Quarterback Brock Osweiler, who will go first, and DeShone Kizer, scheduled to immediately follow him, will, of course, have an excellent opportunity to prove they belong on the big stage when the Browns host the New York Giants in the teams’ second preseason game on Monday night at FirstEnergy Stadium.
And the same could be said – actually, should be said – for the Browns as a team.
They also can make a significant impression and prove that last season’s dismal 1-15 finish – really, all of the 16 losing records of the previous 18 years of expansion era – are beyond them and they’re on the road back to becoming relevant again.
The bright lights of Monday Night Football and a game played under the stars are the perfect setting for both things – involving the quarterbacks and the club – to happen.
Sure, it’s a preseason game, so, technically, what happens doesn’t count in the standings. But in actuality, it’s not “just” a practice game for the Browns. The contest counts for a lot – a whole lot, in fact.
Because of the lack of such over nearly the two decades since they were born again, winning counts plenty for the Browns, whether it’s just a play, a series, a possession, a quarter or a game. Cleveland head coach Hue Jackson would be the first to tell you that – and he has, over and over and over again in the two seasons he’s been here. That was ramped up – considerably so – when last year’s Browns lost all four exhibition games and their first 14 regular-season contests.
Losing like that can become a disease that eats away at the core of your team, just like winning strengthens the bones.
The Browns have osteoporosis – their bones are extremely weak – and it will take a lot of wins to build them back up. When they came from behind in the final two minutes to defeat the New Orleans Saints 20-14 in the preseason opener a week and a half ago, it was if a huge weight had been lifted from the shoulders of the team and its coach.
But the Saints don’t have nearly the swagger of the New York Football Giants, and neither does a game on Thursday night in front of a regional TV audience have the pizzazz of MNF and national TV. Everyone will be watching, so everything the Browns do against the Giants – both good and bad – will be magnified tenfold.
Most viewers tuning in will expect to see bad coming from the home team. It’s the Browns’ responsibility to put their best foot forward in the person of their bevy of young players who, at least on paper, are exciting and talented and as such perhaps wort h watching.
The Browns can’t expect to woo everyone with a good performance, and in the end, a win, over the Giants, but they can begin bringing some over to their side. Just as the Browns didn’t fall into hole all at one time, it will take a while to climb out of it.
They can’t worry about the past, or the future. Rather, they must concern themselves with only the present, and this chance to take a step forward, for that is all they control.
It is – the here and now of the moment, and the good that can come from it – what Brock Osweiler and DeShone Kizer are working with, and focusing on, as well.
So the message for the Browns – both individually, especially the quarterbacks, and collectively – is the same: Don’t mess it up. Don’t let this made-for-primetime opportunity slip away.
