Archive for the ‘Brady Quinn’ Category

Brady Quinn entered to a standing ovation from the home crowd and made his debut for the Cleveland Browns Sunday, playing one series while Derek Anderson was sidelined with a hand injury. Quinn played for only one series, the Browns final possession of the first half. He was 3-8, for 45 yards.

Quinn’s first pass was tipped at the line and fell short of his intended receiver. His second pass was also short, but could have been caught if the running back was able to make a good play. Quinn then completed his next three passes for 15, 12 and 18 - all for first downs. With first and goal from the 49ers six yard line, Quinn passed three times. His first was thrown away to the right corner after good coverage negated a fade route. He threw a strike to Braylon Edwards in the back of the endzone. The pass went through Edwards hands as the combination of excellent coverage with a possible drop negated Quinn’s first opportunity at a touchdown. On third and goal, Quinn found Kellen Winslow Jr. wide open in the short center of the endzone, but his pass bounced off Winslow’s chest as Brady’s final chance at his first career touchdown pass, instead lead to a field goal by Phil Dawson.

In a postgame interview that can be viewed on the Browns multimedia site, Quinn was asked if he was disappointed only being in for one series. Quinn again showed the maturity of a team player that has been raved about by Cleveland teammates and columnists alike.

I’ve said this all year long. Every quarterback wants to be in there as much as possible until the end of a game. Of course going in there for one series was a little bit of a tease, but it was great just to get in there and have the experience. It keeps you hungry.

The Browns defeated the 49ers 20-7 to finish a 10-6 season. They missed the playoffs when the Titans beat the Colts late Sunday.

After the game, CBS cameras caught a midfield embrace between former Irish players Quinn (Browns QB), Arnaz Battle (49ers WR) and Bryant Young (49ers DT). Young had played the final game of his 14 year career.

Here’s the video of Quinn’s drive.

Fair or not, Jimmy Clausen will be compared to Brady Quinn for as long as he is at Notre Dame due to Brady’s phenomenal success playing QB for the Irish so let’s look at how Jimmy is doing compared to Brady at this point in his career. Below are some stats comparing Jimmy’s freshman season to that of Brady’s in 2003. Since Jimmy has two more starts against some poor defenses, he can build these up a bit, so I will update these again next week and a second time at the end of the season. Still, I think people may be surprised at how favorably Jimmy has performed compared to Brady despite the overall ineptness of the offense this year.

	Brady Quinn (2003)	Jimmy Clausen (2007)
Starts	9	7
Comp-Att-Int	157-332-15	103-181-5
Completion Pct	47.3	56.9
Att/INT	22.1	36.2
Att/TD	36.9	42.25
Yards	1831	864
QB Efficiency	93.53	98.77
Avg Yds/Att	5.51	4.77
Agv Yds/Comp	11.66	8.39
Touchdowns	9	4
Times Sacked	13	27
0 INT starts	2 (USC, Navy)	3 (MSU, UCLA, AFA)
2+ INT starts	4 (Pur, BC, FSU, Syr)	1 (BC)
3+ TD starts	0	1 (AFA)
0 TD starts	2 (FSU, BYU)	5 (PSU,.Mich, MSU, UCLA, BC)
300+ yard games	1 (BC)	0
<100 yard games	1 (Pitt)	4 (Mich, MSU, UCLA, BC)
Fumbles-Lost	6-2	4-2
Team Rushing	174.6	41.5
Record	4-5	1-6

A few stats I think really jump out so here are my observations of these numbers.

• Brady obviously had much more success throwing the ball downfield. He has a big edge over Jimmy in terms of yards, yards/completion, and yard/attempts.
• Jimmy has been better protecting the ball by throwing interceptions at a far lower rate - once every 36.2 attempts vs. Brady’s one per 22.1 attempts - but Brady got the ball in the end zone at better rate once ever 36.9 attempts vs. 42.25 for Jimmy.
• Brady had just 2 starts where he didn’t throw an interception while Jimmy’s got TD-less five times already. Jimmy does have a 3 TD game, however, something Brady never had as a frosh.
• Team rushing statistics and sacks are the two biggest disparities though. Brady was aided by a running game which gained 174.6 yards a game in his starts, while Jimmy’s gotten just 41.5 yards of help from the ground attack this year. Brady also got sacked just 13 times compared to Jimmy’s 27. This can be seen as Brady avoiding the rush better or as Jimmy receiving much worse blocking - the answer probably lies somewhere in the middle.

