Not long ago, New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen proclaimed to his inner circle of front-office personnel on Hard Knocks that the franchise could not afford to start season 0-3 with so much in question for the year ahead.
Luckily, the Giants were not met with that fate on Sunday in Cleveland. Behind eight sacks from all three levels, the defense made life miserable for quarterback Deshaun Watson and staved off a fourth-quarter scare to help New York defeat the Browns 21-15.
For one half of the football game, it felt like another week of significant improvement for the Giants offense. Led by Daniel Jones’s stat line of 24 completions on 36 passes for 236 yards, the unit posted another three touchdowns behind excellent blocking and a season-high 340 total yards. The highlight was the two snags by rookie receiver Malik Nabers, who now has three scores to his resume and is quickly ascending into a star for the team.
Things got shaky in the second half as that same offense went cold, but it meant returning to what their bread and butter was designed to be on the defensive end. The Giants never relented in their pressure up front and held the Browns to six drives of less than seven plays and 50 yards, saving the very first victory before the team draws Dallas on a short week.
Many of the game’s biggest plays came within those drives that defined the heart hidden within the Giants’ ranks in the first two Sundays of the season. Still, these five stood out the most and preserved the next scariest outcome in a rapidly descending campaign.
Jones’s Interception Overturned by Penalty
After falling behind 7-0 within one play on the Amari Cooper touchdown, the Giants offense came close to shooting themselves in the foot to give Cleveland prime position again. Daniel Jones threw an ill-timed pass intended for tight end Theo Johnson that was picked off by safety Ronnie Hickman, who returned it to the New York 24-yard line with only five minutes elapsed in the first quarter.
Fortunately, Jones’ mishap was erased thanks to a roughing-the-passer penalty called against Browns cornerback Greg Newsome, who nailed Jones after he released the football. The call saved what could have been another perilous start to a game for the Giants, one that perhaps they don’t come back from with the momentum soaring in the opponent’s favor.
Conversely, the call helped ignite the Giants' first impressive offensive drive of the contest. In 13 plays and 81 yards, Jones threaded the football to five different receivers in nearly eight minutes of clock time, capping it off with a one-yard handoff to running back Devin Singletary for the touchdown and a 7-7 affair.
It was more than just a haunting play tuned into a harmonious possession for Jones and company. The drive was a chance to test the quarterback’s resolve amidst a miscue and pressure from the Browns’ front seven.
Jones passed the test with colors to begin what would be a 236-yard passing day. He kept his team in the game when it felt they would be knocked out before their jerseys even got dirty.
Malik Nabers Goes Over Martin Emerson for the Sideline Grab
He’s only been in the NFL for three games, but Malik Nabers continued solidifying himself as a budding star with his performance on Sunday. For the third straight week, the LSU product eclipsed 65 yards receiving on eight receptions, and the biggest one came in the second quarter as a prelude highlight to his first touchdown.
The play occurred during the Giants’ fifth possession of the game, a team-high 14-play drive that went 93 yards in just under seven minutes. Nabers had already caught one pass for 14 yards to get New York into Cleveland territory with the help of three other pass catchers, but his work wasn’t done there as he lined back up at the Browns 41-yard line.
On that second down and 8, Nabers stood outside to the left and ran a go route with a quick hitch fake as Browns corner Martin Emerson Jr. tried to lock him down in a press look. In typical fashion, Jones lofted the football into the air for the two players to fight for it, and his teammate came down with the over-the-back grab that left the stadium awe-struck with the effort.
With the Randy Moss-style catch over the top of Emerson Jr., Nabers completed the 28-yard play that extended the Giants’ drive and pinned the pigskin down at the Browns' 13-yard line with two minutes left until halftime. That was plenty of time for the 21-year-old to torch Cleveland’s defense one more time before the break, and he did so with his three-yard back shoulder haul that put the Giants ahead 14-7.
While it was an impressive catch in and of itself, it was just another play added to a series of solid outings for the No. 6 pick. In that span, he has amassed 23 catches on 37 targets for 271 yards and three touchdowns and averaged a 12.9-yard ball every time he touches it. That line makes him the first rookie in NFL history to surpass such numbers, a testimonial to the weapon he has become for the Giants offense.
Jason Pinnock’s Sack Preserves a Field Goal
After keeping the Browns from scoring range for most of the first half, the Giants’ offense had a case of deja vu occur on its opening drive of the third quarter. Devin Singletary coughed up the football for the second consecutive week on the New York side of the 50, and it finally gave the Browns lifeless offense a chance to reclaim some points with quality field position.
