Cleveland Browns Beat New York Giants 35-14 | Career High for Braylon Edwards

After each of the first four games of the 2008 Season of Great Expectations for the Cleveland Browns, I have sat and stared at the blank computer screen searching for positives through the dreck that had been the Browns’ play on the field. It wasn’t always easy to find the positives, and sometimes even my indefatigable optimism was challenged. It started with the preseason debacle against the New York Giants and went all the way up to tonight’s Monday Night Football kickoff.

Tonight, after witnessing a 35-14 trouncing of the New York Giants by the Cleveland Browns, I am sitting trying to sift through a stunning abundance of positives to pick out a few to highlights, lest I be up until 4:00 in the morning analyzing this game. I’m riding such high right now that reliving this game until 4:00 a.m. actually sounds pretty damn good.

Where do we start?

It has to be with Derek Anderson and Braylon Edwards. Coming into tonight’s game, Derek Anderson was the lowest rated QB in the league and his spot as the Browns’ unquestioned starter was in doubt. Braylon Edwards, coming off a 16-TD season, had been held to under 100 yards receiving through four games. The Giants had the best defense in the NFL coming in. So what happened? Well, this is the NFL (which now officially stands for No F-ing Logic) so exactly the opposite of what “should” happen: Derek Anderson threw for over 300 yards and 2 TDs and Braylon Edwards caught 5 passes for a career-high 154 yards, a touchdown, and a two-point conversion. They hooked up early a deep bomb in which only a shoestring tackle kept Braylon from the endzone, and the two kept rolling from there.

Braylon Edwards did have a few miscues. He dropped a ball and committed a pretty comical false start penalty. But tonight is not a night for nit-picking (FALSE STARTS!!!!); and Braylon Edwards delivered a huge performance in a clutch spot, living up to the old Santana Moss axiom that “big players make big plays in big games.” Despite his rocky start, Braylon Edwards is a big-time player and he proved it tonight. I said earlier in the year that Braylon Edwards is the key to the Browns season. His two best games (actually, his only two competent games) have come in the last two, both Browns victories. This team needs Braylon Edwards to be a top-5 wide receiver to compete with the elite teams. Tonight, he was outstanding and the Cleveland Browns knocked off the defending Super Bowl champs.

Derek Anderson finally looked comfortable and confident in the pocket. He stepped into his throws, he spread the ball around, and he avoided the costly turnover that has plagued him when he has come up short in key spots. Kudos also go out to the offensive line who, despite way too many false start penalties, gave Derek plenty of time to drop back, be comfortable in the pocket, and locate receivers downfield. Justin Tuck and the Giants defensive line had been dealing well with the loss of Michael Strahan. The Cleveland Browns’ offensive line neutralized them tonight. It paid off.

Other offensive highlights included continued tough running from team leader Jamal Lewis, a few more electric plays from Jerome Harrison, and the return of Donte Stallworth. Stallworth’s return should not go unnoticed. He did not stuff the stat sheet, and probably should have come up with the fade route in the endzone, but even Braylon Edwards admitted in the postgame that Stallworth opened up the field for him. Without Kellen Winslow out, another receiving threat was necessary. The speed of Donte Stallworth provided that threat. And in Kellen Winslow’s absence, the substitute soldiers Steve Heiden and Darnell Dinkins came up huge. Heiden provided a reliable safety valve for Derek Anderson all night, and Darnell Dinkins came up with a huge TD catch.

The offense was oustanding tonight and absolutely deserves an A for a stellar performance on the heels of four very subpar outings.

Now onto the defense.

Coming into the season, the biggest question mark for the Cleveland Browns was the defensive secondary. After trading Leigh Bodden, very few people gave the Browns’ secondary a chance to be a game-changing unit — at least in a positive sense. But for me, one of the lone consistent bright spots in this season so far has been the play of Brandon McDonald and Eric Wright. Tonight those two, along with Brodney Pool, played great ball-hawking defense. They gave up a few plays to Plaxico Burress (actually, those happened when Burress was matched up against Terry Cousins) and Steve Smith was able to find seams underneath, but they kept the Giants’ receivers in front of them; and obviously, the interceptions were huge. Eric Wright, Brandon McDonald, and Brodney Pool each picked off Eli Manning once. Eric Wright’s 4th quarter redzone interception and subsequent return for a touchdown sealed the deal.

The interception by Eric Wright is the most auspicious harbinger of a potential turnaround for the Cleveland Browns in 2008. Last year, even with Leigh Bodden, I never truly had confidence that the Browns’ secondary would be able to come up with big, game-changing plays when the defense needed one. Tonight, with the Browns’ clinging to a 27-14 lead but the Super Bowl champs gashing our defense and seeming poised to cut the lead to a one-scare margin, Eric Wright made a ridiculous break on a ball that Eli Manning thought was an easy completion and possible touchdown. Not only did he get there and actually catch the ball, as opposed to just knocking it down, but he ended any chance of comeback by finishing the play by high-stepping into the opposite endzone. The Browns’ secondary may be one of the most underrated units in the NFL. Tonight they highlighted their improvement on the biggest stage, but it is the culmination of five consecutive weeks of consistent improvement.

The run defense was just okay, and that’s probably being ridiculously generous as the Giants rushed 25 times for a 7.2 yard per carry average. You probably won’t win too many games giving up 7.2 yards per carry, unless of course you don’t turn the ball over, don’t punt once, and come up with 3 INTs. If the recipe for winning an NFL game is comprised on ten ingredients, the Browns successfully brought 8 to the table tonight. Shoring up the run defense and eliminating penalties will be points of emphasis for the Browns’ coaching staff as we move forward, but the ingredients the Browns were able to add still coalesced into the sweet taste of a 35-14 victory on national TV in front of the home fans against the undefeated defending Super Bowl champions.

In his postgame interview immediately following the game, Braylon Edwards said, “Everyone watched this game on TV and forgot about the first three games. We’re 2-0, with a brand new 14-game season.” I don’t know if he meant it this way, but a 14-game season assumes three playoff games. At the beginning of this Season of Great Expectations, many Browns fans thought a deep playoff run was a possibility. At 0-3, not even the most audacious Browns fan could still have maintained complete confidence that this team would even get to 8-8.

Can this team make the playoffs? At 2-3, it’s still an uphill battle. But at 2-3, and with parity running rampant across the NFL landscape, the Browns are still very much in the picture.

And at least for one glorious Monday night, in front of a nation of football fans watching on Monday Night Football, the Cleveland Browns looked like one of the NFL’s elite. Are they? We have 11 more games to find out for sure, and there are plenty of rough edges that need to be smoothed out; but this is one hell of a giant step in the right direction.

Congratulations Browns! And to all you haters: Ryan Russell and I told you so!

[tags]cleveland browns, nfl, monday night football, new york giants, football, braylon edwards[/tags]

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