Game On!

Each week, we hear all about the New York Giants from the New York Giants' point of view. And while East Coast bias is all the rage, there are other cities and other fans outside of the Metropolitan area that have thoughts on the defending Super Bowl Champions.

This week, I chatted with Cleveland's "Dawgs by Nature" blogger Chris Pokorny.

Benton: "After winning 10 games last season and narrowly missing out on the playoffs, expectations were high for the Cleveland Browns. But things have taken a turn for the worst in 2008, and the team seems to define Murphy's Law. What in the world has gone wrong?"

Pokorny: "If anything can go wrong, it will ... I couldn't have said it better myself.

Take a look at what just happened to Kellen Winslow: His 'undisclosed illness' is now being reported as him having swollen testes. Are you kidding me? Last season, we did have a much easier schedule, but in the end you still have to be a good football team to win 10 games. The key notion last year was that everybody was healthy throughout the entire season. We haven't had the same fate this year.

Although players like Derek Anderson and Braylon Edwards have played every week, both of them missed most of the preseason due to injuries. Up until those injuries, they looked spectacular in training camp together. After that? The lone fact that Edwards caught his first touchdown of the season last week pretty much says it all.

Regarding other players, our No. 2 and No. 3 receivers (Donte Stallworth and Joe Jurevicius), our third-best offensive lineman (Ryan Tucker), and promising rookie pass-catching tight end Martin Rucker have yet to play a down. I really do believe that these injuries set off a bad trend for the offense more so than Anderson just ‘not being capable anymore.' Hopefully the bye week allowed everyone to get acclimated to how football should be played again."

Benton: "Looking ahead to Monday, what concerns you most about the New York Giants?"

Pokorny: "I'm most concerned about the primary strength of the Giants – their defensive line. I consider the Browns to have one of the league's best offensive lines, so I was shell-shocked by how bad they looked against the Giants' first-string back in the preseason. We're not used to seeing our offensive line letting Anderson get knocked around on every play, but the Giants succeeded at that and gave Anderson a concussion. Considering they've already knocked out a few quarterbacks during the regular season, the thought of it possibly happening to Anderson again is not a pleasant one."

Benton: "In which area do you feel Cleveland will be able to exploit New York?"

Pokorny: "If there is an area to exploit, it would have to be against the cornerbacks whenever the Giants blitz, which is a strategy the Bengals used a couple of weeks ago against the Giants. Braylon Edwards is not a short-route guy, and Winslow has been covered too much this year. We're hoping the return of Donte Stallworth will pay dividends, as he has historically been effective at catching quick hitters and then running for a lot of yards after the catch."

Benton: "Do you agree with defensive tackle Corey Williams and his assumption that hitting Brandon Jacobs in the mouth will slow him down? And do you think it was such a good idea to anger the beast?"

Pokorny: "The ‘trash talk' in general, in my opinion, is pretty much useless in the end. The only thing it really seems to do is give the television announcers more of a reason to bring your name up. In terms of the strategy though, I don't really see it as an insult when you think about it. I mean ... aren't you supposed to try and hit every running back hard in the mouth if you want to stop them? I don't think Jacobs' performance will be affected at all though — he's going to run hard every time he touches the ball. If the defense figures him out, then so be it."

Benton: "It's prediction time! How many points will the Giants win by this Monday?"

Pokorny: "Thanks for counting us out already. I am taking the Giants by 11 points, though with a final score of 31-20. The Giants are clearly the team to beat in the NFL at the moment, so it would be a huge lift for the Browns' confidence if they were able to squeak out an upset. Either way, I just hope the game doesn't turn out like the first half encounter between the Giants and the Browns in the preseason."

Benton: "Thanks for your time, Chris. It's been a pleasure!"

If you would like to read more of Pokorny's Cleveland Browns coverage, head over to Sports Blog Nation and check out "Dawgs by Nature."

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