CLEVELAND — Receiver Braylon Edwards had a to-do list of goals for his first appearance in a Monday Night Football game.
“It’s been a dream of mine just to play on Monday night in the NFL,” Edwards said. “You want to play on that stage in front of the world, you want to have a good game and you want your team to win the game.”
Check, check and check.
“I’m on cloud nine right now,” Edwards said.
The fourth-year player had a career-high 154 receiving yards on five catches and a touchdown during Cleveland’s 35-14 victory over the Super Bowl champion New York Giants. It was Edwards’ ninth career 100-yard game, and his previous best was 149 yards at Arizona on Dec. 12, 2007.
Edwards’ dreams of playing under the lights on Monday night began as a child and were fueled even more after he attended the Detroit Lions’ upset victory over the San Francisco 49ers at the Pontiac Silverdome on Sept. 25, 1995, during his seventh-grade year.
“You really try to bring your ‘A’ game each and every time you hit the field,” Edwards said. “But when you’re playing a game on Monday night, under the lights, with all your peers watching you at home on TV … you really have to bring your
‘A-plus’ game.”
The night of dream fulfillment for Edwards was an absolute nightmare for Giants cornerback Aaron Ross, who was victimized on the biggest of Edwards’ catches.
On the opening drive, Edwards ran a slant toward the middle and caught a short pass from Derek Anderson with Ross hanging on his back. Edwards dipped down and dumped Ross on the ground, then turned toward the sideline and streaked 49 yards before being pushed out of bounds by strong safety James Butler.
Early in the second quarter, Edwards ran a post and began to fade toward the sideline and faked a hook. He then bounced back to the inside of Ross — leaving the corner twisting and trying to stay on his feet — and streaked into the open for a 70-yard gain to the Giants’ 4-yard line.
The final insult came on the first play of the fourth quarter when Edwards made a nice cutback move on the goal line for a touchdown. The move sent Ross to the turf, holding his ankle and writhing in pain. The cornerback had to be carried off the field and didn’t return.
“I take nothing away from Aaron Ross,” Edwards said. “I’ve studied him on film and I think he’s a heck of an athlete. But D.A. and I had some freakish chemistry working tonight. I don’t think we could have been stopped.”
The buildup to the game was so much for Edwards that he felt he needed to do a backflip — something he said he hadn’t done since his days playing at Michigan — after exiting the tunnel for pregame introductions and hearing the roar from the Cleveland Browns Stadium crowd.
“The backflip was just me giving a little something extra,” Edwards said with a smile. “I don’t know if (Browns coach Romeo Crennel) saw me do it — it probably would have given him a heart attack.”
Contact Shaun Bennett at 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com.
 

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