Who Can QB? - Charlie Frye

In my second look at the Browns QB situation we look at third year pro, and incumbent starter, Charlie Frye.

Vitals:
Year: 3
Height: 6'-4"
Weight: 218
College: Akron

Holds 54 of Akron's career passing and total offense records. Four year starter. One of 16 QBs to throw for over 2,000 yards in 4 different seasons in NCAA Division I history. Won the 2004 Mid American Conference award for top player in the conference.

Pros: Cleveland born and Cleveland bred. Lives, dies and bleeds orange and brown. Gritty, tough, fierce competitor who hates to lose. Incredible durability despite the insane number of hits he's taken in two years in the NFL. Great athlete. Able to avoid the rush with his legs, make plays in the running game and cause the defense nightmares with his mobility.

Cons: Lacks the prototypical NFL arm strength as his balls seems to float as the distance of the throw increases. His mobility often causes more harm than good as he often runs into sacks, out of the designated play and into trouble. Seems to have happy feat due to the amount of punishment he has incurred. Questionable leadership skills as rumblings were that last season he did not have the "huddle presence" to shut up some of the other voices on the team.

Prognosis: Charlie Frye is going to start the 2007 season opener barring an amazing camp by either DA or the Golden Boy. He finally has an NFL caliber offensive line in front of him and it will be interesting to see how he responds to it. Will he respond by getting his confidence back, taking the QB job and start showing the intangibles that made scouts drool when he was in college? Or has he been too beaten up, just like Tim Couch was, to the point that his psyche is beyond repair? Frye still has the ability to be an NFL caliber starting quarterback but will it be in Cleveland? Sometimes it's tough to come home. I hope he makes it, and something tells me he will, but something tells me that it will be with another NFL team. I hope the added competition and the steadily improving talent makes it happen in Cleveland.

Eastern Conference Champions

Well, despite the criticism and skepticism heading in to the NBA Eastern Conference Finals the Cavs pulled off the upset knocking off the Detroit Pistons by winning 4 games in a row to advance to their 1st NBA Finals appearance in franchise history. They will take on the San Antonio Spurs starting Thursday.

For all the complaints about Coach Mike Brown's offense, most of which are deserved, no one can doubt the incredible defensive schemes and strategy he brings to the table. That combined with LeBron James finally taking it "to the next level" and the emergence of Daniel Gibson the Cavs are somewhere that no one expected them to be.

They now stand 4 wins away from Cleveland's first major sports championship since the 1964 Browns captured the NFL Championship.

In the immortal words of Jake Taylor (Tom Berenger):

"I guess there's only one thing left to do... Win the whole, fuckin' thing."

Indians Split With Tigers

Not much of a recap due to me throwing a bachelor party in DC over the weeekend. After winning the first two games of the series the Tigers bats awoken to thump the Indians in the last two leaving the two teams where they started the series, with the Tribe 2 1/2 games ahead. The Tribe went 6-4 in 10 games versus the Tigers and Red Sox, one less than my decree of 7. Close but no cigar.

The Indians bats seemed to awaken for the series but their pitching did them no favors. Cliff Lee and Jeremy Sowers both did not make it through five innings and the bullpen was shaky at best. With C. C. Sabathia, Fausto Carmona and Paul Byrd pitching so well it is disheartening to see Lee and Sowers be so bad. The bullpen still needs to define their roles as only Aaron Fultz and Rafael Betancourt can be relied upon.

Let's look on the bright side: the Indians are 1/3 of the way of the season, in first place, and still haven't played their best baseball of the year.

A day of tomorrow before Kansas City visits for 3. Memo to Eric Wedge... a sweep would be nice considering the SIZABLE talent gap over the Royals

Building Blocks

Yes, they lost 2 of 3 to Boston but didn't you get the vibe that the Indians weren't intimidated at all by the Red Sox? The Red Sox are undoubtedly the best team in all of baseball by far after 1/3 of the 2007 season. After sweeping the then 1st Place Tigers in Detroit the Indians came up short in Boston... but not by too much. The Tribe managed to put up a few runs and keep it close in the first two games but ultimately came up with only 1 win (tonight 8-4).

They ran into two dominating pitching performances from Curt Schilling and Josh Beckett. Both guys were totally unhittable. Throw in the fact that Papelbon and Okajima have been lights out coming in from the bullpen and it was a true measuring stick against the best in the game right now.

The pitching staff while not spectacular held the #1 offense in baseball to 5, 4 and 4 runs. Cliff Lee and Jeremy Sowers didn't pitch great but they didn't pitch as bad as they have been throughout the year. Cabrera, Hernandez and Koplove are still struggling to define their roles but Mastny, Fultz and Betancourt continue to be rocks.

