AT LEAST THE BROWNS CAN STILL TALK A GOOD GAME

It’s amazing what beating a bad Bengals team without its starting quarterback can do for the confidence of a preseason hype magnet that started the season with three straight losses. The Browns are preparing to face the Giants on Monday night. The Giants are 4-0, and the Browns are 1-3. And Browns defensive lineman Corey Williams is chirping. “There ain’t nothing physical about them,” Williams said of the Giants’ offensive line. And Williams presumably would know, because he played for the Packers last season, who faced the Giants twice. Williams also is looking forward to getting a crack at Giants running back Brandon Jacobs. “I’m going to try to knock his head off,” Williams said. “Once you go to putting that wood on him, go to really hitting him, not letting him run wild like he wants to do, he’s a totally different running back. He’ll start tiptoeing, shutting it down.” The Giants were generally restrained in response. “Not too intelligent,” Jacobs said. “We’re just going to go out and play our game,” guard Chris Snee said. “This is a team that stays away from talking. If someone thinks we’re not physical, there’s nothing we can do except go out there on Monday night and try to change that.” And really, why would Williams step up and pop off when getting ready to face the defending Super Bowl champs who are coming off their biggest margin of victory since 1972? Though Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter showed us a few weeks back that big talking isn’t always a bad thing (as did the Giants in February), Porter’s fundamental message was accurate -- Matt Cassel isn’t Tom Brady. Williams, however, just sounds reckless. His decision to stir up a team that possibly would have taken the Browns lightly has guaranteed that the fans at the Dawg Pound will see the best that the Giants have to offer. And the Giants at their best are currently far better than the Browns at their best.