BEREA, Ohio — Derek Anderson’s season is officially over, yet another slap for the down-on-their-luck Cleveland Browns.
Anderson, who lost his starting job to Brady Quinn several weeks ago, will miss the final four games after tearing a ligament in his left knee on Sunday against Indianapolis.
An MRI taken Monday revealed Anderson tore the medial collateral ligament when he was sacked in the final minutes of Cleveland’s 10-6 loss to the Colts. Anderson, making his first start since Nov. 2 after being benched for Quinn, will not need surgery. He will be placed in a brace and will need four to six weeks to recover.
Quinn, too, is done for the season with a finger injury. He has not yet decided whether to have surgery on his broken right index finger, which he hurt on Nov. 17 at Buffalo.
The injuries to their top two QBs means the Browns (4-8) will start third-stringer Ken Dorsey on Sunday against the Tennessee Titans (11-1). Return specialist Joshua Cribbs, who played quarterback at Kent State, will serve as Dorsey’s backup unless the Browns can sign a veteran quarterback in the next few days.
“Once Derek came back in we were all confident because we know Derek can play and its frustrating now that we have to change again,” guard Eric Steinbach said.
Coach Romeo Crennel said the club will try to find another quarterback familiar with Cleveland’s system.
If Anderson’s injury wasn’t tough enough to take, some Browns fans made it worse by cheering when the former Pro Bowler crumpled to the turf.
The negative reaction was not well received by Anderson’s teammates.
“It made me upset,” defensive tackle Shaun Smith said. “When you see stuff like that happening, it could have been a career-ending injury. He was your quarterback last year and went to the Pro Bowl, everybody was cheering for him then. For you to cheer for him to get hurt, that’s not good, that’s like me being at your family member’s funeral and being happy they died. That’s not a good sign.
“For people to cheer, that’s no class at all.”
Notes
Lions sign Colbert
ALLEN PARK, Mich. — The Detroit Lions signed wide receiver Keary Colbert, giving him a chance to play for his third NFL team this season. Detroit added him to the roster Monday when it put wide receiver Mike Furrey on injured reserve because of a concussion. Colbert was released by the Seattle Seahawks on Nov. 11, nearly two months after they acquired him from Denver for an undisclosed draft pick.
Pats to play Bucs in London
LONDON — The New England Patriots will play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next season at Wembley Stadium, the third straight year the NFL will stage a regular-season game in the British capital. The NFL said Monday the game will be played Oct. 25.
Packers tops in brand strength
The Green Bay Packers enjoy the most passionate local fan base of any pro team — at least they did before the club’s messy divorce from Brett Favre.
The franchise has the strongest brand in its local market of any North American team in the major sports leagues, according to a consumer survey of thousands of fans.
“What this is saying is the following the Packers have is more intensely loyal to supporting the Packers than any other team,” said Len Perna, president and chief executive of New Jersey-based Turnkey Sports &Entertainment, which released the 2008 Turnkey Team Brand Index on Monday.
“What this basically says is that all other things being equal, a sponsor gets more value in sponsoring the Packers than any other team.”
The Packers ranked first among 122 team brands in the NFL, NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball. Some 12,000 fans in 47 U.S. and Canadian markets participated in the second annual survey in June by the market research and executive search and recruiting firm.
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