8:30 p.m. at Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia.

TV/radio: ESPN, WJW Ch.8; WMMS FM/100.7.

If ESPN play-by-play man Mike Tirico and analyst Tony Kornheiser had seen only the two games the Browns played on "Monday Night Football" this season, they'd be convinced they were going deep into the playoffs.

"If you count only their Monday night games, they're astonishingly good," said Kornheiser, who will be in the booth for tonight's game between the 4-9 Browns and 7-5-1 Eagles in Philadelphia. "I believe they could become only the second team ever to win three Monday night games - and not make the playoffs."

In the Browns' previous two Monday night games, they beat the then-undefeated defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants, 35-14, and the then-playoff-contending Buffalo Bills, 29-27.

Under the glare of the prime-time lights, the Browns averaged 32 points in those two wins compared to the 17.1 (27th in the NFL) they're averaging on the season. They averaged 395 yards in those two games compared to the 267 (28th in the NFL) they're averaging this year.

"When you look at the history of this season, the Browns' win over the Giants has to be the most surprising victory of the year," Kornheiser said.

"The Browns looked like they had magic dust sprinkled all over them. It was the start of a new season for them, and their hopes were renewed. If I'm the GM of the Browns and I'm looking at that game, I've got to be saying, 'Fire me? You gotta be kidding me!' "

Kornheiser counted it as the only good game of the year for Derek Anderson, who earned a season-high 121.3 passer rating, almost double his season mark of 66.5. What's more, the Giants and Bills games were the only two times this season that receiver Braylon Edwards has had more than 100 yards - 154 and 104, respectively.

"Not only were they the first team to beat the Giants, but they went to Buffalo and began the process that knocked the Bills out of the playoff hunt," Kornheiser said. "When you looked at the Browns' real record at that time [3-6], you dreaded having them on Monday night, but then you go, 'Wow! That was really something.' "

Tonight's game could be another story, Kornheiser said.

"At least in the Bills game, they had Brady Quinn," he said. "Despite that it was two smaller markets, it still got good ratings. In this game, I'd think 70 percent of the audience will be tuning in to watch the Eagles. You can't sell Ken Dorsey, and you can't really sell Josh Cribbs because no one knows him."

Kornheiser ranked the Browns as one of the three most disappointing teams in the NFL this season, along with the Chargers (6-8) and Seahawks (3-11).

"It's clear that their 10-6 record last season came at the expense of some very bad teams," he said. "If you're a Cleveland Browns fan, it becomes more and more painful to be on 'Monday Night Football.' But we're lucky in this regard: Philly is still in the playoff hunt, and you have the sad tidings of [coach] Romeo Crennel and [GM] Phil Savage."

Kornheiser said network execs will be in a quandary if the Browns win tonight.

"Let's say they knock Philly out of the playoffs and win for third time on Monday night," he said. "What do you do for next year?"

Tirico joked that ESPN takes personal credit for the Browns' sterling performances on Monday night.

"Even in their NBC game against Pittsburgh on Sunday night and their Thursday night game against Denver, they played pretty well," Tirico said. "If I just showed fans in Seattle those four games, they'd say, 'That team's a lot better than ours!' "

He thinks tonight's game could be halfway decent because "Philly is still fighting to make the playoffs, and the Browns players like Romeo Crennel and still want to play hard for this guy."

He said the announcers will address the futures of Crennel and Savage but not dwell on them.

"In what other line of work can you talk about a man's replacement in front of millions of people when he hasn't even been fired yet?" Tirico said. "It will not become a 3?-hour talk show about what will happen to these guys."

Tirico said the Browns' coverage will focus in part on Cribbs and Shaun Rogers.

Unfortunately for the Browns and ESPN, Jerome Harrison will sit out the game with his rib injury, joining Kellen Winslow (ankle) on the absentee list.

"I was looking forward to seeing Harrison a little more," Tirico said.

Tirico cited the freak accident in training camp when Dont? Stallworth's cleat gashed Edwards' stocking foot as a turning point in the season. Edwards missed the rest of the preseason and never regained his form.

"It was a comedy of errors for the Browns from that point on," Tirico said. "If that never happened, who knows how this season might've turned out. Still, they've been competitive against some of the better teams in the league, including the Colts."

The Browns' impressive Monday night performances haven't been lost on the Eagles, the only other team this season to beat the Giants.

"All we have to do is remind ourselves that they beat the Giants, and we all know how good the Giants are," Eagles receiver Hank Baskett told Philadelphia reporters. "There's no such thing as an upset in the NFL anymore. If you don't go out there and play your best, you're going to lose. The Browns are a lot better than people realize. They could easily be 9-4 instead of 4-9.

"When you watch the film, you notice it even more. Maybe people outside don't see it, but we know what the Browns are capable of."

At least on Monday night.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: mcabot@plaind.com, 216-999-4670

BOX

Monday, Monday

While the Browns are having a season to forget overall, they are 2-0 on "Monday Night Football," beating the New York Giants and Buffalo Bills. Here is a comparison of their averages from those two games to the other 11.

MNF Others

Points

32

14.4

Yards

395.5

244.5

Offensive TDs

2.5

1.1

3rd-down efficiency

46.2%

33.6%

it;Turnovers

0

1.9

* Gameday report. C7