The Browns open the 2008 regular season at home against the Cowboys on Sunday Sept. 7, then host the Steelers in Week Two in a Sunday night national TV game, the first of five nationally televised prime-time games the Browns will play.
The Browns return to Monday Night Football when they host the Super Bowl champion Giants on Oct. 13. They also play two Monday night road games, Nov. 17 at Buffalo and Dec. 15 at Philadelphia.
The Browns host the Broncos in Week 10 on Thursday, Nov. 6 at 8:15 p.m.
The five national prime-time games are the most ever for the Browns, who haven't played on national television since 2006 and haven't played on Monday night since 2003.

Click Here to view the entire 2008 Browns schedule.

*Jim Corbett, USA Today/USA Today Sports Weekly -- "In the first 24 hours of free agency, Browns general manager Phil Savage sent a clear-cut message: Savage went for it the way he believes his team is ready to. With the sharp re-signing of Pro Bowl quarterback Derek Anderson to a three-year, $24-$26 million deal that could be worth $14.5 million guaranteed, the signing of free-agent, deep-threat receiver Donte' Stallworth and two trades that yielded the starting interior of a potentially dominant defensive line, Savage appeared to be channeling Anderson in his starting debut -- that 51-45, Week 2 torching of Cincinnati. The general manager was on fire, hitting touchdown after touchdown. Though as New England Patriots vice president of player personnel Scott Pioli cautioned a reporter this time last year when everyone was proclaiming the Patriots as the team to beat after an aggressive opening spending spree, "They don't hand out any trophies for what you do in March or April,'' the Browns are off to a strong offseason start. What team has more potential firepower with the return of a Pro Bowl alternate quarterback, the re-signing of power back Jamal Lewis and Stallworth to run opposite Pro Bowlers Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow, Jr. with veteran slot receiver Joe Jurevicius? Still, for such an impressive beginning to the rebuilding season to yield the desired January and early February payoff, Savage must now fill the team's need for linebacker and secondary help without benefit of second and third round picks dealt in trades for defensive tackles Corey Williams and Shaun Rogers. Based on his start, he's likely to use another free-agent signing and then the draft to complete an impressive makeover."

Browns running back Jamal Lewis wants to finish his career in Cleveland. Now he'll have a chance to do just that.
Lewis, 28, agreed Thursday to a three-year contract through 2010, the Browns announced. It is believed to be worth $17 million. Lewis made $5 million last season, including $1.5 million in incentives.

Browns Quarterback Derek Anderson and tight end Kellen Winslow Jr. were named to the AFC Pro Bowl team Monday, becoming the fifth and sixth Browns headed to Honolulu.

The Browns haven't had that many Pro Bowl participants since 1995. They haven't had more then six since sending eight in 1988.

Anderson and Winslow both were first alternates when the Pro Bowl teams were announced in December. Anderson will replace the Patriots' Tom Brady, while Winslow will replace Antonio Gates of the Chargers.

The 2008 Pro Bowl will be played Sunday, Feb. 10 at 4:30 p.m. EST and be broadcast live on FOX.

Since I last posted to the page a few things have happened with the Browns that are worth noting;

1) Romeo Crennel signed a two year contract extension through 2011. It was reported that the contract is worth $2 Million per year.
2) Contract offers have been sent to Derrick Anderson and Jamal Lewis in hopes of resigning them before free agency gets into full swing on February 29th. I beleive they will re-sign Lewis without too much trouble (look for a two year deal and then he will retire). Time will tell if Anderson's agents and the Browns are on the same page.
3) Winslow will have off-season knee surgery. He had postponded scheduling it hoping that he would get a shot as a Pro-Bowl alternate. Antonio Gates did not opt out by the deadline (Wednesday, Jan 30) so KII has gone ahead and scheduled the surgery.
4) Long snapper, Ryan Pontibrand, was named to the AFC Pro-Bowl roster. Pontibrand along with Braylon Edwards, Josh Cribbs, and Joe Thomas makes more Browns going to the Pro Bowl than I can recall in a long, long time.

With the announcement a week ago that the Browns offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski had declined an interview for the head coach position in Baltimore and then signed a contract extention in Cleveland came the news that Todd Grantham was out as the defensive coordinator. While the Browns lit it up on offense all season, they were dead last in the league on defense. So the change should come as no surprise. So now it will be Mel Tucker's turn to see if he can do the same with the defense that Chud did with the offense.

