WELCOME TO BURN ON BIG RIVER

In the words of Randy Newman, “Now the lord can make you tumble, and the lord can make you turn, and the lord can make you overflow, but the lord can’t make you burn”. In fact, the lord can’t make you burn, but being a Cleveland sports fan can. I would like to take a moment to introduce myself to the Cleveland fans out there. My name is J.V.; I am teaming up with Kirk to bring you The Curse of Cleveland. I want thank Kirk for giving me an opportunity to use Curse of Cleveland as a vehicle to express my joys and agonies with being a Cleveland sports fan. Most of the time, the agonies outweigh the joys; however, my devotion to Cleveland sports will never waver. Burn On Big River will be a special section to The Curse of Cleveland.  Inside B.O.B.R., I will be focusing on the situations surrounding our beloved Browns, Cavaliers, and Indians.  Mostly, I will be focusing on the off the field and off the court developments. With that being said, I encourage feedback and would love to hear your opinions.

BRINGING IN BRADY…

My first chance to blog comes at a very opportune time. The Cleveland Browns have just announced Brady Quinn as the starter for the primetime NFL Network game this Thursday against the Broncos. This move is highly anticipated for some Cleveland fans but will be a work in-progress. First off, I would like to extend a big kick in the balls to current somehow ESPN analyst Trent Dilfer who had this to say about the Browns, “This is an organization that I played for for a year and I saw very closely that the organization itself is highly dysfunctional and cannot make decisions that are good for the long-term growth of the organization.” Although your career Cleveland Browns 4-7 record and 0-3 divisional record is valued in Cleveland… wait a minute, no it isn’t! Nor is your 11TDs to 12 INTs ratio along with 3 lost fumbles. You can be rest assured that your opinion is less valued.
The move to start Quinn and bench Anderson affects this organization in many aspects. The decision to start our 22nd overall draft pick from a year ago will change our team dynamic and in-game strategy, this and next season’s expectations, and it will have a big effect on our barking fans.
* I would like to first focus on the team dynamic and in-game strategy that will change in direct correlation with #10 taking the snaps. One area Derek Anderson really struggled is in the short passing game, and I believe this reflects our record. Anderson is such an insecure QB that he needed the short passes to build his confidence to carry him through an entire game. The big problem with this is he wasn’t very good with the short pass. Whether it is the many poorly delivered swing passes or plethora of dropped slants, #3 let this crush his conference and concentration throughout this 3-5 journey. So, essentially we were game planning these early short passes to boost DA’s self-esteem, and his poor execution lowered his confidence and it was visible through his emotions and performance.  I believe the one area Brady Quinn has a great advantage over DA is the short passing game. Brady has the ability to deliver an accurate and efficient short passes, and #10 has the confidence and charisma which will not allow drops to affect his performance throughout the game. Expect to see

a lot of these short passes because the area DA has an advantage over Brady is almost eliminated, the deep ball. Anderson is definitely a better option when thinking about a deep pass down the field. DA has a better arm and more rhythm with the guys that are on the field. Quinn will pick and choose his deep ball spots until he gets comfortable, so expect these deep balls to be few and far between. Also, with the insertion of Quinn, Jamal Lewis must be happy because he becomes very important. The Browns will want to have as little pressure on Quinn as possible, so the running game will be very important. We are going to want to limit the passes to limit Brady’s mistakes. We don’t want Cleveland Browns Stadium to boo another QB off the field.
* Speaking of booing, the brown and orange faithful need to know one thing about bringing in Brady Quinn. There will be BAD as well as good. I emphasize bad because if Brady Quinn remains our starter, this will be a process. We all want to win and we want to win now, but the reality of the matter is first time starters don’t all get off to the start DA did (they also don’t all fall off like he did either). I suspect Brady can have a long successful career as a Cleveland Brown, but we have to let that happen. We can’t destroy him for the first turnover or the first bad decision. Please, don’t let me hear the Dorsey chants Thursday. All joking aside, as a fan base we have asked for this replacement. Now, we must embrace what it entails: some good and some bad.
* The new QB also tells me that the focus of this season has now turned. After the home game against the Ravens that currently has me on suicide watch, our record has fall to 3-5. We are now on the outside of the playoff picture looking in, and the schedule doesn’t get any easier. We are by no means eliminated from the playoffs, but it is time to remove the clipboard from #10’s fingers and see what this Charlie Weis product is capable of doing. Like I said, the Browns are not giving up, but to have any chance in the wild card we cannot continue on the path we have started on this season. Most of the time, Anderson looks as if he would rather be elsewhere and shows no emotion when he makes a mistake. I believe the starting of Brady Quinn may not be a permanent fixture at QB this year, but this move is definitely important for the future of this club. The Cleveland Browns are seeing what they have in this youngster and could be avoiding a mistake by doing so. If Brady Quinn never played and was traded, he may become successful and this town would never forget it. In my opinion, one of these quarterbacks will not be here next year, and we need to know which one gives us the best chance to win.

Thursday could be the start of a new era: the Brady Quinn Era. This may be a day we look back on that sprung Cleveland for its first championship since the brown and orange won the NFL championship in 1964. One thing is for certain, anyone who has access to NFL network, Browns fan or not, will tune in to see what the most recognizable backup QB in the league is made of. GOD SPEED BRADY QUINN, GOD SPEED!

BURN ON!

-J.V.