton in the Panthers’ 2014 season opener and threw for two touchdowns in a 20-14 win over Tampa Bay.

“I looked at it as an opportunity to prove myself,” Anderson told me. “I know I was a lot better than [in that 2007 loss to Cincinnati]. When we got over that [win against Tampa Bay], it was refreshing. It proved I could still play a clean game at a level I know I was capable of.”

Soul searching: In 2007, Anderson produced the best season of a Browns quarterback since the team was reborn in expansion in 1999. He won 10 of 15 starts, threw for 3,787 yards and 29 touchdowns. The big year earned contract extensions for him, offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski, coach Romeo Crennel and general manager Phil Savage.

And things just unraveled from there. Anderson went 3-6 in 2008 as the Browns slumped to 4-12, and the Crennel-Chudzinsk partnership was blown up by owner Randy Lerner. After a 3-4 stint under new coach Eric Mangini in 2009, Mike Holmgren was brought in as president and Anderson was released.

It was a terrible time for him, and he now says he couldn’t deal with everything swirling around him.

“I signed a $24 million deal [after 2007] and nobody stood by me,” Anderson said. “The first bad game that I had, every single one of you [in the media] were saying, ‘We need Brady Quinn in there.’

“I do regret saying some of the things I did say because I do have great friends there. I was definitely sour about the way I was treated by the organization and the fans. I had every opportunity to leave after ’07 and I chose not to. I had great rapport with my teammates and I felt I owed it to them to come back. I thought we could do something special.”

Underlying his problems on the field were problems off the field.

“The last year I was there, I was going through a divorce,” Anderson said. “I wasn’t doing the right things I needed to do personally, which made football harder than it had it to be. I was depressed. I wasn’t in a good spot.”

The career refresher: The 2010 season in Arizona, Anderson said, was the lowest point. He suffered another bad year and was beat up physically. So when Chudzinski moved on to Carolina offensive coordinator in 2011 and lured Anderson to join him, Anderson jumped at the chance.

“At that point, I just needed some guidance,” he said. “Chud said, ‘Let’s get you back playing good football.’ He wanted me to push Cam but also to help in his development. At that point, I wanted to be around people that could make me better, that I could trust and be comfortable with.”

Anderson remarried in 2013, had a daughter and is expecting another one in April. Despite his messy parting from Cleveland, and all the negativity he abhors from years of losing , he wanted to return when Chudzinski was hired as head coach in 2013.

“I wanted to prove what I did there [in 2007] wasn’t [a fluke],” Anderson said, “and I was strong enough to go back and take on that role and be a leader and help.

“To me, I felt I had unfinished business and I wasn’t given the opportunity [to complete it]. I’ve lost the animosity over the whole thing and I feel bad for what those people have gone through. It’s so frustrating to me, because I see that [negative] mindset all the time.”

Anderson said he invited some friends from Cleveland to the Panthers’ first playoff game and he was struck by how much they enjoyed the experience of winning.

“I wanted them to have that experience [in Cleveland] and I wish I was the one who could have brought that off,” he said.

All is good now for him now. He is 32, much more mature professionally, and his life is together, and he is totally at peace with the thought of being one play away from playing in the Super Bowl.

“I’m light years beyond where I was mentally the last time we talked [in 2009],” Anderson said. “The way I approach things, my off the field personal life, all those things are so much better. I’m grown up. When I got here Sunday, I sat in my room and just thought about how far I’ve come as a man, and in football, too. Football becomes easier for me when I have a clear mind.”

http://espn.go.com/blog/cleveland//post/...-left-cleveland

"Anderson said he invited some friends from Cleveland to the Panthers’ first playoff game and he was struck by how much they enjoyed the experience of winning."

I wonder how many players on this team played before 2009. Maybe 3 players?

Good for him,, I wish him well.,

Maybe they'll let him play in the 4th for mop-up duty.

That pass to Winslow in Phoenix was a touchdown.

Yes, it was. I was even at that game.

Ugh, that game in Cincy. Rough day. I wasn't happy.

WE GOTTA GET THIS GUY!

Thats not funny...nothing is funny

It was a little funny.

Jesus I remember that. I was so upset. Thinking about it, had we won that game, we would have had 11 wins. Gone to the playoffs. Refs robbed us real bad.

That year was so much fun, and it ended so badly.

We didn't control our destiny and Jim Sorgi wasn't even allowed to run a 2 minute offense for the Colts to beat the Titans and get us into the playoffs. I'm convinced they decided the Titans were an easier opponent in the playoffs and planned on letting them win the game. I've hated the Colts ever since.....................


The performance against Cincinatti was awful. I only got to see the 2nd half, because I was at a funeral during the 1st (yet the whole time I was following the thing on my Blackberry (sorry Harry Shear RIP)).

Right or wrong, I just couldn't forgive DA. One of the biggest letdowns I've ever felt in sports. Either way, we never should have signed him to a contract extension. He was a product of a team around him that was playing extremely well together. Mix that with a fanbase that (like myself) couldn't forgive him for what happened, and you have the Indy Colts game the next season.