Obviously these stats don’t paint the whole picture since the two seasons were vastly different for the Irish, but I think they show that despite how poorly this offense has performed as a unit, that Clausen might be performing better than some are giving him credit for. Basically, it shows that he has been smart with the ball but hasn’t been able to get the ball downfield nearly as well as Brady did. It will be interesting to see how these numbers look the next couple weeks.

After last week’s impressive preseason debut for Brady Quinn, critics brushed off the strong performance because it came in mop up time against the Lions’ 3rd string defense.  This week Quinn was equally impressive against the first and second team defenses of the Denver Broncos.  Quinn was 7 of 11 for 81 yards and a touchdown - his third of the preseason.   Against the first team defense Quinn threw a beautiful 39 yard pass to Joe Jurevicius that was ruled out of bounds while his touchdown came against the second team defense.

Quinn’s impressive performance has people talking for a second week in a row.  Here are some reactions to his performance.

From the Denver Post

It was one thing for Cleveland Browns coach Romeo Crennel to claim there was no quarterback controversy before Saturday’s preseason game with the Broncos. It is going to be quite another for him to still make that claim, after another strong showing by highly touted rookie Brady Quinn.

Cleveland’s other two quarterbacks ahead of Quinn on the depth chart also played well, however, but Quinn was arguably the best of the three and has Notre Dame and first-round NFL draftee pedigree behind him.

Quinn, the former Notre Dame star selected 22nd overall in the draft, played his second game as a pro and marched the Browns down the field on his first two series, one of which resulted in a 20-yard scoring pass in Cleveland’s 17-16 victory at Invesco Field at Mile High.

From Ohio.com

 In his second pro game, Quinn was impressive again. This meant more because he faced many of the Denver Broncos’ first-team defenders when he took the field early in the third quarter as opposed to the Detroit Lions’ third-stringers a week earlier.

Quinn led the Browns to a touchdown. By far, Frye and Quinn had better command of the team than Anderson.

From USA Today

Quinn was efficient and effective for the second straight game, leading the Cleveland Browns past the Denver Broncos 17-16, although it probably wasn’t enough to win him the starting job over Charlie Frye.

Quinn threw a pass in the left flat that Joshua Cribbs turned into a nifty 20-yard touchdown to break a 10-10 tie in the third quarter, but the rookie from Notre Dame was robbed of another apparent TD toss on Cleveland’s previous possession.

Although Joe Jurevicius hauled in Quinn’s perfectly thrown 39-yard pass in the end zone, the nearest official ruled he didn’t get both feet down before going out of bounds - replays showed otherwise, but Cleveland coach Romeo Crennel didn’t challenge the call.

From the Canton Repository

The rookie was a stunner a second straight Saturday.

After Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson got two full series, the rookie hit the field with 11 minutes left in the third quarter.

A dink pass and Jason Wright’s run yielded a quick first down. Fancy footwork on a reverse pivot allowed Quinn to find running back Jerome Harrison open for a 17-yard catch and run.

On second and 11, Kellen Winslow made a spectacular 24-yard catch over the middle. It wouldn’t have happened without a QB who has enough arm and a lot of guts.

For those of you who missed Brady Quinn’s NFL pre-season debut Saturday night, the Browns rookie was pretty impressive.  Quinn entered the game down 23-7 with just a shade over 9 minutes remaining and ended up rallying his troops to two fourth quarter scores.  Quinn’s performance wasn’t enough to secure a win for the Browns, but his play has received a lot of praise from around the NFL.

Quinn’s final stats were 13 of 20 (including 3 spikes to stop the clock) for 155 yards and two touchdowns.  Now, before you say, “yeah, but it was against guys who won’t have a job in a couple weeks”, remember that the guys blocking for Quinn and the guys Quinn was throwing too are likely in that same boat.

