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New York Giants vs. Cleveland Browns | Gameday Blog

Which Giants team will show up tonight--the one that looked so good against the Seattle Seahawks or the one that looked so bad against the Arizona Cardinals?

Jackson Thompson

New York Giants vs. Cleveland Browns | Gameday Blog
New York Giants vs. Cleveland Browns | Gameday Blog /

Who are the New York Giants?

 Are they the up-and-coming team that looked so solid against Seattle to weeks ago or the bumbling tumbling mess that showed up last week against Arizona?

The Giants are clearly at a crossroads. Which direction will they take? Follow our live blog as we detail our observations and notes from the game. And be sure to stick around here at Giants Country for postgame coverage, thoughts, and much more both tonight and into Monday morning.

Giants: What to Watch For

  • Giants aim for third consecutive win vs. Cleveland.
  • Giants aim for 14th consecutive game with at least 1.0 sacks. The Giants ' 33.0 sacks through Week 14 are 12th in the NFL.
  • Giants aim for 14th consecutive game with at least 2 passes defensed. The Giants lead the NFC in passes defensed with 68.
  • WR Golden Tate needs 7 receptions (693) to reach 700 for his career.
  • TE Evan Engram aims for 42nd consecutive game with a reception. Engram’s 203 receptions since 2017 rank 6th in the NFL among tight ends.
  • RB Wayne Gallman aims for third consecutive game averaging at least 4.5 yards per attempt.
  • K Graham Gano needs one 50+ yd FG (4) to surpass Aldrick Rosas (4 in 2018) and Josh Brown (4 in 2014) for most 50+yd FG in a season in franchise history.
  • DL Leonard Williams needs 1.5 sacks (8.5) to reach 10.0 this season. This season, Williams surpassed his career-high of 7.5 sacks (2016). The last time a defensive lineman had 10.0 sacks was Jason Pierre-Paul in 2014.

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Pregame

With the Washington Football Team falling to the Seattle Seahawks 20-15, the Giants are right back in the driver's seat to hop back into first place in the NFC East. 

It will take a near-perfect effort from the Giants against a Browns team that is fighting for its first playoff berth since 2002, and will be highly motivated after a gut-wrenching 47-42 loss to the Baltimore Ravens last Monday night. 

The Browns, a high-octane offense will give the Giants' praised defense maybe its toughest test of the season, especially on the ground. 

Cleveland boasts the third-ranked rushing offense in the NFL and the offense as a whole is coming off three straight games of at least 450 yards of offense and two straight games of over 40 points. 

Even more pressure will be on the Giants' defense due to the absence of Giants quarterback Daniel Jones. 

Veteran backup Colt McCoy will make his second start for the Giants and led the team to a shocking 17-12 upset of the Seahawks in Week 13, but the offensive playbook will have limitations from its usual complement of strategies that Jones allows.

However, the Giants defense will have a critical absence of its own. 

Cornerback James Bradberry, who was in the midst of a potential All-Pro season in his first season in New York, was placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list earlier this week and will be inactive. 

Bradberry was far and away the Giants' best cornerback this season, and without him the rest of the secondary and its vaunted versatility will be tested against a dangerous Brown passing attack led by quarterback Baker Mayfield. 

First Quarter

Running back Dion Lewis gets the Giants off to a good start on the opening kick off with a 61-yard return, the longest of his career, which allows the Giants' offense to start in Browns' territory at the 48-yard line. 

What in the world?

On 4th-and-5 in chip shot field-goal range, the Giants opt to run a trick play with punter Riley Dixon passing to center Nick Gate in the middle of the end zone. 

Yes, you read that right. 

In all fairness, Gates was open and the design of the play was not as bad as the outcome, the problem was Dixon's lack of passing accuracy as the ball sailed over Gates' head. 

Regardless, a promising opening drive for the Giants ends without any points and now the defense will have to come onto the field without any momentum. 

Even without momentum and a very frustrating zero on the scoreboard, the Giants' defense stiffens up and forces a turnover on downs at midfield as defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence bats down a Mayfield pass.

Mayfield leads a solid drive and even takes a couple shots at the end zone, but the Giants are held out. This time they smartly decide to take the field goal and in doing so claim the first lead of the game as kicker Graham Gano connects from 37 yards out. 

