Cleveland Browns have case of the Mondays!

As I gazed at the television Monday night, I was not sure if I was hallucinating. I asked myself a series of questions to try to grasp some sense of football reality. Was that Jamal Lewis running for eight yards and a first down against the football Giants? Did Braylon Edwards just make a catch? Are the Cleveland Browns on the verge of beating, or should I say pummeling, the (ESPN proclaimed) best team in football? The answer was no, I was not hallucinating and yes the Brownies were playing the sort of football that Clevelanders fell in love with last season.

Besides a number of miscues by the offensive line, the Browns with remarkable play calling by Rob Chudzinski and Mel Tucker were able to put together their best game of the season. This is the sort of game that football fans call a momentum game. The sort of game that we here in Browns town haven’t seen since the classic goal-line stand against the Atlanta Falcons in 2002. The dynamic talents of Jerome Harrison, Josh Cribbs, and the underrated Steve Heiden were finally utilized. The defensive line put pressure on Eli Manning, while the corners had a field day(see Eric Wright’s Neon Deion impression). Anderson was accurate and protected while Jamal tapped danced over and through the egos of the Giant’s defense.

For the fan who gives up his hard-earned money to sit in Cleveland Browns stadium, Monday’s game was everything he or she could have dreamt. I know who Cleveland fans are. They are loyal followers who only expect a few things. They expect their team to execute plays with professionalism and they expect their team to represent the city of Cleveland by playing with heart. Winning is a symptom of these principals. It is precisely these principals that have been missing from the “new” Browns era. Monday’s win was incredibly significant because it gave birth to hope. It also proved the Browns have the type of athletes who can compete with the best in the NFL.

Here are the final questions that I will let the Browns answer. These are the questions, that if you know the recent history of Browns football, you should be asking. Can Romeo and the crew sustain the same effort next week against the Redskins? Will we look like the team we saw on Monday Night? Or, will we revert back to the shadow of the first three games? Let us hope for better days ahead. At least for a Monday Night in Cleveland, Ohio we all saw something that made us dream. I’m am reminded of a quote from the mouth of one Marty Schottenheimer, which if you listen, will ignite flame in your football soul. “There’s a Gleam Men. There’s a Gleam! Let’s get that gleam!”