Somers: Derek Anderson revisits Monday night meltdown
SAN FRANCISCO – My interview with Derek Anderson this week at the Super Bowl went much better than our last one 5 ½ years ago.
It almost had to since the room for improvement was the size of the Louisiana Purchase.
Today, both Anderson and the Cardinals are in much better places than they were on Monday night, Nov. 29, 2010.
The Cardinals have won at least 10 games in three consecutive seasons, and Anderson, the Panthers backup quarterback, is preparing for his first Super Bowl.
That Monday night in 2010 seems a long time ago for everyone. The Cardinals endured another embarrassing loss that night, and Anderson’s meltdown in a news conference afterward rivaled that of Dennis Green’s infamous “we let them off the hook!" performance in 2006.
There was more behind Anderson’s outburst that night than just his displeasure at my repeated questioning.
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The reasons stretch back to 2009, when Anderson’s time in Cleveland was done. He was in a miserable place in his personal life, he said, and unhappy with his football career. He seriously considered quitting.
But he decided to continue and signed a two-year, $7.25 million with the Cardinals, who promised him a chance to compete with Matt Leinart for the starting job, Anderson said.
Instead, Leinart worked with the first team through offseason practices and most of training camp. Late in camp, coach Ken Whisenhunt decided to start Anderson over Leinart.
Leinart was mad, and Anderson didn’t feel fully prepared to assume a leadership role.
“I was told multiple things and multiple things didn’t happen," Anderson said. “It’s hard enough to win in this league when you get a whole spring and a whole training camp with guys, let alone a week and half.”
The Cardinals, and Anderson, were terrible. The Cardinals went 2-7 in Anderson’s starts and 6-10 overall. Anderson completed 51.7 percent of his passes, with seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
The Cardinals changed quarterbacks like socks that season, and they hit their apex of ineptitude that Monday night against the 49ers.
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During a timeout, ESPN cameras recorded Anderson and guard Deuce Lutui laughing, and the video was shown coming out of commercial.
With the Cardinals behind by 18 points, it was not a good look. Analyst Jon Gruden was critical, and fans, via Twitter, asked what was so funny about getting blown out.
It became a story line reporters had to pursue.
At the time, Anderson was unaware of what was happening. To him, the incident that prompted him to smile was brief and forgettable.
A fan behind the Cardinals bench had been riding Anderson for weeks, he said, using vulgarities. On this night, Lutui cracked a joke about Anderson being heckled, and the quarterback laughed.
At his postgame new conference, Anderson at first said he wasn’t laughing.
When I told him that ESPN had shown him laughing, Anderson lost his temper.
“You think I was laughing about something?” Anderson said. “I take this (expletive) serious. Real serious. I put my heart and soul into this (expletive) every single week!”
Then he left.
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Anderson acknowledged the situation could have been handled much better.
To his credit, Anderson was professional and polite in revisiting the incident this week.
“Honestly, how the whole thing went down was almost comical,” Anderson said. “There was a guy behind the bench screaming at me, ‘F you!’ He would yell at me the whole game, every game. And he (Deuce) just said, ‘F that, D.A. We got your back.’ And I kind of just grinned.”
No one told Anderson what ESPN had shown, and he was caught off guard when asked about it.
Anderson felt I crossed the boundaries that night by continuing to ask questions about the incident, but didn’t absolve himself of blame.
“Everybody could have handled it better,” he said. “I could have handled it better. They (the Cardinals) could have given me a heads up going into it.”
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Anderson was released by the Cardinals before the 2011 season and signed with the Panthers.
Over the past five seasons, Anderson hasn’t been called upon much, but he’s produced when required. The Panthers won both times he started in 2014, and he played well enough to perhaps vie for a starting job elsewhere.
But he opted to stay in Carolina and signed contract extensions the past two years.
One awful football season did not sour Anderson on Arizona. He returns every offseason to a home in north Scottsdale.
“I grew from that situation; it wasn’t ideal,” Anderson said of the 2010 Cardinals season. “This is kind of my second wind, really. I recommitted myself to my training. Off the field, things got better. You just learn and grow.”