Things are not looking good for Joe Jurevicius.  The local prodcut will likely be on put on IR today, ending his 2008 season due to staph infection in his surgically repaired knee.  On a team that leads the league in dropped passes, it will hurt to not have the steady Jurevicius.  Who knows what will happen with him at the end of this season, as he had originally planned to retire.  He's under contract through the 2009 season.

What's eating Jamal?  His lack of carries against Baltimore earlier this year.  This quote from head coach Romeo Crennel is particularly troubling:

"If it were as simple as, 'Give it to Jamal 20 times,' the first 20 plays of the game would be handed off to Jamal. But they would load up the box and never have to worry about a pass play. Then you see if that 20 would get you a win or not. Generally, your ability to run the ball keeps the defenses off balance because it opens up your play-action pass."

Stats speak loudly and this is one case where Lewis is probably closer to right than Crennel.  The coach is oversimplifying that particular statistic, while clearly ignoring the importance of Lewis' contribution.  Then again, is anything else to be expected from Crennel?

The Orange and Brown Report did a good preview of Sunday's game with the Ravens.

Ryan Tucker fans (like Dan and I) may have to wait yet again for the veteran offensive linemen to return from his knee injury.   With Kevin Shaffer playing average, it would be helpful if Tucker could get back on the field, but he hasn't practiced this week. 

Sunday will be a homecoming for Ravens rookie Haruki Nakamura, who is from Elyria, OH.  Nakamura is a huge hitter, and his highlight reel on YouTube is some of the most enjoyable hitting I've ever seen.  With Cribbs less than 100% and struggling this season, it could be a dangerous game for him with Nakamura lurking. 

Finally, while this is a bit old, it's still interesting.  The Browns supposedly turned down an offer of 2009 and 2010 first round draft picks from the Minnesota Vikings for Brady Quinn.  There is no clear cut source here, but it seems to be either wildly untrue, or a sign of how important Quinn is to the Browns.  John Clayton reports that Quinn is the Browns quarterback of the future and doubts the discussions went very far.

While the good news is that Kellen Winslow has been released from the hospital, he's likely out of tonight's Monday Night Football game against the Giants.  This is all pure speculation, but apparently Winslow's mystery illness was enlarged testicles (allegedly).  Let's just hope Winslow feels better, and leave it at that.

Are the Browns this year's Giants?  D'Qwell Jackson says that they are looking up to Giants.  The Giants started the 2007 season 0-2, and went on to win the Super Bowl against the then undefeated New England Patriots.

While they could easily do so, the Giants aren't looking past the Browns.  The Giants have been dominating opponents, but have only played one team with a winning record thus far.

In what should be a welcome return, Ryan Tucker should get the starting nod at right tackle this week.  The only problem is he has to face off with Giants stud left end Justin Tuck.  Tuck is exactly the kind of powerful, quick end that Tucker has struggled with throughout his career.  Kevin Shaffer, injured or not, has been bad this season, so I'm excited to see Tucker back in his familiar spot.

One quick note:  the broadcasters likely won't talk about this tonight, but the whole shakedown of Eli Manning becoming a Giant has a key to the Browns.  In his book, The GM, Tom Callahan discusses that former Giants general manager Ernie Acorsi had struck a deal with then Browns head coach/overlord Butch Davis to trade the fouth overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft for the Browns seventh overall pick, and then their second round choice.  The Browns were supposedly trading up to select the late Miami (FL) free safety Sean Taylor.  Acorsi was nervous as draft day grew that Davis could be actually moving up to select Philip Rivers, and then broker a trade with the Chargers for Eli Manning, so he nixed the deal and did it himself.  Interesting how things could have turned out!