This week, the Cleveland Browns (7-4) head to Arizona this week to take on the Cardinals (5-6). Coming off a strong win at home, the Browns look to narrow the AFC North lead, held by the Steelers. Arizona is coming off a tough overtime loss to a bad 49er team. Despite their record, last weeks loss, and the team's injury problems, home field advantage gave them 1 point the last time I checked.

That must be one hell of a field. I'm not saying that the Browns are going to beat the Cards like rented mules, but that's a lot to overcome.

That being said, let's take a look at the matchups:

I just figured this would put smiles on a few faces:

With the recent death of Buckeye/Brown legend Bill Willis and murder of Sean Taylor of the Redskins, we can all use a little chuckle. While on Munch's "Brownout" segment on WKNR yesterday, Aaron Shea recalled a more light-hearted story regarding break-ins.

Apparently, one night while he was still with the Browns, Tim Couch had called Shea saying that he had heard someone pick up another phone receiver in his home, and the "Extension in Use" light turned on. For fear of looking "like an idiot" if it was a false alarm, Couch decided to ask Aaron to come over and check it out instead of the police.

Shea obliged, and left his Westlake home to come to Tim's aid armed with a baseball bat. When he arrived at the house, he called from his cell phone and told Couch to come down the stairs and flip on the lights at the count of three. He would charge into the front door, and the intruder would have the surprise of two professional football players gunning for him.

He took a deep breath, counted to three, and burst in the door...No Couch.

"That chicken was still in his room," Aaron laughed.

Couch had stayed put in his bedroom, ready to ambush any would-be intruders, and later told Shea that he basically wasn't going to come out unless he knew there was no one in the home.

Now, Tim Couch may have had his problems in Cleveland, but just about all of us can attest to the fact that he is pretty much an all-around good guy. To picture him and Shea, two grown men - not just grown men, big grown men...professional football player grown men - sneaking around Tim's home and looking for bad guys like two teenagers at a slumber party made me laugh so hard I nearly pissed myself.

"Be vewwwy vewwwy quiet. I'm hunting intwooders...huhuhuhuh"

Cleveland Browns' running back Jamal Lewis and rookie corner Brandon McDonald were both nominated for Week 12 awards.

Lewis' 134 yards and TD during the Browns victory over the Texans earned him a nomination for the FedEx Ground Player of the Week. Other nominees for the honor are Oakland's Justin Fargas (22 car, 139 yds, 1 TD) and San Fancisco's Frank Gore (21 car, 116 yds, 2 TD).

You can place your vote for Jamal by clicking here.

Brandon McDonald went from "who?" to "who is this guy?" in a three-hour period, and is up for Rookie of the Week. His step-up performance included 1 solo tackle, 4 pass defenses (effectively shutting down a Pro Bowl-calliber receiver) and 1 INT in the fourth quarter to help seal the deal against Houston.

Vote for Brandon McDonald Here.

Image By: Bucktown Skins Fan

As I'm sure we've all heard, Redskins' Safety Sean Taylor died this morning from a gunshot wound he suffered early yesterday morning during what is being called a "home invasion".

Everyone at the Dawg Pound sends their thoughts and prayers to Sean's family, friends and teammates as they endure this tragic event. Here's what's been released in the media so far:

A few things you might have learned about the Browns as well as myself during the 27-17 whooping the Browns handed to the Houston Texans:

#1 - Apparently, I cannot spell the word "recover" on a Treo to save my life. I was previously unaware, but the club section's bar doesn't have to stop serving until after the game is over...probably not a good idea to blog there in the future. Less Drinking, More Blogging - Check.

#2 - Give Jamal Lewis 25-plus carries, and in return, you will get 100-plus yards. This man is truly punishing defenders, and quieting those who said he no longer had what it takes to be a feature back in the NFL. His 134 yards places him just outside of the top ten backs in the league, and if he keeps running as hard as he has been the past couple weeks, he could finish with his sixth 1,000 yard season.