Here’s some reactions from around the web.

The Cleavland Plain-Dealer

Despite being on the other end of the chants, Frye said he was happy for Quinn, who completed 13 of 20 attempts for 155 yards and two touchdowns. What’s more, four of his incompletions were spikes.

“When [the fans chanted for] me when I was on the field, I was excited,” Frye said. “For his first game for the crowd to be excited that he’s in there, I think that’s good for him.”

He said Quinn showed good poise.

“He took what the defense gave him and showed a little bit of his athleticism when he got out of the pocket and hit Efrem Hill on the sideline,” Frye said.

The News-Herald

“I think Brady came in, and with the plays he had to execute, he did a good job,” Coach Romeo Crennel said.

Quinn did something neither of the other two quarterbacks was able to do. He reached the end zone.

He might be lagging behind the others in his coach’s eyes because of his prolonged holdout. But it’s only a matter of time before he plays. He appears to have more talent, composure and leadership qualities than the other two. Anderson and Frye are simply keeping the position warm for Quinn.

The Chronicle Telegram

The first-round pick from Notre Dame could do no wrong.

“It was nice to be back on the field again, but the end result was we lost,” Quinn said. “You’re never happy when you lose.”

A 23-20 loss to the Detroit Lions couldn’t dampen the crowd’s enthusiasm. A number of fans wore No. 10 jerseys and many stayed through a dreadful first half just to catch a glimpse of Quinn in the fourth quarter.

The Plain-Dealer

Yes, this was mop-up time against several players who won’t make Detroit’s roster. And, yes, the Lions played a “prevent defense” that allowed Quinn to pick up easy completions underneath their deep coverage.

But there was a discernible energy brought by Quinn. You could feel it as flashbulbs lighted Cleveland Browns Stadium like fireflies as Quinn’s career as the franchise’s hopeful savior got under way.

The “frisky colt” whose reins have been so tightened by coach Romeo Crennel made the derby contenders look like mules by comparison.

Afterward, Crennel poured cold water on the inevitable calls for Quinn to start ahead of Frye and Anderson.

“I can sit here and say he had a limited offense, but they’re going to be encouraged by what they saw,” Crennel said of fans. “Their best guys weren’t in there, but ours weren’t either. Let them get excited, but we still will do what we feel is best for this team.”

The Plain-Dealer

“I think my timing could have been better,” Quinn said. “There were a lot of things, detailed things that I can work on - technical, fundamental things.”

Even if Quinn was not ready to praise his own performance, he was relieved just to see game action following his tumultuous 16-day holdout.

“I’ve been holding a clipboard now for about a game and three quarters, so you get excited when you know you are going to get in and you’re just not sure when,” Quinn said. “You kind of get writer’s cramp over there taking down all those plays.”

The Dayton Daily News

Sure, many Lions on the field during Quinn’s exposure soon will embark on other careers and the coverage was rather loose, but the crowd unapologetically seized the moment, painfully aware of how much had gone wrong earlier.

I just posted the comments Joe Theismann made regarding Brady Quinn’s appearance at the draft this past weekend and have come across Quinn’s reaction to them from yesterday’s Browns minicamp.

“It’s tough,” he said. “I apologize to anyone, obviously, who is a Notre Dame alum, or for those fans who thought I wasn’t being very business like. I was there for awhile, and at that moment in time, when you finally get picked after waiting for 41/2 hours, the last thought in my head was spit out your gum, fix your hair or make sure your shirt and everything looked good.

Quinn would go on to add

“I’m a big fan of his,” Quinn said. “I guess he’s not a big fan of me. He’s one of those guys — Joe Theismann, Joe Montana — they’ve been right there along the way, people who have kind of come back and helped out our program. And he has been one of those big influences, so I have a lot of respect for him.

“I think him making those comments only kind of makes you look at yourself in the mirror and say ‘Well, hey, maybe you need to look at those sorts of things.’ And obviously, there in case is the haircut.”

