MMQB Mail: Thoughts on Browns beating Giants and ring etiquette

Braylon Edwards had more receiving yards (154) Monday than he had in his previous four games combined (95). Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

First thought after Cleveland's rout of the Giants on Monday: Maybe there's no best team in football.

Second thought: I still have the Giants No. 1. Any quarterback can throw three picks in a game after being superb (16 touchdowns, three interceptions) for a nine-game stretch, as Eli Manning was. Any team can have a clunker against a desperate team in a deafening stadium.

Third thought: We're six weeks into this crazy season and I can guarantee you no one in the United States, not even Bud Adams, thought the Titans would be the only unbeaten team left on Columbus Day.

Fourth thought: Imagine the incredibly bad day the Cowboys had Monday, losing three of their 15 most important players (Tony Romo, Felix Jones and Mat McBriar, who is a huge field-position weapon) and the prospect of the Adam Jones suspension hanging over them. And then the Cowboys go home Monday night daring not to watch the Giants massacre Cleveland because the game will leave them two games out in the loss column in the NFC East with 10 to play. But then the Browns win, and all of a sudden the black sky over their life turns simply cumulus.

Fifth thought: How 'bout them Browns?

"I've been waiting for this moment my whole life," Braylon Edwards told me early this morning after the 35-14 rout. "That's no cliché. Playing on Monday Night Football was a dream of mine as a kid, and not only do I play well in the game [five catches, 154 yards, one touchdown, one two-point conversion reception], but we beat the Super Bowl champs in a game we had to have."

The Browns had some great expectations after their 10-win season last year and their offseason fortification of the defensive line. After starting 0-3 and winning ugly at Cincinnati, this offense hadn't played well since last November ... 'til last night.

Edwards and offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski said this morning the offense had been so bad early because injuries to Edwards and wideout Donte' Stallworth, the spring wildcat strike by Kellen Winslow and a summer concussion for quarterback Derek Anderson made it impossible for the unit to jell. I maintain it was Anderson's poor accuracy and Edwards' bad hands in the first month that haunted the team. Whatever, Anderson was decisive and confident last night for the first time this season; his 18-of-29, 310-yard, two-TD, no-pick night was vindication for a team that stuck its neck out to keep him after a poor December.

On defense, the most encouraging sign was the play of embattled corners Eric Wright and Brandon McDonald. They played like a couple of old dawgs (Hanford Dixon and Frank Minnifield) last night. Two interceptions of Manning and five passes deflected between them ... It was the best night of their young careers. And Wright made the play of the night. Instead of the Giants punching it in and drawing to within six with eight minutes to go, Wright baited Manning, stepped in front of Amani Toomer, intercepted the ball at the Cleveland 6 and ran 94 yards for the insurance points. A potential six-point game became a 21-point lead, in seconds.

"This means a lot," Wright said. "It means we can play with the best when we play to our potential."

"How about all the people -- like me -- who said you and McDonald were the weak links to this team?" I asked.

"If people feel we're the weak links," he said, "we must be a pretty strong team."

The Browns still might be. Who knows? In Week 6, about 20 teams still might be.

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A clarification: Last week I went on a mini-rant about Derek Anderson's contract situation. I was wrong about one aspect of it: Cleveland guaranteed $5 million more of the contract than I reported, so even if Anderson would play only one year of the three-year deal, he'd have $13 million total coming, not $8 million, as I said. My apologies for a poor interpretation of the contract language.

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