What Browns fans want to know is, when will the Browns be competitive? The most critical element on a football team is quarterback, and the Browns haven't had a definitive answer at that position since Tim Couch. So when you see people complaining about Weeden, it's not so much him as the long term prospect of this team. If Weeden can be the guy, then we might have a shot in 2-4 years to do something special. If Weeden is another bust, we're not replacing him next year, so we're at least 4-7 years away from relevancy. Make no mistake, Weeden is our future. If he isn't, this team will need to "blow it up" sometime in the next couple years. That's what fans are afraid of.
And they would have been right. Brett Favre was a very good QB, and he'll make it into the HOF because of his longevity. But Favre had as many terrible moments as great ones in his career. He crossed through two very different QB eras, and in the modern era, QBs need to be better at limiting turnovers. They also need to be more effective at completing passes regularly. Brett Favre is 18th all time in completion percentage; a testament to his success vs. his peers. But of QBs with at least 4 years starting, 10 of the guys in front of him are current NFL QBs, showing a dramatic shift in the trend.
Favre may have been able to make some bad decisions and still lead a successful career, but the competition is stronger now, and Weeden won't have that same margin of error. His arm strength is useless if he can't improve his decision making. It isn't too unreasonable to expect him to improve over the next couple of years though.
I do think Weeden has started to regress since the bye week. Some of that is likely due to opposing offenses getting time and film to adjust to him. He needs to continue to develop, and take that next step.
What I really want to see from Weeden is 4 solid quarters of NFL play. I want to see him run a game from start to finish without making a significant mistake.
