As the Ravens continue their search for a franchise quarterback, Derek Anderson?s arrival on Sunday will remind the team who it could have had running its offense.
The Cleveland Browns? quarterback has become a touchy subject in Baltimore, as the Ravens have shifted quarterbacks this week from the injured and struggling Steve McNair to backup Kyle Boller. McNair has thrown just two touchdowns in six starts this year, but Anderson has thrown for 2,231 yards and 20 touchdowns ? fourth-most in the league ? entering Sunday?s game at M&T Bank Stadium at 1 p.m.
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But the irony of Anderson?s success with the Browns (5-4) is he entered the National Football League as a Raven. Anderson was taken by the Ravens in the sixth round of the NFL Draft in 2005. He impressed fans with his preseason performances, highlighted by throwing a game-winning touchdown pass against the Washington Redskins. But it wasn?t enough to make the 53-man roster. The Ravens waived Anderson at the end of training came with the intention of singing him to their five-man practice squad.
Enter the team?s AFC North rival, Cleveland. The Browns signed Anderson, and he has emerged as a star for one of the league?s most improved teams. The Browns already have won one more game than they did all of last season.
“We coveted Derek,” Ravens coach Brian Billick said this week. “We got into a situation. Cleveland did a great job picking him up. He playing the way we thought he would.”
Browns coach Romeo Crennel trusted senior vice president, Phil Savage, claiming the fairly anonymous Anderson. Savage, who once was the Ravens? Director of Player Personnel, made the right choice.
“I really didn?t know,” Crennel said. “Phil had had some exposure to him and knew what kind of arm he had and what kind of size he had, so we kind of looked at him as the classic pro, drop-back, pocket quarterback.”
Meantime, the Ravens are handing the reigns to their 2003 first-round pick, Boller, after an injury to McNair?s shoulder sidelined the 13-year veteran.
The Ravens already have been dominated by Anderson this season, as he threw for 204 yards and two touchdowns in a27-13 win in Cleveland on Sept. 30.
When Billick was asked this week how the former Oregon State standout was passed over numerous times by every team in the NFL, he said there is precedent for scouting mistakes.
“How did Tom Brady hang around for six rounds?” Billick said. “Even in [Anderson?s] circumstance [in Cleveland] ? how do you get through part of the season, the whole offseason and training camp there and be the third guy going into the season? There?s lots of reasons and evaluations you go through. He gets his opportunity and he steps up and plays brilliantly.”
Anderson, who replaced Charlie Frye earlier this season, is in the final year of his contract. Though the Browns used a first-round draft pick to select Brady Quinn, Anderson is the man in Cleveland. At least for now.
“I?m just happy the way the guys ? just kind of came in and played and rallied around me and had confidence in me,” Anderson said. “It?s a good feeling.”
