John Madden

Each week John Madden answers readers questions. To ask Coach a question, e-mail him at:

Do you think it's time to give Brady Quinn a shot a quarterback in Cleveland or should the Browns stay patient with Derek Anderson?
Mike from Ohio

Madden: Mike, it is a two-fold answer as a coach.  One is do you think it is time to replace Derek Anderson? Two, if it is time to replace him and is Brady Quinn ready to take over, be better and be there for the long term.  I don't think you can mess with careers of quarterbacks just by changing from week to week.  Once you make that move, and I was in that situation as a coach, in your mind it has to be a permanent one.  So I think it is bigger than just throwing Brady Quinn in there and giving him a shot.

There are a few coaches who are rumored to being close to getting fired? Is it too early in the season to make such a move?
Ralph from Wisconsin

Madden: I'm always for the coach, Ralph, so I would always answer that it is too early, but I am also a realist and I know history and I know it happens all the time. So I don't think there is any consideration for time.  If you are going to fire someone during the season, whether it is the 3rd game, 5th game, 8th game or 9th game, I don't know that that is a big thing.  If someone gets to the point that they know they are not going to keep this person, then you might as well get rid of them now. Detroit just did it with Matt Millen, not a coach but a general manager.  One thing is with the bye week now they tend to do it around the bye week.

Which undefeated AFC team has surprised you the most (Denver, Tennessee, Baltimore and Buffalo)?
Scott from Syracuse

Madden: Geez, they have all kind of been surprises Scott.  Probably the biggest surprise is Tennessee, but then I have a lot of respect for their coach Jeff Fisher. I know that they are always going to be solid.  I would say that they all surprised me.  I didn't see Baltimore coming and I didn't think Buffalo either, but I thought they would be better. Denver I kind of like their offense but their question was defense. 

Have the 49ers started to turn things around with J.T. O'Sullivan?
Juan from San Jose

Madden: Yeah, Juan the key word being started.  I think they are going to be tested this week against New Orleans.  There really isn't enough data. You can't make conclusions after three games and I think sometimes we tend to do that maybe a little too much.  I think if they can go down to New Orleans and beat them and J.T. O'Sullivan can beat them then you can take that one step deeper.

What do you make of Miami's big win over New England? Is that a sign that the Dolphins are turning things around or that the Patriots are falling fast?
Michael, Boston

Madden: I don't know that you would jump to the conclusion that the Patriots are falling fast Michael.  I think the Miami Dolphins shocked them and it looked like the Patriots weren't ready for that.  Now whether they are going to be ready for other games along the way I am not sure.  Miami did some interesting things and it's probably one of those things that at least for the third game of the season the Patriots aren't as good as you thought they were going to be and the Dolphins weren't as bad as you thought they were going to be.  But again we are just talking about the third week of the season and that is the great thing about the NFL is that you don't know.  When you begin talking about who is good and who is going to be good you really have to let half the season play before you really start to jump to conclusions.