Sizemore, Dellucci and Pronk struggled in the first game but slowly started to show signs of life in games 2 and 3. Josh Barfield continues to deliver in the clutch and I learn to respect Kelly Shoppach, the game he calls and how he plays more an more each time he plays. Yes, there still were missed scoring opportunities in each game but consider the opponent.

So what does this all mean right now? On May 30th, 2007 the Cleveland Indians are somewhat better than the Detroit Tigers, not as good as the Boston Red Sox and probably better than everyone else in the American League. That's not too shabby.

The MLB season is a war of attrition and all about how you respond to it. The Indians came out of the gate, despite Snowgate, at 6-3. After getting hammered in 3 games versus the Yankees, they won 11 of the next 13. After a bad West Coast Trip they swept the Twins. After struggling in KC they swept the Tigers. The just lost 2 of 3 to the best team in baseball... let's see what they have in store for the Tigers who visit The Jake for 4 games, where the Tribe is a league best 17-4.

On a side note I owe an apology to the "Rem-Dog" Jerry Remy. I used to dread getting the NESN feed on DirecTV because of the Rem-Dog's Boston accent. But one you get past that wicked accent he's insightful, genuine and very funny. A homer but not to the point that he's making things up or making no sense. That asinine behavior is reserved for the White Sox broadcast crew, who are so blatantly homers that it makes them look totally inept. My apologies, Rem-Dog!

Who can QB? - Derek Anderson

In my first look at the Browns QB situation we look at third year pro Derek Anderson.

Vitals:
Year: 3
Height: 6'-6"
Weight: 230
College: Oregon State
Started 38 consecutive games for the Beavers on his was to becoming the school's all time leader in passing yardage and touchdowns culminating in a 38-21 defeat of Notre Dame in the 2004 Insight Bowl where he was named the game MVP. He was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the 6th Round of the 2005 NFL Draft. The Browns claimed him in Week 3 of the '05 season when the Ravens placed him on waivers in hopes of stashing him on their practice squad.

Pros:
Prototypical size for NFL quarterback. Above average mobility despite his lanky frame. Quick, accurate release. Strong arm with plenty of zip on the football. Stays in the pocket under pressure and is shifty enough to dodge and shrug off potential tacklers. Intelligent player with a good football senses.

Cons:
Became too predictable to the opposing defense with each passing start. Defences were able to disguise coverages very effectively causing him him to be confused and throw into coverage more often that not. Sometimes too much of a gunslinger as he seemed prone to the interception when trying to force throws. Unable to make an effective read off the line of scrimmage which leads him to lock onto one receiver.

Prognosis:
DA seems to have all the "tools" to be an effective NFL quarterback. Whether or not he can refine those tools into being an effective NFL quarterback is yet to be seen. He seemed to thrive in the back-up QB role by single handedly winning the Kansas City game and being the only man to show up for the Thursday night game in Pittspuke. Needs to work the mental side of quarterbacking to succed long term. I see him being the prototypical back-up QB who can come into the game in relief or make a spot start and thrive but I think his tendancies make him too predictable to be the long term starter.

Domination!!!

Now THAT is what I am talking about!

After a piss poor performance against the lowly Royals the Tribe bounced back and swept the Tigers, in Detroit, and you got the vibe in each game that the Indians were not going to be denied winning in any game.

The series was highlighted by clutch home runs and quality starting pitching each night. Josh Barfield provided the blast on Friday with David Dellucci doing the honors Saturday and Ryan Garko providing tonight's heroics. Paul Byrd, C. C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona picked up the wins for the Erie Warriors and Joe Borowski notched a save in all three contests, giving him the MLB lead with 17. And even more stunning he didn't allow a run in any of the games. Wow! Very un-Joe Borowski like.

Great bounce back after the Kansas City joke. Great start to the 19 game Tigers series this year as the Indians went 6-13 against Detroit last year. And a road sweep makes it even sweeter as they only went 3-7 in Detroit in 2006.

The Indians are starting to hit a bit as they averaged 6 runs over the series. It seems that they are starting to come up with the clutch hits they need. These hits tended to avoid the Tribe in mid-May. The starting pitching has been key as it limits the exposure to the very skittish bullpen as, other than Borowski and Rafael Betancourt, the members have yet to define their roles yet.

The test continues as the Indians head to Boston for a 3 game set against the Red Sox who currently own the best record in the bigs at 34-15. As always we'll get to see Manny "Scum" Ramirez and his infamous tinkles behind the Green Monster. You stay classy ManRam!