Bengals 23, Browns 20
How a few days can change things.

For a few hours, it appeared Browns fans would finally be able to talk about football. The conversation wouldn't be about Eric Mangini fining players, or whether he was the worst NFL hire of the last 25 years.

The Browns could lick the wounds of a competitive loss to the Bengals and focus on Buffalo.

Then Braylon Edwards allegedly punched someone.

Then the NFL and the police said they'd look into it.

Than Braylon was traded to the Jets.

Isn't being a Browns fan fun?

More Mangini talking, more moves, more adjustments. What does it mean?

It means Sunday's game against the Bills will be about more or less than football again. That's been the norm here.

The loss to the Jets had bright spots. Jerome Harrison rushed for more than 100 yards. Mohammed Massaquoi went way over 100 yards receiving. Shaun Rogers blocked two kicks, and the defense was strong.

But here we are three days later, talking about the trade of the No. 1 receiver. Chansi Stuckey, who the Browns received in the deal, doesn't have Edwards' talent, though he'll be less of a headache.

The Browns also received Jason Trusnik, who I got to cover when he was at Ohio Northern in 2004. At that time, Trusnik was a beast who overmatched everyone. In the NFL, he's a gritty special teams' player.

Two years ago, the Browns offense was high-octane and fun to watch. But Kellen Winslow was traded, Edwards was traded, Joe Jurevicius got hurt and was released, and Jamal Lewis is hurt.

What was so promising has become a memory.

The trade probably was a good move. The Browns got value for a guy who wasn't going to re-sign, and picked up two decent players and draft picks.

But we're starting over again.