Tim

Tucker named defensive coordinator

http://www.clevelandbrowns.com/article.php?id=8116

Zac Jackson, Staff Writer
01.12.2008

Last January, the Browns struck gold by hiring a young coordinator who was an Ohio native and had previous ties to the Browns.

This year, they're hoping to do the same.

Mel Tucker was hired as the new defensive coordinator Saturday morning, a day after the team announced Todd Grantham would not return for 2008. Tucker, who turned 36 last week, is a Cleveland Heights native who spent the last three seasons coaching the Browns' defensive backs. He was Ohio State's co-defensive coordinator in 2004, and prior to that had coached three previous years with the Buckeyes and also at LSU and Miami-Ohio. His knowledge of the environment, the organization and the personnel made him a strong candidate to be promoted from within.

"We are excited to have Mel as our defensive coordinator," Browns coach Romeo Crennel said. "He has a football plan, a life plan, coaches the fundamentals and relates well with the players. I believe he will be successful in this new role."

Tucker takes over a defense that ranked near the bottom of the NFL statistically last season after a poor start but played much better in the second half of the season. It's a similar situation to the one offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski inherited last January, and the Browns' offense finished among the top 10 in the league last fall. Tucker will be especially familiar with a young but talented group of defensive backs. Safeties Sean Jones and Brodney Pool came on very strong at the end of '07, their first full season starting together, and rookie cornerbacks Eric Wright and Brandon McDonald showed promise for the future as well.

"I would like to thank Randy Lerner, Phil Savage and Romeo Crennel for the opportunity to be the defensive coordinator for my hometown team," Tucker said. "I'm looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead and I'm confident with hard work we can improve our defense. We have a great group of players on this team and my familiarity with them will be an asset."
Tucker received a two-year extension on his current contract and is under contract with the Browns through the 2010 season.

By Tony Grossi Cleveland Plain Dealer

It had the makings of a perfect day for the Browns. In fact, the day was pretty close to perfect. But it was spoiled by a bad night. After the Browns completed a 10-6 season with a 20-7 win over San Francisco, they retreated to their homes hopeful of an Indianapolis win over Tennessee. It didn't happen. About seven hours later, the Titans knocked the Browns out of the AFC playoff field with a 16-10 win over the Colts.

The Titans and Browns tied with 10-6 records overall and 7-5 marks in AFC games. But Tennessee will move on to play 11-5 San Diego in a wild-card game Sunday because they were 4-1 in games between common opponents and the Browns were 3-2. The Browns became the third team since 1992 to feel the pain of going 10-6 and not making the playoffs. The others were Miami in 2003 and Kansas City in 2005. "We are disappointed that we didn't reach the playoffs," said Browns coach Romeo Crennel. "However, we had a good year. We've learned a lot, grown a lot and look forward to continuing to build on what we've accomplished this season."
Running back Jamal Lewis said before the Tennessee game kicked off: "We overcame so much adversity. I can't see it finishing like this." The Browns caught numerous long-deserved breaks in this breakthrough season. But they did not get the break they needed at the end. "We had the chance to close the door, but we forfeited that right," receiver Braylon Edwards said. "In hindsight, we could've taken care of our own business." A win in Cincinnati in Game 15 would have put the Browns in the playoffs. It also would have attached greater meaning to the San Francisco game. As things turned out, an 11-5 record would have earned the Browns the AFC North title and a home playoff game because Pittsburgh lost in Baltimore to finish at 10-6.
"Obviously, there's disappointment about the way things turned out last week," said Browns quarterback Derek Anderson. "But 10-6 is a great record for moving forward." Lewis, who rushed for 128 yards to finish with 1,304 -- more than any Browns back except Jim Brown -- said it "will be hard" to sit out the playoffs. "At the same time, it will give us more drive in the off-season to know what to do next year," he said.

