Giants Sputter in 20-6 Loss to Cleveland

The New York Giants tried to be aggressive but thanks to missed opportunities, they couldn't keep pace with the red-hot Cleveland Browns.

The three NFC East teams set the Giants up for the spike--the Cowboys winning but the Washington Football Team and Philadelphia Eagles both losing their respective games this weekend.

Unfortunately, the Giants whiffed on a chance to jump back into first place in the division, falling to the Cleveland Browns 20-6 at MetLife Stadium Sunday night.

The Giants, who fell to 5-9 on the season, slid from second place to third, behind Washington, who hangs on to first place by a thread, and Dallas, who moves ahead of he Giants thanks to their win Sunday over the 49ers and their 1-0 head-to-head tiebreaker over the Giants.

New York, meanwhile, stood at a crossroads, needing to prove to their critics and themselves that they were closer to being the team that upset the Seattle Seahawks back in Week 13 by a 17-12 score and not the group that suffered a 26-7 beatdown by the Arizona Cardinals last week.

They ended up playing closer to the latter, unable to stop the Browns on either side of the ball or to capitalize on their scoring opportunities.

Without quarterback Daniel Jones, New York started Colt McCoy, who was under center for the Giants upset win in Seattle two weeks ago. But this time around, McCoy didn’t have the benefit of the Giants running game, which put up 190 net yards against the Seahawks as part of a 5.3 average gain per play.

The Cleveland defense held the Giants running game to 74 yards on 21 carries, forcing old McCoy, drafted by the Browns in the third round back in 2010, to beat the with his arm.

McCoy, who operated the offense under the direction of tight ends coach Freddie Kitchens subbing for the COVID-19 stricken Jason Garrett, finished 19 of 31 for 221 yards for a 82.8 rating, as the Giants offense only managed 288 net yards of offense against the Browns defense.

New York Giants quarterback Colt McCoy (12) breaks a tackle by Cleveland Browns defensive end Olivier Vernon (54) during a game at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, December 20, 2020 :: Danielle Parhizkaran/NorthJersey.com via Imagn Content Services, LLC

The Giants defense wasn’t that much better. Without cornerback James Bradberry, who is on the Reserve/COVID-19 list, the Giants could not deploy man-to-man coverage, and Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield took full advantage.

Mayfield, who went 27 of 32 (84.4%), shredded the Giants defense to the tune of 297 yards and two touchdowns, as he also engineered two 95-yard scoring drives and one of 75 yards.

The Giants pass rush was also quiet, barely getting a sniff of Mayfield, who, when under pressure, completed 39.5% of his pass attempts entering this week's game. New York finished with one sack, that by defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence.

The more significant issue for the Giants was a matter of missed opportunities. The Giants made three trips to the red zone but converted none of them.

The first one they attempted a fake field goal, but punter Riley Dixon, the holder on field goals, threw the pass to a triple covered Nick Gates, totally missing a wide-open kicker Graham Gano in the end zone and tight end Evan Engram, who was open in the flat.

McCoy also had several missed opportunities. The first came on a deep pass intended to Darius Slayton and the other on a pass to Engram in the end zone that was just short.

Running back Wayne Gallman, who finished with 29 yards on nine carries, was stopped short on a 4th-and-1 to end that red zone drive.

The Giants, who came into this week's game averaging 18.3 points per game, 31st in the league, got all their scoring on two Graham Gano field goals, the first on a 37-yarder in the first quarter and the second on a 39-yarder in the fourth quarter which made it a 20-6 game.

With all that said, the Giants are still in the hunt. However, they must win their remaining two games—a road contest against the Baltimore Ravens and a home finale against the Cowboys—and hope for their fellow NFC East opponents to be feeling the holiday spirit and help them out with some losses along the way.