Braylon Edwards Wants to Help Browns Turn Things Around

On Tuesday Gretz mentioned Browns wideout Braylon Edwards and his struggles with the hometown crowd. Apparently -- as Edwards tells it, anyway -- the fans don't like him because he played collegiately at Michigan, and all the boos that are directed in the general vicinity of his hands has nothing to do with it.

Edwards said he's "very unappreciated ... in the eyes of the fans and the city." You know, because he's a Wolverine.

Now I can fully understand why Edwards would be frustrated: the Browns, preseason favorites to make it to the playoffs, are 4-10, and he's had a forgettable go of it in '08 after what looked to be a breakout season a year ago. And while he didn't blurt it out, nobody would blame him if he admitted to entertaining thoughts of playing elsewhere. But he didn't and he doesn't.

''I don't want to be traded,'' Edwards said. ''I made it clear I wanted to be part of what this team does next year. I want to make plays. I want to have fun. And I just want to enjoy it. I don't know, maybe I care too much.'' ...

''I can't apologize for what happened before I got here,'' Edwards said Thursday. ''I wasn't a part of The Drive. I didn't fumble at the 1. I think fans are still disgruntled about that, and they have every right to be. But that's not me.''

Well, fans probably don't like reliving those memories every winter, no. But nobody brought them up last season when the Browns won 10 games and just missed the playoffs. The lesson, as always: winning fixes everything. I mean, the organization gave Romeo Crennel a contract extension through 2011 last spring. Hindsight and whatnot, I'm pretty sure they wish they hadn't.