Browns ready to take show against Giants on Sunday

Cleveland feels it’s ready to turn the season around with the Super Bowl champs.

BEREA (AP) — Browns wide receiver Braylon Edwards pressed play on the compact stereo system in his locker and suddenly the room filled with that signature song.

First, the horns: Bum, bum, ba-da-da, bum, bum. Then, Sinatra.

“Start spreadin’ the news, I’m leaving today,” belted Ol’ Blue Eyes. “I want to be a part of it ... New York, New York.”

“All right,” quarterback Brady Quinn said. “I’ve been waiting for some Sinatra all day.”

The Browns, who have an upcoming Monday night game against the unbeaten Giants (4-0), are in a New York state of mind this week.

They see the defending Super Bowl champions as role models. The Browns (1-3) believe they can rebound from a disastrous start, renew confidence in their shaken quarterback, take the heat off their embattled coach, turn their season around with a long winning streak and hoist the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

Why not? The Giants did it.

“It inspires the entire league,” Browns linebacker D’Qwell Jackson said. “Everyone talks about it. The way they started and the way they finished gives everybody hope.”

Coming off a wild-card playoff appearance in 2006, New York entered last season with high expectations. Then an 0-2 start had the Giants on the doorstep of major upheaval.

Quarterback Eli Manning was being criticized for not living up to his status as a No. 1 overall pick or being as good as big brother, Peyton. Coach Tom Coughlin was thought to be on his way out the door. The New York tabloids were having a field day with the plunging G-men.

New York trailed in its third game, 17-3 at Washington, before scoring 21 unanswered points to win. It was followed by five straight victories, and except for a few minor missteps, the Giants have hardly looked back.

“Nobody gave them a chance,” Edwards said. “Even when they started playing well they still didn’t get a chance.”

So, how’d they do it?

“They just played football,” he said.

Following a 20-12 win over Cincinnati and a week of needed rest, the Browns are feeling much better about their season and see a prime-time TV appearance as a chance to prove their worth.

“It’s a great opportunity,” said quarterback Derek Anderson, who barely escaped the Bengals game with his job. “It’s Monday Night Football. I’ve never played on it, other than preseason. You dream about it as a kid. I know everybody here’s going to be ready to go. You don’t want to go out there and lay an egg.”

Anderson, who remains the NFL’s 31st-rated passer, was possibly down to his last series in Cincinnati when coach Romeo Crennel decided to keep him in. The Pro Bowl quarterback responded by throwing a 4-yard TD pass on Cleveland’s next possession and led the Browns to 17 points in the fourth quarter.