#3 - It seems not only does Brandon McDonald dance, he plays a little bit of Defense, too. The rookie cornerback was bumped up into the Browns' Nickel package after Eric Wright's knee injury, and man did he play well. McDonald finished the game with 4 pass defenses and an interception, his first as a pro. Good to see the young guys step up in a time of need. Good game, Brandon.

I come to you live in the North club bar at Cleveland Browns Stadium. I'll be fighting through the buzz and the trouble of typing through my brother-in-law's Treo to bring you my observations as I see them.

Nothing too special to report at the end if the first. wide open TD for Houston. Offense is a little lackluster..DQ just intercepted a pass...brb

TD Edwards. Had single coverage and the safety didn't reciver in time. 7-7...

Anderson lobs one up for grabs. Underthrown toEdwards and INT'd. Is Nick Sorensen that bad that our depleted DBs are still better than having him on the field? At least they missed the FG. 10-7

It's to the point where I'm not too sure what we're doing ...but we did just reciver a fumble...Beyonce's pretty hot in that boomarang commercial

If I'.m not mistaken we won...and it was a pretty good game . We'll have real updates soon.

I didn't believe it at first, but this is none other than Cleveland's Josh Cribbs crankin' dat. Thanks to Mevs at The Nosebleeds for digging that one up. I was looking around, and apparently Cribbs isn't the only one that can get down.



D-Back Brandon McDonald was caught from at least two angles (this being the better one) doing the Soulja Boy during pregame warm-ups.

What do Derek Anderson's friendly reminder, and Browns gettin' down on the field tell me? That this team is finally starting to have fun - one thing that is truly essential for a team to be successful. It's good to see the players smiling during interviews, laughing a little on the sidelines, and having a good time for once.

Acquitted murderer returns an INT for a touchdown: 6 pts
Kicker kicks go-ahead field goal: 3 pts
Said kicker being told mid-interview by the other team's QB that the game's not over and seeing his reaction: freaking priceless...

By the way...something else I just find hilarious... Ya think Ozzie Newsome would like to take that little waiver from 2 years ago back? He pissed away the best QB on the team! Not saying anyone knew it at the time, but man, he's gotta be kicking himself in the ass about now.

Browns third-year safety Brodney Pool has been nominated for GMC's Defensive Player of the Week for his contributions to Cleveland's 33-30 overtime victory over the Baltimore Ravens.

Pool finished the game with 3 tackles, ½ sack, and an interception - which he took back 100 yards for a touchdown. The interception was the 4th of Brodney's career, and brought him his first NFL touchdown.

He's up against some stiff competition this week in Jets' DE Shaun Ellis, Packers' DT Corey Williams, Seatle DE Patrick Kerney, and the Cardinals' Antrel Rolle. All of this weeks nominees were responsible for at least one turnover, but Rolle and Pool were the only two to put points on the board for their respective teams.

You can vote multiple times, so Click Here Now and show your support!

The Dawg Pound would like to extend its congratulations to Brodney on his first pro TD and a great performance!

The Cleveland Browns have completed their first division series sweep since 2002, when the Browns swept the Bengals. Coincidentally, that was the last time the Browns made the playoffs. This time, however, the sweep was handed to the Ravens after a 33-30 Cleveland victory in overtime.

For the second week in a row, the Browns' defense blew a lead of 13+ points (last week was 15), and pinned all of their hopes on the shoulders of a last-second drive authored by Derek Anderson and a long field goal from Phil Dawson. Last week, one pulled through, while the latter came up just short. It seemed to be a similar story, as Anderson fired a missile to Braylon Edwards, who made a great catch in traffic to put Cleveland in position to attempt a 51-yard, overtime-forcing FG.

After hitting the left upright, Dawson's kick ricocheted through the posts, the ball clearly hit the back extension, causing a mass-confusion in M&T Bank Stadium. The referee originally signaled "no good," fans began to file out of the stadium, and even the Ravens themselves tried to sneak into the locker room with the win.

The refs overturned the call after about 2½ agonizing minutes, and overtime ensued. There was still hope.