Russell Overrated

All this talk about the Browns drafting either Brady Quinn or trading up for JaMarcus Russell better be a smokescreen. Neither of these guys can help this franchise turn things around. Lets start with JaMarcus "He can make all the throws" Russell. This guy suddenly went from a run of the mill QB to the next big thing in a matter of weeks towards the end of the season. Sure you look at his stats on the surface, 28 TD's 8 INT 167 Rating, and they look great but you better examine them more deeply. Since LSU games were on tv almost as frequently as Notre Dame games were, I saw Russell play on numerous occasions. What stuck out then and still sticks in my head now is how he performed against the best defenses in the SEC. He struggled mightily and threw some of the worst interceptions I've ever seen (including a very bad one against Tennssee that went back for 6). Lets take a look at three specific games and how Russell performed:

9/16 vs Auburn: 20-35 269 yds 0 td o int (so-so) Loss
10/7 vs Florida: 24-41 228 yds 1 td 3 int (bad) Loss
11/4 vs Tennessee: 24-36 247 yds 3 td 3 int (not great) Win

In those three games, 2 losses by the way, he has a 60% completion percentage, with 4 td's and 6 int's. Not very good. Russell definitely feeds off inferior competition. Take a look at his stats vs. the two worst teams in the SEC and the worst team on LSU's schedule:

9/2 vs Louisiana-Lafayette: 13-17 253 yds 3 td 0 int
9/30 vs Mississippi St.: 18-20 33o yds 3 td 0 int
11/18 vs Mississippi: 20-36 223 yds 3 td 0 int

That's an astounding 70% completion rate, 9 td's o int. Impressive, however unfortunately for him, he will not be facing Louisiana-Lafayette type of defenses in the NFL. Point being NFL scouts, fans, GM's, etc fall in love with size, arm strength, etc however they blindly excuse poor performances versus the best defenses they face on the field. And it's not as if LSU isn't loaded offensively surrounding Russell.