This phrase sounds like a broken record. 

  Commentator after commentator, expert after expert drills in our heads those "obvious" claims about this team: 

 *They work hard and are a grittier team, but they lack talent in WR and in the defense.

*They just need a few more pieces to put together a winning combination.

*The Browns have done well thus far, but they don't have the talent needed to take the next step.

   Over and over till they just sound like the needle is stuck in the groove (to you young folks who use CDs and iPods imagine your favorite song having a digital "hiccup" when you play it) expecting this team to fall in line like a good little hopeless team. 

  Not these Browns. 

   Call me a Kool Aid drinker; call me overly optimistic but I think this team can take it to the Jets, the Ravens and every other team they throw at us. What we lack "talent" wise is made up by sheer determination and grit. I like this team because they don't buy into what the rest of the league and the media tells them. All season they've stayed in it and found a way to compete with every team. 

   So what's so different with the Jets?  Nothing. 

  They are just another team with a whole bunch of story lines wanting to intimidate the team and their fans. I believe this team will either win outright or make it the best effort on the field. Every player in the last few weeks have stepped  up their game and made each game memorable.

  I think there are several players, on all three aspects of the Brown's game, who are stepping up and showing the rest of the players how to put it all on the field week after week. From the offense ( Hillis, McCoy, Cribbs, Watson, Thomas, and Steinbach) to the defense (Fujita, Bernard, Ward), to the special teams play and the coaches this team will be ready to go Sunday. Even if they lay an egg at the CBS I think they will learn and go on. 

  Each of you reading this knows this, can recite to me line and verse, and know the stakes we face regarding the Jets. I guess the reason I am writing this is I'm so sick of hearing commentator and expert over and over tell me how much this team is going to fold over the stats of this Jets teem. This team is only as good as the game they survive. I don't like their chances; I like ours better.