The Bucs have historically struggled against Derek Anderson

THere’s a good chance the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will face quarterback Derek Anderson on Monday night, as Cam Newton is still sidelined with a concussion. You would think playing a career backup who has a history of throwing too many interceptions would be a good thing, especially when one of this main receivers is Ted Ginn.

History suggests otherwise, though. The Bucs have embarrassed Derek Anderson only once, and that was a decade ago, in 2006. He was still with the Cleveland Browns then, as a rookie, and completed just 10 of 27 passes for 123 yards and a whopping four interceptions. Oh yes, the halcyon days of yore, when the Bucs could still play some defense.

Since then, Anderson has attempted passes in three games against Tampa Bay, winning two of them. He’s completed 65 of 98 passes for 741 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions at an impressive clip of 7.6 yards per attempt. The one loss wasn’t even solely his: that came in 2010 when he was with the Arizona Cardinals, who started Max Hall (remember him?) in that game and nearly won it when Anderson relieved him.

Obviously, facing Anderson is better than facing Newton. One’s a Super Bowl caliber quarterback, the other’s a career backup with a strong arm. History suggests that we shouldn’t be too dismissive of Anderson, though — at least not when he’s playing Tampa Bay.