Take note Joe, their is a classy way to do something and a not classy way to do something. Trashing the appearance of a 22 year old kid who had just lost potentially millions and millions of dollars on a nationally broadcast radio show is not a classy way to do something. Publicly apologizing for not looking 100% professional after losing millions of dollars to someone who doesn’t deserve an apology is very classy.

Quinn continues to impress me this off-season and here’s hoping he turns a lot of heads this year with the Browns.

Ok, so I’m chiming in on this a little late, but it’s been a bit of a busy week, but anyway…

Apparently Joe Theismann was not impressed with the way Brady Quinn was dressed or how he presented himself. Theisman on the Mike and Mike show earlier this week said…

“The only thing I was disappointed in with the young man, and I hold his agents responsible for this, was to me, when you walk out on stage in front of millions and millions of people, that’s a job interview. You don’t go to a job interview chewing gum. And I felt like he could have presented himself in a much more professional manner. It looked like his tie was the first time he ever tried to tie one. It looked like his hair, he had just walked out of a shower, and he stands there, relieved as all get-out, chewing gum. And to me, that’s not a professional image. And maybe I’m reading into it, but when it comes to drafts, when it comes to analyzing players, I think you have to look at everything.”

Seriously Joe? You’re gonna knock the kid for looking a bit dissheveled after he sat for over four hours waiting to hear his name while two networks broadcast the ordeal on national TV? I mean, his 4 hour wait isn’t as long as the 4 round wait that Theisman had in 1972, but it’s still quite long.

I must say I’m a bit surprised by Theismann’s comments since he’s been very supportive of the program over the last several years and this seems like something so irrelevant to comment on. I guess all of the articulate and well thought out responses to all of the questions and the classy manner in which he handled himself in all of the interviews after the draft don’t count for much do they?

No matter how you feel about Quinn’s performances at Notre Dame this past year, as a Notre Dame fan your heart has to go out to Quinn today. First he had to deal with being the last player in the green room and deal and the embarrassment of falling all the way down to the 22nd pick, but the financial impact of his tumble is enormous. Hopefully it won’t be long before Quinn makes the Raiders, Lions, Vikings, and especially Dolphins strongly regret not drafting him.

Here’s a YouTube highlight reel of Quinn showcasing Quinn’s best plays for 2006…

This just in… word is that Ted Ginn Jr fell down trying to weave in and out of people at the airport on his way to Miami….. I kid, I kid….

And just for fun, here’s a clip of a quarterback who isn’t clutch, can’t lead a team, and who isn’t accurate.

Miami Dolphins fans must have felt like things were really falling into place for them when Brady Quinn fell into their lap with the 9th overall pick.  The Miami draft party was rocking, the fans were in a frenzy, and then commissioner Roger Goodell made the announcement.  The Dolphins were selecting Ted Ginn Jr???  A team ready to release Dante Culpepper with only monumental bust Joey Harrington on their roster passed on Quinn for a guy Cameron told fans would be a great punt returner.  Wow.

Here’s a few excerpts from around the internet on the ‘Phins selection.

From Deadspin:

“This is a bad, bad pick. Ginn couldn’t find the middle of the field if you gave him Mapquest directions and a GPS. Ginn’s extremely fast and could impersonate Devin Hester as a rookie, but he doesn’t like to stray into that neighborhood between the hashmarks where those big, bad safeties live. That’s a big red flag: the NFL is full of guys like Roddy White and Brandon Lloyd who can’t contribute to an offense because they get the yips when they’re too far from the sidelines.”

From FanHouse:

But if Cameron thinks Ginn provides the Dolphins a deep threat, well, I’d remind you (again) that Miami currently doesn’t have a quarterback. And when they trade for Trent Green — which is looking like a real possibility now — the team still won’t have a deep threat because Green can’t throw the ball more than 30 yards down the field.

From USA Today:

Thirty minutes after selecting Ginn with the No. 9 pick, Cameron made a three-minute appearance at a draft party in the Dolphins’ indoor practice bubble. Fans greeted him with boos and continued to jeer as he spoke, and some made a thumbs-down gesture.

“Hey, we need that thumb to go this direction,” Cameron said, pointing his upward. “Ted Ginn is going to be someone you’re going to enjoy watching play for a long, long time as a Miami Dolphin.”

