What would be the reaction to a Cleveland Browns victory this Sunday in New England?
"It would be a great feeling," Browns defensive lineman Orpheus Roye said in a USA TODAY article this Friday.
Shock may be another. To avoid that, Pats LB Adalius Thomas has printed up t-shirts for his teammates that say "I eat it" on the front, and the answer ("Humble pie") on the back.
"You think you're doing well? Bill serves it up real nice," cornerback Ellis Hobbs said of the pie reference.
"That's not his job to sit there and pat us on the back all the time, because we begin to create this false image of ourselves and get the big heads and then you look up, we're losing. So his main goal is to always keep us humble."
The last time WR Randy Moss faced the Browns, he was with the Oakland Raiders, and he put up some relatively humble numbers: two catches for 33 yards.
Of course, both catches were in the Browns end zone. Now, however, Moss is capable of even greater production, as Cleveland defenders are quick to point out.
"The new, improved Randy Moss?" Browns cornerback Leigh Bodden speculated in today's Cleveland Plain Dealer. "Randy Moss is Randy Moss. I know what he's capable of. I knew what he was capable of with the Raiders, and he's capable of those same things now. He's got a quarterback who can get him the ball."
Browns QB Derek Anderson, who rose from obscurity to become an NFL starter, is staying humble himself by looking at how Pats QB Tom Brady handles his career.
"It's pretty cool, especially knowing the way he came in, kind of just took over, ran with it and took them to Super Bowls," Anderson said in today's Dayton Daily News. "It says that (draft position) doesn't matter. Once you get here, it's a pretty level playing field."
And even though New England's game against Indianapolis is still a month away, the media (out in the Midwest, at least) is already looking ahead to the Patriots' visit.
You be the judge as to whether this Indy-area columnist is being "humble" when he writes:
"That's it ... The Indianapolis Colts surrender. Next game at the RCA Dome, forget the white pompoms. Distribute white flags instead. So I say, let's salute the New England Patriots, give them their big, shiny trophy now and get on with our lives."
QUICK HITS
In a Boston Herald feature, S Rodney Harrison expounds on how his Patriots teammates supported him during his suspension.
TE Marcellus Rivers admits that he almost signed with other NFL teams after the Pats released him a month ago, but that his heart was always with New England. He explains why in today's Providence Journal.
