Derek Anderson Talks About Starting Against the Bengals on Sunday

Browns quarterback Derek Anderson press conference 9-30-09 (On his state of mind with this opportunity) - "Good. Obviously, I am excited about this opportunity, and I'm going to prepare and do everything I can to help this team win."

(On what his reaction was when he was told he was going to be the starter) - "I was excited. We are all competitors who want to play. I've been preparing and ready to go. I'm just excited about the opportunity."

(On if he needs multiple starts to show what he can do) - "I'm just going to continue to play and do the things I can to help this team win."

(On having success against Cincinnati in the past) - "They have different personnel and a different defensive coordinator. It's not exactly the same team. Obviously, I think they are playing a little bit better than they were when we played them in the past. It's a division game, and it's important that we all prepare and are ready to go this week."

(On if the scenario reminds him of what happened in 2007) - “It’s kind of weird how it happened like that. I'm just really excited about it and we are going to go out there in the rain today and have a good time."

(On if this is bittersweet after not winning the starting job after training camp and now getting it) - "I have to go in there and I expect myself to play well and lead these guys and do what I can. Obviously, what we've done can't be fixed over night, but over time it can. If we continue to do good things, it will all work out."

(On the confidence level of the team) - "In general, we're good. I don't think anybody in the room is going to question anything. Everybody is going to go out there and play hard. I've been with most of these guys for five years now and it has been the same way regardless of what the situation was that we were in. Everybody went in, studied, prepared, always gave their best, and that's all you can ask from guys in the locker room."

(On what he can bring to the offense) - "Hopefully a lot of good things. I don't know. I'm not going to compare what Brady (Quinn) does to what I do, or to what I bring to what he does. You will have to talk to Eric (Mangini) about that. I'm going to do as best I can to prepare, have fun with the week and continue to get better."

(On how different the offense is under Brian Daboll as compared to Rob Chudzinski) - "They are football plays and we have to execute them. He calls them. Really, everybody runs the same plays in this league to be honest. He calls them different."

(On Trent Dilfer saying the offense lacks creativity) - "To be honest with you I don't even watch TV. I watch the Golf Channel. ‘Playing Lessons with the Pros’ the other night, it was awesome."

(On the underlining reason as to why the offense hasn't been better) - "We've turned the ball over and we've put our defense in tough positions to stop them and gave the other team momentum. It's just being smart and executing when we need to. On third downs we have to convert. Everybody has to be on the same page and we have to communicate. I think if we do those things, I know we are capable of doing, we'll be good."

(On if he came into the game on Sunday with the approach that he had everything to gain and nothing to lose) - "Honestly, I was doing whatever I could do to try and give these guys a spark, give them some energy, get guys balls. Yes, I threw some balls in places I had no business throwing them, but if it's a 7-3 game I'm not doing that. I was just trying to bring some energy and trying to be positive with everybody. We talked about it and I made some bad decisions. We learn from them. A couple of them, like coach said, like on the one Braylon (Edwards) probably had them beat, we tried to throw it a long way and the safety frees up backside. That happens. That's football. I thought overall it was pretty good. I had fun out there. I didn't get banged up too bad. I thought the o-line did a good job of protecting because I got killed against those guys before."

(On if he felt he won the job during training camp) - "Obviously I didn't, but I felt like I went out there and did what I could do. That's all I can do and that's all I can comment on, what I did."

(On how much of his play was from being rusty) - "I got some jitters. I got a little excited. I played probably 30 snaps in the preseason and the preseason, to me, is a different speed. You can go out there and it’s pretty much like practice. When you get in there with live bullets and it means something, it's a little bit different. I hadn't played in a game since December. That's not an excuse for what happened or anything like that. I was excited about it."

(On if he is concerned about the fans reaction) - "I'm concerned about the guys in our locker room and the 10 guys on the field with me at that time. We haven't been good and we all understand that, but believe me, we are trying to do everything we can to make it better and I continue to believe that we will."

(On facing the Bengals) - "They've been playing really well on defense and offense for that matter. (Antwan) Odom has been flying around, he is leading the league in sacks. He has been getting up the field and disrupting the ball. We talked about that today, that’s their M.O. If they win the turnover margin they win games. If we control the ball and are smart with it, obviously, that's how the league goes. If you don't turn the ball over you have a better chance of winning than when you do. I think that has been the biggest thing for them."

(On getting rhythm with Mohamed Massaquoi) - "I thought Massaquoi did a good job when he was in there. He did the things that we asked him to do. I think he plays hard. He went down and got a comeback (route) for me. I like the things he does. I think he works at it. All of our guys for that matter I think work at it and are trying to be the best they can."