The Cleveland Browns shook off their mediocre early season performances last night and in their first Monday Night Football victory since 1993 creamed the Giants 35-14 . In what most people saw as a potential cakewalk for New York, the Giants looked unprepared and were outplayed and outhit by Cleveland all night long.
Braylon Edwards lit up the Giants secondary up for five catches, 154 yards and a touchdown. Meanwhile the backfield got 144 yards from a combination of the power rushing of Jamal Lewis, and trickery from Joshua Cribbs and Jerome Harrison.
Derek Anderson, looking far from the skittish performer he has been most of this season reverted to last years pro bowl form going 18-29 for 310 yards and two touchdowns.
- B/R Ticket Guide
The Browns defense got into the act also with three interceptions, one of which Eric Wright returned 94 yards for a touchdown. Eli Manning looked confused by the fronts and coverages he saw from Cleveland, which rendered the passing game ineffective.
Football games are won on the field and this one was no exception, Cleveland was the far superior team last night. But the biggest difference was coaching. The Giants looked unprepared in every phase of the game and Cleveland took total advantage. Every defensive adjustment that Steve Spagnuolo made, Rob Chudzinski countered. Every wrinkle Kevin Gilbride tried, Mel Tucker had an answer for. It looked a little like one team had something to prove, and the other just showed up.
But Giants fans can take some good out of last night. The ground game was stellar again, gaining 181 yards on 25 carries, the big mystery being why they didn't run more as Cleveland was having no luck stopping them. Also, as a non-division and non-conference game, the loss means almost nothing in the larger scheme of playoff position in the NFC East.
There were no serious injuries except to players pride. After a good night rest, a look at the game films and a good old fashioned dose of humility, the Giants should be ready to tackle San Francisco on Sunday.
comments (4) write a comment »
write a new comment
about 1 month ago
I totally disagree with you about the Giants being outcoached. The Giants did not execute. Ostensibly, Eli's three picks hurt us immensely. On defense, the Giants defenders were not getting pressure on Anderson. In addition, the Giants defenders were not making tackles. Former Head Coach Bill Parcells would tell his defenders and I am paraphrasing is make tackles and plays. No matter what I dial up, things will not work if you do not get off your blocks and make tackles.
It was not the game plan but the execution.
about 1 month ago
I don't believe I let the players off the hook here. Unless you thought that the game plan was sound, which I didn't I'm not sure we disagree that much.
Rushing for 181 yards isn't poor execution, but rushing only 25 times is poor play calling. The Browns were ready for everything Spagnuolo dialed up offensively, he never disguised his tendencies, there were no new wrinkles. They were ready for everything, because he gave them the exact same looks he has been giving the whole year and they exploited it.
It was a washout for both the coaches and players in my book.
about 1 month ago
Browns fan here. The fact that the Giants averaged 7.2 yards per carry and seemed to abandon the run for periods of time tells me that some of it was the game plan of the Giants. Why wouldn't you continue to pound the ball when the Browns could not stop it? It ended up biting the Giants.
from about 1 month ago
Yeah Jeff, I think your right. As I've said earlier, I thought that the Giants made a mistake in not staying with the run more. They would have ate clock and kept Cleveland off the field.
Once they got behind I got the sense they were forcing the pass when they could just have easily have run. They were only two scores down at the start of the 4th quarter, there was no need to panic.
write a new comment