The prevailing emotions as the players departed Cleveland Browns Stadium were helplessness, naturally, but also great satisfaction. They insisted a win would be meaningful, even if it didn't secure a playoff spot. They wanted to reward their loyal fans with one last home win, and they did. Plus, circumstances enabled the home fans to see rookie quarterback Brady Quinn perform for the first time in a regular-season game. It made for a fun time. Quinn relieved Derek Anderson with 3:11 to play in the first half after Anderson left for X-rays on his right pinkie finger when he hit the helmet of San Francisco safety Michael Lewis. Cheered wildly, Quinn led the Browns to a field goal after his final two passes were dropped in the end zone by Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow. Quinn was 3 of 8 for 45 yards on the 57-yard drive. "The young kid," Crennel said, poking fun at his salutation during training camp, "I told him a long time ago he was one play away. Today was that time. He went in and represented himself well."
Crennel then added, "There's no quarterback controversy." Anderson was intercepted on his first pass of the game and had another interception dropped by Shaker Heights native Nate Clements. But on his best play of the day, Anderson delivered a ball to Edwards just before he was creamed in the chest by San Francisco tackle Bryant Young. Edwards caught the ball and sauntered in for a 45-yard touchdown, extending his Browns season record to 16. Edwards also broke Webster Slaughter's record with 1,289 yards receiving.

Other than those moments, the game belonged to Cribbs. Cribbs had a 53-yard return on the 49ers' first punt and a 76-yard return for a touchdown on their third one. In the first quarter alone, Cribbs accounted for the second-highest punt return yardage total ever in a Browns game. After that, the 49ers kicked their punts away from Cribbs, leading to a 24.6-yard net average for NFC Pro Bowl punter Andy Lee -- a whopping 18 yards less than his average.
Then Cribbs fell back on his specialty and took the San Francisco kickoff to open the second half 94 yards for a touchdown. It was erased on a phantom holding penalty on Lennie Friedman.
Still, the jolt of energy on that play was lasting. In the second half, the Browns' defense limited the 49ers to 41 yards and turned in four of its five total sacks of fourth-string quarterback Chris Weinke. Cribbs also was a demon on the coverage teams. He was credited with four tackles, securing the team title in that category. "I can't say enough about the guy," Crennel said. "He's a returning machine as well as a tackling machine. They couldn't block him."

Crennel was resolute after the game that the season should be considered a smashing success no matter the outcome of the Tennessee game. The Browns improved by six wins over their record of 4-12 the year before. They also set a franchise mark with seven home wins -- all coming after that humiliating loss to Pittsburgh in the season opener. "Ten wins is a tremendous turnaround for the Browns," Crennel said. "Those guys [in the locker room] have come a long way. We have changed the attitude of this team. However it turns out, we've had a really good year. I think we'll be able to build on this year."

In the sanctity of their locker room immediately after the game, the Browns huddled in an emotional celebration of their day and season. Linebacker Willie McGinest formally presented the game ball to Crennel. "Nobody believed in us but you," McGinest said to the coach. "You're our leader, and we played for you." Sources said that Crennel was visibly moved by the presentation. But he pulled himself together. At that point, it looked like there would be another game to play.

Who had the edge

Offense: Browns - Jamal Lewis capped off a stellar season with 128 yards rushing. Derek Anderson survived a shaky start. Brady Quinn looked good in his one series in relief of Anderson. Although there were some drops, overall the offense knocked off some rust accumulated in three straight bad-weather games.

Defense: Browns - Chris Weinke's quarterbacking made the 49ers one-dimensional. Still, holding Frank Gore to 94 yards was an uplift for Browns. They also sacked Weinke five times. Leigh Bodden should have had three interceptions - but had two pried away and trapped another.

Special teams: Browns - Just a phenomenal day for Josh Cribbs. Against the No. 1-ranked special teams in the NFL, Cribbs had four punt returns for 135 yards, including a 76-yard touchdown. He also had a 94-yard kickoff return erased by a phantom holding call against Lennie Friedman. Plus, he made four tackles.

Coaching: Browns -A great day for Romeo Crennel and his staff to finish the regular season with a 7-1 home record and 10-6 overall.

By the numbers

-185: Total net yards for 49ers.
-135: Punt return yards for Josh Cribbs (second most in franchise history for one game).
-128: Rushing yards for Jamal Lewis (fifth 100-yard rushing day of 2007).
-76: Punt return, in yards, for Cribbs for first-quarter TD.
-10: Victories (first double-digit total since 11 in 1994).
-7: Consecutive home victories (first time in franchise history).
-5: Sacks by Browns.
-3: Completions for Brady Quinn in Browns debut.

(Dennis Manoloff contributed the numbers)