Receiver Braylon Edwards will be watching from his couch with his foot up.
Defensive lineman Shaun Rogers could get the night off if his achy joints don’t cooperate.
The rest of the starters will be wearing baseball caps on the sideline midway through the second quarter.
The Browns will play their second game of the preseason tonight after a 10-day layoff, but this isn’t a typical preseason game. The Browns are playing the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants at the Meadowlands on ESPN in prime time. They will also be wearing brown pants for the first time in history.
It’s about as big as a second preseason game can be, according to the participants.
“We’re excited,” kick returner Joshua Cribbs said. “A lot of teams have looked at Cleveland and looked the other way. They see our highlights come on, we’re usually the team other teams have highlights on. But not no more. We’re not the team to look over anymore. Cleveland is in the house.
“Put us in prime time. Let us see what we can do.”
The Browns and Giants will meet again in the regular season on Monday night, Oct. 13, at Cleveland Browns Stadium. The hype will surely be sky-high that night, but a shot at the defending champs is always special.
“They are the Super Bowl champs, what else is there to say about them?” defensive end Robaire Smith said. “We are going to go out there and compete against those guys. Hopefully we will go out there and continue to do what we have been doing all summer, and that is getting better every time we touch the field.”
“They are the Super Bowl champs, so if you can do decently against these guys, then you might say that you have improved and you have a chance,” Crennel said.
Quarterback Eli Manning is the biggest name on the Giants and will challenge a Browns secondary where depth remains a concern after nearly a month of training camp. The cornerbacks will catch a break, though, as receivers Plaxico Burress, Amani Toomer, Steve Smith, Mario Manningham and David Tyree aren’t expected to play because of injuries.
So a bigger test will come from running backs Brandon Jacobs, Ahmad Bradshaw, Derrick Ward and former Brown Reuben Droughns.
“I consider us the best running back group in the NFL, hands down,” Ward said on giants.com.
That sounds like the perfect challenge for a Browns run defense expected to be much improved after the additions of Rogers and Corey Williams. It can’t be much worse after ranking 27th against last year, allowing 129.5 yards per game.
“They have got some big backs and if their philosophy for this game is to run the ball, then we will get a good test to see where we are,” Crennel said.
The Browns will play five prime-time games during the regular season after years off the NFL radar. The uneven schedule, as well as the playoff expectations, offers a challenge for Crennel and a young team not accustomed to the spotlight. The next two weeks offer a chance to get used to playing on short weeks, different days of the week and at various times.
Following tonight’s game, the Browns play Saturday at 4 p.m. at Detroit, then return home to play the Bears in the preseason finale Thursday, Aug. 28, at 7:30 p.m.
“One of the good things about our preseason schedule is that it prepares us for the regular season,” Crennel said. “It makes your team be flexible.”
Tonight’s game will start at 8 o’clock. For the young guys on the team, it’s their first venture onto the stage that is “Monday Night Football.”
“It’s a lot of fun, especially fun to be able to play our first Monday night game during preseason and kinda get that out of the way,” second-year left tackle Joe Thomas said. “Hopefully that will get some of the jitters out.”
Contact Scott Petrak at 329-7253 or spetrak@chroniclet.com. 

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