DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Lets take a stroll down memory lane, for Jake Delhomme's sake.

I've been reading a lot of knee-jerk reaction to Jake Delhomme's week one play and it just makes me scratch my head. So that got me to thinking, which lead me to do some reading which then lead me to putting this little report together. It's a long one, warning you all now, but I'm sure some of you may appreciate this.

We have had 14 different Quarterbacks start games for us since returning in 1999, of those 14 QB's only THREE have had over 15 starts for us...

Those three?

Tim Couch
Charlie Frye
Derek Anderson

ONLY Derek Anderson has managed to have a QB Rating over 80 for an entire season, and he accomplished that during his aberrant 2007 campaign. That got me to thinking... as I projected Jake Delhomme's stats based on his week one performance.

IF Jake Delhomme is consistent based on his week 1 performance, and started all 16 games, he would pass for over 3600 yards and throw at LEAST 16 TD's... Now, that doesn't sound like anything special, does it? Well... for us, those would actually be some really good numbers.

So why don't you all come with me for a little stroll down Memory Lane... I will show you why those numbers would be something to BRAG about in comparison to the QB play of our recent past.

We have to start with Tim Couch. His best season as a Brown would have been 2002. He threw for over 2800 yards with 18 TD's and a 76.8 passer rating. We got to the Playoffs that year thanks to Couch's solid (not exactly great) QB play.

It wasn't enough for Butch Davis though, and thus Kelly Holcomb was tested, in 2003 he had 8 starts and passed for over 1700 yards and 10 TD's, he threw 12 picks though and had a passer rating of 74.6 so we rolled the dice again...

This time, we brought in Jeff Garcia to give us some legitimacy at QB. The problem was, we tried to use him as a pure pocket passer rather than letting him play HIS type of game. What resulted was at least statistically a bit better than Holcomb, but not much. Garcia passed for over 1700 yards, he had 10 TD's and 9 INT's resulting in a passer rating of 76.7 in the 10 starts he had that season.

After that, we took at chance on Trent Dilfer... and even though we look back and shake our head. Dilfer had the second highest single season passer rating compared to DA's 2007 year. In his 11 starts during the 2005 season, Dilfer passed for over 2300 yards and 11 TD's with 12 picks. He had a passer rating of 76.9.

After 2006 we really had nobody to turn to. That meant we gave a chance to the rookie Charlie Frye who had 13 starts in 2006. He passed for over 2400 yards, but he threw 17 interceptions compared to a meager (but consistent compared to past starters) 10 TD's and a passer rating of 72. He couldn't keep the confidence of the coaching staff and only got 1 start in 2007, paving the way for Derek Anderson to have a career year.

Statistically, Derek Anderson looked as good as any QB we've had since 1999, as he passed for over 3700 yards and had 29 TD's which is significantly higher than any other QB who has started for us to date. We haven't had any where near this kind of statistical production since then or before, not even close.

2008 saw 4 different QB's get starts, Derek Anderson had the most with 9 and he didn't exactly light it up. Neither did Brady Quinn, Ken Dorsey or Bruce Gradkowski...

We all know how 2009 went, Derek Anderson managed to have the entire Browns fan base shaking its head and Brady Quinn wasn't inspiring much confidence beyond "well he's not Derek Anderson so he deserves a shot!"

If Delhomme managed to go on the whole season at the pace he's at, he would rival Derek Anderson's 2007 yardage total and maybe throw 20 TD's. We know he's going to throw picks so I'm not really worried about that (feel free to do the math on your own, I'm not drawing attention to it aside from just mentioning it here). The thing is, he would have one of the most productive seasons that a Browns QB has had SINCE WE RETURNED TO THE NFL IN 1999...

Really the point of this was to make us all take a look back, and look at what we have now. Jake, and the Browns, may not have had the ideal week one that we wanted but all is not lost. There isn't exactly a strong standard of comparison for Jake to top.

If he starts more than 13 games, that will be the most games a Browns starter has had in one season since DA started 15 games in 2007, and before that Couch started 14 games in 2002. He only makes it to 11 he would only be the fourth QB to do that since Couch in 2002.

Another interesting Tidbit, IF Jake can start more than 10 games. He would be only the 5th Browns QB to start more than 10 games since we returned in 1999... We haven't even had ONE starter start more than 10 games in consecutive seasons since Tim Couch did it back in 2001/2002. (Derek Anderson had 15 starts in 2007 but only 9 in 2008)

Just some food for thought, and a call for everyone to cool it in regards to Jake... It's only week 2, and I'm not trying to get ahead of myself here just trying to get everyone to take a look at what's been established to show you all that it won't be difficult for Jake to have a PRODUCTIVE season by the standard that has been established to date.

Simple fact is we had 5 options this year at QB...

1. Go after McNabb, we were NOT going to get him because he wasn't going to a rebuilding project.

2. Go after Jason Campbell, not the long term fix but would have wanted the longer term deal.

3. Go after Delhomme which we did.

4. Draft a QB which meant a serious reach for ANYBODY available at 7 or sell out for Bradford, who I'm not sold on..

5. Stay with Quinn or Anderson or both.. is this really an option?

I think, we did the only thing we could do. We picked up Delhomme and we traded for Wallace to back him up. We also upgraded in several other areas, most notably the secondary and our RBs.. I hope Jake does well but even if he struggles, I see it for what it is..

None of those quarterbacks lost the opening game of the 2010 season, or are on the roster to take the snaps.

If you just want to extend that performance for the rest of the season, Don't Forget That Means you go Winless 0-16.

The Browns worst record yet is 2-14, hopefully they don't blow that, because that's something the Cowboys can't say.

