Giants Slam Browns 21-15

     The Cleveland Browns may have been heavily favored against the New York Giants but the Giants showed up to play from the start (almost) and by the time the Browns got started, it was too late and Cleveland was saddled with a stunning 21-15 defeat.

DeShaun Watson threw two touchdowns without an interception, although he lost two fumbles. 

Amari Cooper caught both touchdowns, finishing with seven catches for eighty-six yards to lead the Browns.

The Giants sacked Watson eight times and hit him seventeen times on the day.

Cleveland drops to 1-2 and will start a three-game road swing next Sunday in Las Vegas against the Raiders.

Brownie Bits

1) I wrote almost from the start because the Browns forced a fumble on the opening kickoff and on the first play DeShaun Watson hit a leaping Amari Cooper in the end zone for a twenty-four-yard touchdown eleven seconds into the game.

2) After the Cooper score, the offense was a disaster for the remainder of the first half with three punts, a Watson fumble, and a run play to end the half.

3) The offensive line was terrible in allowing DeShaun Watson to be sacked eight times but there were circumstances, Dawand Jones was forced to play through a knee injury and he wasn't quick enough to handle Brian Burns, Jedrick Wills wasn't very good in his return and he left the game to injury as did backup James Hudson, who is rarely even average at his best.

4) This left the Browns playing this line at the game's end an injured Jones at one tackle, Joel Bitonio moving from guard to left tackle, center Ethan Pocic shifting to guard, and backups Nick Harris (center) and rookie Zac Zinter (guard) as Wyatt Teller was injured as well.

It's not hard to see that is a makeshift line and injuries happen during every game but why didn't the Browns make Germain Ifedi active for the game considering Wills and Jones were slowed and Jack Conklin still not ready to play?

Ifedi isn't going to remind anyone of Orlando Pace, he is an actual tackle and could have allowed Bitonio to stay at guard.

5) The line will have to be addressed but with the injuries to the tackles (Jones, Conklin, and MRIs to be done on Wills- knee and Hudson- shoulder) and Wyatt Teller (MRI on knee scheduled) who knows how many of the linemen will be available for the Raiders.

There isn't a Bill Callahan to work miracles with backups and practice squad members this season, so the Btowns are in trouble.

6) It's not totally on the O-Line for the sacks.

DeShaun Watson holds onto the ball too long, and doesn't get the ball out fast enough to help his linemen, especially a patchwork line!

Some of the sacks were Watson refusing to get the ball out and avoid the rush.

7) The Browns offense is this ugly deformed mashup and it isn't working.

Watson holds the ball too long, waiting for his receivers to get downfield, which never happens because they are all too damn slow, and this leads to sacks.

They can't get the ball downfield and Watson doesn't want to settle for moving the chain, which leads to this inertia in the offense.

8) The Giants are one of the worst teams against the run (2023 and 24) yet the Browns didn't even try to establish any semblance of a running game.

Cleveland handed the ball to running backs only twelve times in the game for forty-three yards.

The Browns aren't even trying to balance the offense and with the problems at quarterback and pass protection, I'd think the coaching staff would be looking into trying something to balance the offense with more running of the ball.

9) On the final play for the Browns offense, I can't blame DeShaun Watson for the incomplete pass.

Watson put the pass exactly where it needed to be and Cedric Tillman dropped the ball.

Plenty of blame to give DeShaun Watson but not on the last throw, as that was as good of a throw that Watson made all game.

10) The vaunted Browns defense kept the team in the game by not allowing a point in the second half (the Giants did miss one field goal in the second half) but the defense didn't play very well in the first half.

While one touchdown drive was only thirty yards and could be excused, the Giants drove the ball eighty-one and ninety-three yards for their other scores.

Your defense may be excellent but it needs to be even better when your offense has scored fifty points in three games.

11) Watching the Giants rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers, who scored two of the three New York touchdowns made me think of when the Browns had a receiver who was that talented and exciting.

Josh Gordon fell into their lap in the supplemental draft and gave them one spectacular season but was unable to sustain his ability to stay on the field.

Sidebar-Josh Gordon is still only thirty-three years old! 

The Browns have drafted a wide receiver in the first round only twice since returning to the league in 1999, Braylon Edwards third overall in 2005, and Corey Coleman fifteenth overall in 2016.

Edwards had one great season (2007) and three decent ones before he was traded to the Jets, while Coleman was gone after two undistinguished years.

The drafting of Coleman was after the Browns regime at the time believed in trading down to accumulate picks and my biggest problem with that tactic is that you miss out on game changers, the type of player that makes teams game plan for them when you trade out of the early picks.

12) The Browns have lost their first two home games, to teams that hold their only win over the Browns.

Three road games in a row, Las Vegas, Washington, and Philadelphia.

Two of the three are winnable and I'd take that right now but even winning one of those games would place the Browns at 2-4 and that's before the schedule starts to toughen!

Next week's game may not be a must-win but it's more important than the average game after the disaster of losing at home to a bad Giants team.