Things I'm thinking before leaving for the stadium for today's Colts-Browns game:

1. How will Derek Anderson react to his return at quarterback? It's his first start since being replaced by Brady Quinn four games ago. Before losing his job, Anderson was holding onto the ball too long and making generally poor decisions. Not that he was getting much help from his receivers. The thought is that Anderson could be auditioning for another team over the final five weeks, especially if the Browns make a coaching change.

2. The Browns have hung right with playoff-caliber teams in three of their past four home games. They beat the Giants, then blew big second-half leads against the Ravens and Broncos. If they can manage a similarly strong start today against the Colts and somehow finish it off, it would be a huge lift, even though this team isn't headed for the playoffs. The Colts have been one of the AFC's hottest teams with four straight wins. While there probably will be significant roster turnover in Cleveland at the end of the season, beating the Colts would generate some goodwill among fans and give the younger players who will be back something to build on.

3. I can't help but wonder how much of a difference a healthy Joe Jurevicius might have made this season. Jurevicius is no home-run guy, which is why the Browns went out and acquired Donte' Stallworth in what's shaping up to be an epically bad offseason move. But Jurevicius was the best clutch receiver on the team, and you have to assume he would have made some of those big third-down catches early in the season that Braylon Edwards and friends dropped. Who knows what that might have meant to a team that lost two of its first six games by four and three points.

4. Now that it appears that Romeo Crennel might actually be a lame duck, it should be interesting to see how the fans react to whatever decisions Crennel is confronted with today, especially in field goal/touchdown situations and whenever he is forced to invoke his clock-management skills. Peyton Manning is the best quarterback in the league in the two-minute drill, so in a close game late, any decision Crennel makes with respect to the clock could be critical.

5. The weather forecast is calling for steady drizzle and temperatures in the upper 30s in Cleveland this afternoon. Ordinarily that would be a huge home-field advantage for the Browns against a dome team. But it also wouldn't be a shock to see thousands of empty seats on a holiday weekend when people can sit at home and nibble on leftover turkey and watch the game on TV rather than squeezing into that 87-cent rain poncho and freezing for three hours.

-- John Dudley