Instant Analysis: New York Giants Hand Battered Browns Embarrassing Loss

The Cleveland Browns had several chances to steady a sinking ship on Sunday, but never could come back to beat the New York Giants in a brutal, injury-riddled loss.

Amari Cooper Postgame Report /

The Cleveland Browns fell to the New York Giants on Sunday afternoon at Huntington Bank Field in spectacularly frustrating fashion. After Cleveland jumped out to a 7-0 lead 11 seconds into the game, Daniel Jones, Malik Nabers and the Giants completely dominated the Browns the rest of the first half and the New York defense overwhelmed the Browns offensive line to seal a win.

The game could not have started any better for Cleveland, as it forced and recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff that was immediately cashed in with an Amari Cooper touchdown catch. Browns fans thought that the rout was on, but they were in for a long afternoon.

Daniel Jones was the better quarterback as he led touchdown drives of 86 and 93 yards in the first half. At one point Jones completed 16-of-17 passes with a drop in the back of the end zone as the only incompletion.

Throughout the game, the Giants controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball while absolutely dominating the Cleveland offensive line. It certainly didn't help that the Browns offensive line was as injured as its been in several seasons. By the final drive of the game, Cleveland was missing three offensive tackles on it's depth chart and had to move Joel Bitonio from left guard to left tackle. The team only had five healthy, eligible offensive linemen and used Bitonio, Ethan Pocic at left guard, Nick Harris at center, rookie Zak Zinter at right guard and Dawand Jones at right tackle.

Kevin Stefanski acknowledged postgame that specific rotation is not one the team has practiced.

Meanwhile, quarterback Deshaun Watson was generally fine throughout the afternoon. He didn't play well enough to win, but you could certainly argue that he had very little help around him. Nonetheless, it was disappointing that he couldn't lead the team to a win when they had the ball late and a chance to win the game.

Instead, he and Jerome Ford fumbled the ball in plus-territory and the Browns turned the ball over on downs twice as they tried to snatch the lead back.

Cleveland leaves Week 3 with a horrible taste in its mouth with the Las Vegas Raiders next up on the schedule.