"Anderson is the starter and Quinn will be ready," Romeo said. "I'm not going to go into the what-ifs, the whens, the where, the how long or anything like that. The decision was made and that's what it's going to be. We're going to go forward."Mind you, this is only two days after Romeo said, "I think we'll definitely try to get the other guy (Quinn) ready to go and we'll see how it progresses from there. We'll probably give him a few more reps in practice right now."
I'm sorry, but I find it extremely difficult to believe that after only one day of practice — one day of "a few more reps" — Romeo is ready make a decision on the starting quarterback. ONE DAY!?!? Are you telling me Brady stunk it up in his "few more reps" yesterday so badly that Romeo is comfortable with Anderson still as his starter?
More likely, Romeo had no intention whatsoever of starting Brady (hell, Romeo can't even bring himself to call Brady by name most of the time). His whole spiel about every position being evaluated, about "the other guy" getting ready to go was all said simply to delay the inevitable furry from the fans of this great football team.
Let's face it. Romeo has not been a fan of Brady's from the start. He seems to resent the fact that Savage drafted him, the message being, "this is your quarterback." Romeo doesn't like being told what to do.
Romeo handled the whole QB situation last preseason wrong when he declared it an open competition between Frye and Anderson (remember the coin flip to decide who would start?), and he NEVER gave Brady a chance to compete for the job.
We all saw what happened to Romeo's first choice at QB last season. Frye laid a big egg against the Steelers and was subsequently traded.Anderson came in — similar to Kelly Holcomb — and put up some big numbers because defenses never saw him before. Romeo's job was safe because Anderson was able to get some wins.
As the season went on, Anderson's number got worse. Defenses started to figure him out ... just like they did with Holcomb.
Anderson and Holcomb are fine backup NFL quarterbacks. They're not starters.So far this season, Anderson has shown who he is — a backup quarterback thrust into a starting role.
If you take the last 10 games (three games so far this season and the last seven games of 2007), Anderson has thrown 15 TDs and 11 INTs. The last five games, Anderson has 5 TDs and 11 INTs. He is getting progressively worse. I know it. You know it. Everybody but Romeo seems to know this. Continuing to go with DA is a sure sign of pure and simple stubbornness on Romeo's part.
Brady may very well not be the answer at quarterback either. But, how will we know unless he's given a chance? Anderson has had his chance and he's clearly NOT the answer.
Your job is on the line, Romeo. DA may have bailed you out last year, but he's been exposed now and so are you.
You were quick to yank Frye against the Steelers last season in favor of Anderson. If (when) Anderson struggles this week against the Bengals, you'd better be just as quick to yank him in favor of Quinn.
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