Takeaways from the New York Giants' 20-6 loss to Cleveland Browns

The Giants offense struggled, the defense was short-staffed, and the coaching staff tried to be aggressive despite lacking the play-makers to do so—all that and more in our postgame takeaways.

New York Giants head coach Joe Judge knew he had to be aggressive against the Cleveland Browns, who came into this week's game having scored 84 points over the last two weeks, the best of any team over that stretch.

And so he was, calling for a cleverly designed but poorly executed fake field goal on the team's first scoring drive--a play inside the red zone that ended when punter Riley Dixon threw to a triple covered Nick Gates, missing a wide-open Graham Gano in the end zone or tight end Evan Engram in the flat.

He also decided to go for it on fourth down, again inside the red zone, only for running back Wayne Gallman to be stopped well short of the first down marker.

Again, those two plays inside the red zone contributed to the Giants posting a big ol' goose egg in their three trips.

"Field goals weren't going to win this game," Judge said after the game. "I'm not afraid to call things aggressively. I'm not afraid if I think we have a good scheme in the kicking game to call a fake. I'm not afraid to run the ball on fourth-and-one."

"When you make calls like that, you let your players understand that you have confidence in them and that they can play the game aggressively. We have confidence in our players. I want them to go out and play aggressively. I can't tell them all week that they have to go into this game with an aggressive mindset and then hold them back at some point where we feel like we have a chance to make a play."

I get where he's coming from, but at the same time, there has to be a better balance between playing smart and being aggressive.

This is an offense that has sputtered the last four weeks, failing to score more than 20 points in any given game and scoring under 10 points in their previous two games. 

When an offense is struggling to score, sometimes you have to take a step back to square one to let them build up some confidence in themselves before you start getting too fancy.

In the end, the six points the Giants might have had had they kicked the field goal probably wouldn't have made a difference in the final score, but who knows what it might have done for an offense that wasn't able to get into much of a flow.

Some other thoughts.

1. Although the Giants are still very much in the hunt for the NFC East title, it might just be time to taper expectations and embrace the growing reality that this Giants team isn't ready for the playoffs.

This Giants team cannot score, and it doesn’t matter who is at quarterback. New York desperately needs a legitimate No. 1 receiver to go along with a healthy Saquon Barkley next year.

It also might help things if they are a little more imaginative on offense, as this system under offensive coordinator Jason Garrett (even though he didn't call the plays Sunday night, it was still his offense) has been surprisingly disappointing.

And without a legitimate pass rusher, when they’re down a man in the defensive backfield as was the case with them being without cornerback James Bradberry, they are forced to play zone coverage, which is more advantageous to the offense than it is to the Giants.

2. If I had told you coming into this week that the Giants would hold the Browns, who, coming into this week's game, scored a league-best 84 points in their last two games, to only 20 points, would you have believed me?

They were able to do that in part by shutting down the Browns running game, which has been Cleveland's bread-and-butter all season. New York held the Browns to just 106 yards on 30 carries.

But again, thanks to the shortcomings on defense--no consistent pass rush to rattle Baker Mayfield and a shortage of defensive bacs capable of playing man-to-man coverage, Mayfield lit them up, and that was all she wrote.

3. How good was Mayfield this week? According to NFL NextGen Stats, he went nine of 12 for 91 yards and 2 touchdowns on play-action, threw passes of 10+ air yards 11 out of 13 times, and beat the Giants blitz attempts on 14 out of 16 blitzes for 130 yards and the two touchdowns.

Toss in an 84% completion rate, and it looks like Mayfield is on track to win the AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors this week.

4. If you missed it, the Giants added safety Jabrill Peppers to the kickoff coverage team last week and continued that into this week, and the move appears to have helped.

Last week the Giants held the Cardinals to 22 yards on one kickoff return. This week the unit held the Browns to 27 yards on two returns.

And for what it's worth--and it's probably not worth much given the game's outcome--the Giants won the starting field position battle this week. New york's average starting field position was their 32-yard line. Cleveland's was their 23-yard line.

5. When kickoff returner Dion Lewis returned the opening kickoff 48 yards, it looked like all would be forgiven for his fumble in last week's loss.

But then he went on to fumble again later in the game, this time the ball being recovered by tight end Levine Toilolo, and that can't happen.

Several people (myself included) have wondered if the Giants ever plan to put returner Dante Pettis on the game day list. Well, call it a hunch--and not because Lewis fumbled again--but I wouldn't be surprised if that happens this weekend.

Special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey spoke about how it's a weekly numbers game with Pettis, a wide receiver by trade. But what I'm wondering is if the Giants' decision to designate Devonta Freeman for return from the injured reserve list could mean that he gets a suit on game days moving forward and Lewis doesn't. That would then open up a spot for Pettis to be activated.

6. The Browns entered this week's game ranked third in the league in rushing yards and with the seventh-worst ranking in passing yards.

Yet, thanks to the absence of cornerback James Bradberry, the Giants didn't have the personnel to deploy man coverage and went to more of a loose zone, of which Cleveland took advantage.

The Browns finished this week to the tune of 297total passing yards versus just 106 rushing yards, their lowest rushing output since November 1 against the Las Vegas Raiders.

7. If I'm handing out the game ball this week, my choice is defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence II, and it's not even close. Lawrence, who by the way, was one of the player s the Giants were able to get thanks to the Odell Beckham Jr trade (a trade which the Giants certainly look as though they won hands down), finished with six tackles, a sack, a tackle for a loss a quarterback hit and a pass breakup.

Lawrence's pass breakup came in the first quarter on a 4th-and-2 from the Giants 43-yard line, which of course, forced a turnover on downs. And his sack came in the third quarter on the Browns' first possession. The sack went for minus-11 yards and came on second down, the Browns unable to make up for all the yardage and having to punt the ball away.

8. Want a reason to smile? The Giants offensive line played much better this week in pass protection, allowing just one sack, coming in garbage time. Yes, the game plan called for getting the ball out of Colt McCoy's hand faster, and yes, McCoy could move around if he needed to.

But all things considered, the Browns defensive front didn't create headaches for the Giants, and hey, how about the job done by Andrew Thomas, who went against Myles Garrett most of the evening?

You can argue that Garrett still isn't himself after his bout with COVID-19, but Thomas still did a nice job against a tough opponent.

9. Wild and crazy thought of the week. If the Giants part ways with offensive coordinator Jason Garrett after the season--and that wouldn't surprise me given how surprisingly stagnant the offense has been--I could see tight ends coach Freddie Kitchens being named the new offensive coordinator. 

Colt McCoy

Throws 10+ yards
6/15 128 yards 8.5 Y/A

Throws 9 or less yards
13/16 93 yards 5.8 Y/A

Opening up the routes downfield not only allowed for big plays but it also opened up the short throws to get yards. I wasn't expecting it but Freddie Kitchens exposed this. hmmm

— Bobby Skinner (@BobbySkinner_) December 21, 2020

I thought Kitchens did a pretty good job calling the game, specifically in the passing game in which the routes looked more varied, and there were some deep shots taken. And as the tweet above notes, Colt McCoy, while not perfect, was productive with what he was given.

10. Joe Webb, elevated fromt he practice squad for this game, playe don four "blink and you'll miss it" special teams snaps.