Exactly... Jake was not brought here to save the Browns, he was brought here to manage the games while the roster was built, and hopefully bring along some wins, stability and leadership at the position.

j/k


I'm not concerned about Jake being our QB, What bothers me is he didnt take himself out of the game after he clearly had to know he wasnt helping the team, 2, coaches didnt wanna hurt any feelings taking him out, after everybody clearly knew he wasnt helping the team.....I wonder if somebody had any nads on the browns sidelines to stand up and take charge during a game, or are they all gonna stand around and worry about feelings....

This is 2010 you know, where everyone gets a trophy. I heard starting 2011, everyone will get a Lombardi in February, so that no one feels left out.

Peyton Manning is on pace to go 0-16 this year too.

you forgot one:

option 6 - Seneca Wallace as the starting QB and find someone else to be the backup like David Carr (unless we were sold on Ratliff being #2 this year)


This is the option that I wanted in the offseason. Jake definitely has some warts but at least the offense looks like a NFL offense with him at the helm, so this was probably the best path.

Nice work man,, I know that took some time and I appriciate you going through it all.. Thanks

Having said that, if you judge what you have today against what you had yesterday which was, shall we say,, not very good, then what you have today is the best of a bunch of garbage.

Basically, the Apple LESS rotten, if you will.....

I won't judge Delhomme after one game,, Not fair to him or the team. we gotta let the soup cook a little before we say it's bad.

Hell, do we even know the extent of his injury? Personally, I give him an A+ for guts...

Let's be real here. We probably have the worst starting quarterback in the AFC.

P. Rivers
P. Manning
T. Brady
M. Schaub
B. Roethlisberger
C. Palmer
J. Flacco
D. Garrard
K. Orton
M. Cassel
J. Campbell
V. Young
C. Henne
T. Edwards
M. Sanchez

The above isn't supposed to be a perfect ranking of AFC quarterbacks but it's at least close. The point is that what QB would Delhomme start over? Maybe Sanchez at this stage of his career?

I think a lot of people get caught up in the unabridged optimism to start every year and tend to forget about just how bad he was last year. The Panthers got rit of him because he flat out stunk and averaged 2 turnovers a game. And you can't say they asked him to do too much when he had a team built to run the ball and better offensive talent. DeAngelo Williams is a top 3 NFL running back, Jonathan Stewart is miles better than anybody we have here, and Steve Smith is a dangerous NFL receiver.

The reality is that he's an established NFL veteran who brings respect and stability to the position (which I agree that we needed), but frankly, we didn't get anybody better because nobody better was reasonably available. And yes, the bar is set low, so it will be hard for him to disappoint such a deprived fanbase.

I'll add that it's not fair to bash the guy after 1 game in Cleveland. But 20-37 for 227 yards, 1 TD, and 2 INTs for a 59.2 rating are not good numbers against a bad defense. And I do understand that he was hobbling around, so hopefully it's because of that and not what I'm thinking.

Sanchez, Edwards, and Campbell definitely.

Tossup with Flacco, Palmer, Henne and Cassel.

Jason Campbell, the guy that put up put up an 86.4 rating last year with an absolute mess of a situation in D.C. (Snyder, Zorn), behind stud offensive linemen like Mike Williams who hadn't even played for 2 years?

come on

"Checkdown Campbell" averaged almost a full yard HIGHER per attempt last year than Delhomme with a QB rating almost 30 points higher while having a worse surrounding cast and being in a worse situation.

Campbell isn't great, I never said he was great, just that Delhomme wouldn't start over him. I can't really see how that's debatable, but orange colored glasses do amazing things I guess.

Speaking of Delhomme. Looking at NFL.com's Power Rankings makes me absolutely bust a gut laughing. Yea, we are ranked extremely low (31st). Heck, that's to be expected from the national media. But their description really makes me just lose it.

Here is the LINK.

Quote:

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Browns – Jake Delhomme is not the answer.

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Ok, Jake Delhomme's not the answer because he played rather poorly - especially in the second half. One Touchdown and Two interceptions is poor play. But to say "He's not the answer" because of that. After this week, there should be other QB's that arene't the answer since they played even worse. For instance, Sam Bradford with his 3 interceptions. That's an even WORSE performance.

Quote:

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They just find ways to lose games, but Sam Bradford looked like the real deal.

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I am not ready to give up on Jake yet.

In fact...Jake was playing pretty well up until he hurt his ankle (the guy should have pulled due to injury and made to soak his foot in ice and let Wallace play in his place due to injury)

Jake looked good early on, and looked good in the preseason...that Ankle injury is what caused him to tank sunday..the dude couldn't plant his foot, thats why he had no accuracy and didn't play well...because he was injured.

I think Jake "could" be a 22TD-19INT guy...thats better then we had last year..I don't see Jake as Pro Bowler, but I don't see him as the worst Qb in the league either....

Jake is the man until he is not. I feel we traded up over the two we trotted out last year. Jake has earned his decent reputation earlier. Has some chops left. But will he handle the diminishing skill thang? I will give him points for gutting it out; obviously tried for the team. More than Pinky did. Should we have put him out there? Pointless debate. He was asked, went, and it was awful. It is a game. The medicos may say otherwise this week. Not ready for McBoy as backup just yet, but we are well ahead of Dorsey IMO.

Well, if we go by last year, then San Diego should have beat KC into the Ground..

You can't go by last year..

Right now, I"m not so sure I wouldn't start him over Sanchez and Edwards Neither of which impressed me anymore than Delhomme

I think I might start him over Roethliburger, at least for the next couple weeks. And probably over Dennis Dixon too.