And I'll admit, this was like 2008, so I had to be like 22, and I was drunk off my butt, and I remember yelling at him when he got injured. "That's what you get!" That's what I was screaming that day. It was a bad day in that stadium. I wasn't the only one either. I so badly just wanted to get the Colts back for purposely losing to Tennessee. We lost like 3-13 or something ridiculous like that. It was 3-6 until the end of the game when Indy got their first TD. Weather was awful that day, neither team could throw the ball.


I am embarrassed for my actions that day, but man was I angry

Good for DA. I'm glad he's in a better place now. He was a jerk, and a crappy QB, but he's not wrong about how he was treated here. The bad cheers from the fans and the turmoil in the org wasn't his fault, but he handled it pretty poorly.

Also, BQ and Weeden came after him, so history will be kinder because of that.

had good reason to be one. jmo

Agreed, and I said as much. Doesn't mean he can do what he did and said what he said. He admitted as much regarding his way out.

It probably makes apologizing easier seeing that we're still a raging dumpster fire.

DA was my favorite Browns QB since 99.

Everyone's funny, but DA would be a nice bridge for this team until they can draft a quality qb.

He always had the talent. He simply could not emotionally handle the burden of all the hate he faced while in Cleveland. He is more mature now. He has played well whenever he was inserted in the game. I live in the area, and there was talk here of how DA was outperforming Cam for a couple of years. That's over now......LOL........but my point is that the guy is a pretty good qb and the Browns would be a better team if he was on it.

Was that when the refs would not invoke the push out rule? And the league canned the rule at the end of the season?

Yes.

I gotta disagree. It's better that DA and the Browns have gone their separate ways.

I'd rather we stick with McCown

Bygones: Derek.


And lets just get this out of the way right now.........


Bygones: Ty
Bygones: Timmah
Bygones: Doug
Bygones: Spergon
Bygones: Kelly
Bygones: Jeff
Bygones: Luke
Bygones: Trent
Bygones: Charlie
Bygones: Brady
Bygones: Ken
Bygones: Bruce
Bygones: Colt
Bygones: Jake
Bygones: Seneca
Bygones: Brandon
Bygones: Thad
Bygones: Jason
Bygones: Brian

if DA really wanted to come back. I would give him a "go" an see if he could the team...if he can great if not at least we gave him a look.

I would personally take him over McCown.

Me too.

I'll take McCown. At this point (and I'm assuming we draft a QB) we need more than a bridge QB - we need a mentor. I don't know if DA could be that guy or not...

yea. just look how good he did mentoring johnny.....

Why bring in a QB with any type of baggage?

I'm tired of QB being a "story" or a distraction here. No RGIII, no DA.

I remember that play clear as day.. I was livid!!!

He was mentoring (and Manziel was srarting to show something), not baby-sitting...

Where did I advocate bringing in DA or RGIII?

I was at that game - the play happened right in front of me. I was pissed in a sea of Cardinal fans, lol.

I think you could have DA and McCown on the same team. No way is Josh going to last an entire year. DA would probably win the starting job and Josh could back him up. Davis would be 3rd or we could keep a later round draft pick, such as Hogan as our 3rd.

And then go all in next year's draft.

only way that would work is if we started mccown all next year for the #1 pick...

I would not mid seeing this play out .

Maybe Vers.

But I'm wondering if that doesn't mess up plans for going all in for a QB in 2017.

In theory, if Gordon stays clean, we all seen what happens when DA has a top WR and a top TE on the same squad.

Didn't he have Edwards and Winslow in 2008 as well?

Also, I love Barnidge, but he is nowhere near what Winslow was in 2007.

He did. I dunno what happened to the offense in 2008.

Barnidge might not be as talented as Winslow as a weapon in 2007, but I think he's a better overall TE.

I think Gordon is better than BE. And I think we have a better line than 2007.

How in the world would starting McCown all next year translate into the # 1 overall pick next year?

On a physical talent level, no doubt. DA is far more physically talented than McCown.

I think that DA is a better QB, in many ways, than McCown. He has definitely burned far brighter than McCown has.

However, what role do we want a veteran QB to fill here? Do we want a starter,. to compete with the rookie QB we are almost certainly going to draft, or to me a mentor and confidant for the QB .... to advise him and show/explain how things work in the NFL? I think that this as a role where McCown is far better suited.

Someone derisively noted that McCown mentored Manziel as well ...... but you can only work with what you have. I think that McCown was a good influence in some ways, but when a kid is set on being self destructive, then no one is going to pull them off that path until they are ready to step off and turn around.

2008 was a mess for a variety of reasons. This is just by memory, but I believe:

--DA got injured during the preseason and didn't get as many reps as one would have liked.

--Leon got hurt while running barefoot during sprints. Stallworth stepped on his foot w/his cleats. Man, who was the coach that year? Running barefoot?

--There were other injuries that the team was dealing with.

--DA handled all the hate he received from the BQ lovers poorly. He was emotionally burdened by it and not mature enough to overcome it. I remember the fans cheering when he was laying on the field injured. I think people forget things like that.

But anyway..............this is never going to happen and I didn't mean to give the impression that it could happen. I just think he has matured a lot over the years and he has mad skills. But again, that ship has sailed.