Giants lead 3-0. 

Second Quarter

The Browns start the quarter with the ball in the red zone as Mayfield has started the game hot against the Giants' defense. Mayfield has already completed 10 passes on 12 attempts for 101 yards and has a chance to lead a go-ahead touchdown drive. 

Mayfield finds tight Austin Hooper in the back of the endzone a 3rd-and-goal to give Cleveland the lead. Hooper was all alone as Giants linebacker Devante Downs got lost in coverage and allowed Hooper to sneak past him to get wide open. 

Browns lead 7-3. 

McCoy puts together another solid drive into the Cleveland red zone completing three of four passes. But the Giants come up empty again as a 4th-and-2 run by Gallman is stopped for no gain.

The Browns have made it look easy against the Giants defense over their last two drives, as Mayfield has driven the ball 93 yards inside the Giants' 10-yard line with less than 30 seconds in the half. 

The Giants defense will have to stiffen up big time here in order to avoid a double-digit halftime deficit. 

It's been a struggle all night for the Giants' defense without Bradberry, as their secondary is without its most critical piece, and that has thrown the entire unit out of wack so far in this game as Mayfield already has 170 passing yards in the game.

Mayfield adds two more yards and another touchdown pass as he finds wide receiver Jarvis Landry in the back of the end zone. However, a taunting penalty on Landry forces a 48-yard PAT attempt and Browns kicker Cody Parkey misses. 

Browns lead 13-3. 

Halftime

A better-than-expected first-half performance by McCoy has been wasted thus far with the Giants' two wasted red zone trips. The Giants could be up 21-13 or at least only down 13-9, but poor execution on those two critical plays have backed the Giants' season into a corner, as they face a steep uphill climb in the second half. 

The story of the first half has been the poor execution on key offensive moments and the criticism well deserved. On fourth down the Giants first chose to throw the ball from their punter to the center and then run the ball out of the shotgun into a loaded box. 

The aggressiveness to go for it on those downs is necessary against a team that scores as many points as Cleveland, but the plays that have been selected for those moments have failed. 

However as much as the offense has faltered on those key moments, the defense has struggled throughout the game, as Cleveland has already put up 219 total yards in just one half. 

Bradberry's absence has ringed very loudly for the Giants so far and they are clearly out of their gameplan without him on the field. 

However, the Giants are not out of this game. 

McCoy has proven capable of moving the ball against this Cleveland defense and is just a play or two away from punching it into the end zone. 

The defense will need some serious second-half adjustments to counter this Browns passing attack as defensive coordinator Patrick Graham is facing arguably his most critical second half of the season. 

Third Quarter

Giants defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence gets around backup guard Nick Harris and brings down Mayfield for a 12-yard loss on the Browns' opening drive of the half. 

The sack helps the Giants defense get off the field for just the second time tonight and Cleveland punts to the Giants' 14-yard line. 

McCoy will come back onto the field facing a 10-point deficit and a long way to go to cut it. 

The Giants are unable to move the ball deep enough into Cleveland for any points and are forced to punt again. 

Mayfield takes over from his own five-yard line and has once again orchestrated a long drive, completing three of five passes for 50 yards. With some help from the run game, the Browns have the ball at the Giants 12 yard line to end the quarter.

Fourth Quarter

The Browns nearly started the fourth-quarter with a dagger touchdown run by Nick Chubb, but a 15-yard clipping penalty on offensive tackle Jack Conklin negates the play and backs the Browns up. 

Chubb gets into the endzone anyway on 3rd-and-goal from one-yard line and the Browns go up by three possessions. 

Browns lead 20-3. 

The Giants have let this game get away from them, both in score and in discipline as they commit three penalties, including and unsportsmanlike conduct on rookie linebacker Cam Brown, and give the Browns the ball back at midfield. 

The Giants are able to get a late field goal to at least cut the deficit  to two possessions with less than five minutes left. 

Browns lead 20-6. 

The Giants try an unsuccessful onsides kick attempt as Cleveland will take over with 4:06 left in the game.

Browns win 20-6.

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Jackson Thompson
JACKSON THOMPSON

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