Mo Williams Bounces Back as Cavs Top Spurs, 97-95
March 9, 2010Brantley Making His Play
March 9, 2010
“Oh happy day! Our savior is here!” I don’t believe anybody was thinking that last night after learning of the Browns’ acquisition of Seneca Wallace. Wallace is an eight year pro who couldn’t find playing time on the Seahawks except when Matt Hasselbeck went down injured. In eight years of NFL service, Seneca Wallace has passed the ball 556 times in 48 games. Just for comparison’s sake, Brady Quinn has thrown 353 times in 14 games. Seneca Wallace’s career QB rating is 83.1 while his career completion percentage is 59.9%. He also has 25 touchdowns to 14 interceptions. Quinn’s numbers are a QB rating of 66.8 with a completion percentage of 52.1% and 10 TDs to 9 INTs. So what does all this mean?
Not much to be honest with you. The Browns still don’t have a front line starting quarterback in the NFL as far as anybody could possibly know. The Browns reportedly had to give up a single conditional draft pick for 2011 between the 4th and 6th rounds. You have to think the conditional part is based on starts or playing time for Seneca Wallace as a Cleveland Brown. Again, if Seneca Wallace takes the majority of the snaps for the Browns next year, is that a good thing for the franchise? Nobody truly knows the answer to that question yet. Still, even with the giant chasm of unknown that we have today, there are a few reasons that this should give you a few muted good vibes.
First of all, this move acknowledges what most of us were already feeling about the Browns’ quarterback situation. We all assume that Derek Anderson will be cut before that roster bonus is due. That would have meant that the Browns were going to go into this season with Brady Quinn and Brett Ratliff. I don’t care how much you find yourself clinging to the Brady Quinn bandwagon, you couldn’t possibly think those prospects are promising.
Secondly, the acquisition of Seneca Wallace might tip the Browns’ hand for the draft. Instead of going out and trying to draft the next franchise QB in the first round, it appears like the Browns might be trying to build up the rest of the team first, including finding a defensive playmaker with their first pick in the first round. Even if it doesn’t directly say that they will take a defensive player, between the acquisitions of Tony Pashos and Seneca Wallace, we can lean that way. The addition of Scott Fujita pushes us even toward the consensus that the Browns will take the most talented defensive back available whether it be a safety or a corner.
Third, it shows the Browns are capable of making moves even when their first and second moves don’t pan out. While we don’t know exactly what conversations the Browns have had with which teams and free agents, I think it is reasonable to assume that in addition to trying to get Kolb or McNabb out of Philly that the Browns also would have considered bringing in Chad Pennington. Pennington decided to re-sign with Miami. Then again, who knows if the addition of Seneca Wallace actually helps them deal with Philly. Maybe Wallace allows the Browns to give Philly a proven NFL backup so that it frees up Philly to trade either Kolb or McNabb to the Browns. This last part is 100% speculation on my part, but in this game of off-season chess, it is important to at least attempt to guess two or three moves ahead.
In summary, do I think everyone should be overjoyed with the addition of Seneca Wallace? Not really. The Browns haven’t arrived at their destination. At the same time, I actually do believe the team is slightly marginally better today than they were yesterday before this move. If nothing else, Seneca Wallace is a proven backup quarterback in the NFL. In that respect, the Browns have put another layer between the playing field and Brett Ratliff or whoever ends up being the third string quarterback. And even if I can’t say it conclusively today, it is impossible to dispute that there is a good chance that Seneca Wallace instantly became the best quarterback on the Browns’ roster when he was acquired yesterday.
(Photo WikiMedia.org)
60 Comments
@BB/#33: Brees is listed at 6’0″ even, but I think he’s right at the cusp of QB shortness without having to alter an offense some.
Here’s a link to an interesting article on correlation between height/weight and NFL peformance:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/218730-nfl-how-height-and-weight-affect-a-players-performance-by-postion
Regarding QBs, it does show some degree of better performance with greater height, but it doesn’t address the question of whether a coordinator has to alter the type of offense. A lurpy Derek Anderson will have to remain in the pocket; Doug Flutie could not function there. Browns had this issue with Jeff Garcia and Butchie tried to change things for him. Garcia was most effective throwing while he’s rolling, as he did in San Fran.
I’m not a believer in the big arm QB, knowing where and when to throw is for me the separator between QB’s who are effective and those who are not. But as the linemen get taller, shorter guiys literally cannot see downfield without moving around. This may not be a huge deal in the WCO, not sure exactly what our offense will look like.
I guess I’m done here, then?
The fact that Drew Brees good name is being soiled here with this discussion is kind of funny. The SB MVP was better then all of these guys starting probably in high school.
Brees was better then these guys when he was in high school probably, again, no comparison.
Looks like the DA era is over – thank you Mike Holmgren.
Harv, actually I’m surprise the correlation isn’t more profound. According to that report, there is only a 1% spread in completion percentage from the shortest to tallest quarterbacks. I would have thought it would have been larger. What I was trying to point out, is that you cannot draw conclusions about a quarterback simply because of his size. Yes, it is one of the factors that come into play, but unless we are talking about little people QBs, it is by no means the most important. You want to argue that Wallace doesn’t have the football IQ to properly read defenses or the arm accuracy hit a crossing pattern, I won’t disagree. There is a reason why this guy has been riding the bench for the same team for eight years. But to infer that he won’t be successful in Cleveland because he is three inches shorter than the optimal quarterback size, I can’t go for that. There have been too many tall quarterbacks (Anderson 6’6”, Frye 6’4”, Dilfer, 6’4”, McCown 6’3” Couch 6’4”) fail in Cleveland to blame the vertically challenged.
As for your point about OC’s having to change the type of offence to fit the QB’s size. I really hope that is not the case. Dabol had enough problems designing one offence let alone one per QB.
boogeyman, my deepest apologies to you and Drew.
@56 On behalf of Mr. Brees I accept your heartfelt apology.
everyone bitched when Mangini brought in a Jet but you don’t hear a peep when Holgrem brings in a washed up tiny person to play QB from the Seattle bench.
[…] be revolving around who will be under center for the 2010 season and beyond. The Browns recently traded for quarterback Seneca Wallace, but it is unknown what his role will be with the team at this stage. Recently releasing Derek […]