During Cameron’s speech, some fans began to cheer for Ginn, while others broke into a chant of “Brady! Brady!”

From the South Florida Sun Sentinel:

From FloridaToday.com

Well, at least somebody’s giving them credit. Because Miami Dolphins fans were none too pleased with the team’s decision to draft Ohio State wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. with the No. 9 pick instead of Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn.

Even Ginn — who was happy to become a Dolphin — thought Miami would take Quinn.

“For sure,” Ginn said. “. . . You know Miami is hurting for a quarterback right now and Brady Quinn is a great quarterback. For me to beat him out, it was all a good and a great thing from God.”

Dolphins fans, at least those who showed up at the team’s draft day party and those blogging on fan Web sites, weren’t exactly on board.

As Cameron walked up to the podium to address the team’s draft day party crowd, those who hadn’t already stormed out greeted their new head coach with a chorus of boos and even a few chants of “Brady! Brady!”

From the Palm Beach Post:

Lifetime Miami Dolphins fan Abed Alexis had seen enough.

Moments after the Dolphins shocked everyone and passed up Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn to draft Ohio State wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. with the No. 9 pick, Alexis was going home.

The long-anticipated day was less than two hours old, but Alexis felt like the Dolphins had blown it again on draft day.

“I came here to see Brady Quinn, not Ted Ginn Jr.,” Alexis, 25, said. “All these years we’re waiting for a guy to replace Dan Marino. We get our chance and take Ted Ginn.”

Detroit, Cleveland, Minnesota, and Miami - all teams with obvious quarterback needs - all passed on Brady Quinn already today and with the New York Giants on the clock at #20, Quinn remains undrafted.  No one thought Quinn would fall this far down in the first round, but right now theres a lot of rumors that the Browns are looking to trade back up into the first round to select Quinn.

Cleveland was thought to be a likely destination for Quinn at the 3rd pick before they drafted Joe Thomas, an offensive tackle out of Wisconsin, and would certainly end up with one of the best draft coups in years if they somehow managed to land Thomas AND Quinn.  Both ESPN and NFL Network have reported these rumors and Quinn himself acknowledged he heard something similar during his last interview on ESPN.

Should a trade not occur, there are only a handful of teams remaining in the first round with quarterback needs.  Jacksonville at 21st could be tempted to draft Quinn with Byron Leftwich falling out of favor.  Kansas City at 23rd has just been reported to be seriously interested in Quinn at 23rd by Suzy Kolber of ESPN.  Kolber also reported that Quinn’s agent has received calls from three teams expressing interest in Quinn.

Kansas City would  be a pretty nice destination for Quinn if he falls into their lap.  With a premier running attack led by Larry Johnson, Quinn would have the benefit of playing in a very balanced offense.

Stay tuned as we’ll have plenty more on Quinn’s free fall and subsequent draft selection when it occurs.

Notre Dame held its second Pro Day last Thursday, and despite a strong showing from Brady Quinn, he wasn’t exactly pleased with his showing.

Quinn said afterward he was a little disappointed with his workout Thursday for NFL scouts. He didn’t throw, because he did that during his first pro day on March 4. He said he ran the 40-yard dash at 4.73 and he knows he can do run faster than a 4.7 and his vertical jump was measured at 36 inches and he’s done 38 inches.

“I’m a perfectionist and it’s disappointing when you can’t display your best for people,” he said.

According to NFL.com Quinn’s official stats from the Pro Day…

Quinn weighed in 233 pounds. He ran indoors on FieldTurf. He ran his 40s faster than expected (4.82 and 4.73). He also ran the short shuttle in 4.22 seconds and the three-cone drill in 6.79 (with tiny cones, not tall ones). In addition, he had a 36-inch vertical jump and a 9-foot-7 broad jump.

To put those numbers into perspective, JaMarcus Russell ran a 4.83 and recorded a 34.5 inch vertical at his Pro Day earlier this month. So in review, Quinn is faster and can jump higher than Russell despite most pundits repeated claims that Quinn doesn’t posses the mobility or agility that Russell has.