Taking over at the Giants’ 39-yard line, Cleveland would inch 15 yards deeper into plus territory behind the legs of quarterback Deshaun Watson. However, his efforts were still in vain as the Browns ended up in a 3rd-and-10 situation at the New York 30 for a spot they had struggled to convert in their previous handful of possessions.
Looking to salvage a few more yards for the Dustin Hopkins field goal, Watson dropped back into the pocket in search of one of his trusty receivers and couldn’t find one. In the next moment, safety Justin Pinnock dropped all over him for the sack and a five-yard loss that pushed the ball back to the Giants’ 35-yard line.
Pinnock, who earned his third sack of the year that already matched his total for the 2023 season, might not have predicted it, but his big pressure play on third down would be the difference in keeping the score stable at 21-7 in favor of New York. Hopkins would attempt a kick from 53 yards out to try to cut down the Browns’ deficit, and his boot would sail just wide of the left post to fail at accomplishing that goal.
As a result of the missed field goal attempt, the Giants took over at their own 43-yard line and earned themselves more time to prevent a Cleveland comeback. The two teams would only exchange punts on the ensuing five possessions. Still, they blew through another quarter’s game clock before the Browns finally capitalized with their second touchdown to Amari Cooper at 11:33 in the fourth quarter.
Without Pinnock’s sack, there is a chance Hopkins sneaks in his field goal try, and the Browns could have made it a much closer affair down to the final whistle. The Giants are no strangers to dealing with that scenario and luckily didn’t have to, thanks to the prowess of players like Pinnock causing havoc in the backfield.
Deshaun Watson Fumbles for the Second Time
When it came down to protecting the football, the Giants both giveth and taketh away as they forced Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson to lose track of the pigskin twice on Sunday. Unlike the first, Watson’s second fumble would prove more costly as it froze the Browns momentum while advancing again towards the opposing end zone.
In their previous possession, the Browns offense was finally finding its groove, and they crawled back into the football game to make the Giants and their fans sweat. In five plays and 49 yards, Watson and company took advantage of a good field position to punch in their second touchdown behind Pro Bowl receiver Amari Cooper, followed by a two-point conversion by fellow receiver Jerry Jeudy, who cut the score to 21-15.
One drive later, the Browns unit looked like they were rolling and ready to repeat history to steal control of the contest away from the Giants. They would move the ball five more plays and 34 yards to just inside New York territory with under eight minutes left in the fourth quarter, but it was there that all the noise stopped thanks to Watson’s newest untimely cough-up.
While under duress from additional Giants pressure, Watson would get hit from the side by outside linebacker Azeez Ojulari, who forced the ball loose and created chaos to recover it. The same man would recover the juggling pigskin on the ground to halt Cleveland’s comeback efforts, again before it could inch near their plausible field goal range.
The turnover by Watson would be the first of three consecutive mishaps by the Browns late in the fourth quarter that burned an additional 2:13 of time off the game clock that they desperately needed to avenge their miserable showing in the first half. It marked another huge stop by the Giants to take over at their 46-yard line, and it allowed them to chop another 2:21 of their own off the remaining sands in the hourglass, leaving the enemy with five minutes to do the unthinkable.
As the next big play will show, the home team would end up unsuccessful two more times.
Dexter Lawrence’s Big Fourth Down Stop
When discussing the impressive performance of the Giants defense against Cleveland, it’s hard not to close by mentioning the play of nose tackle Dexter Lawrence, including the one he made on a fourth down and short to thwart the Browns’ comeback efforts for the third time of the day.
Despite forcing a huge fumble from Deshaun Watson close to midfield, the Giants offense could not take advantage of the turnover and find the lasting score they needed to ice the game. They moved the ball just 14 yards in five plays and 1:23 of action and failed to convert due to a disconnect between Daniel Jones and Wan’Dale Robinson on 3rd-and-8 that could have extended the team’s game-winning possession.
Instead, the Browns received the ball at their 20-yard line with about five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and the hopes to contrive another game-winning drive on their home turf. That was until Lawrence, the All-Pro gap stuffer, had something to say about it and flattened the opponent’s quarterback just shy of an important yard to gain.
On 4th-and-1 from their 29-yard line, the Browns decided to cling to dear life by the legs of their gunslinger in Watson, who stretched his body to its limits to try to reach for the first down yardage. As he was drawing near to the line to gain, Lawrence soared into the picture and wrapped himself around the quarterback’s body, sitting him down just inches shy of the marker to silence the play at that same spot where it started.
With Lawrence’s stop, the Giants would take away the football with under four minutes left in the fourth quarter and seek to run out most of the remaining clock before kicking a field goal to seal their victory. They would end up empty in that regard, but not without the defense making a similar holdout on the ensuing Browns’ drive to finally make their statement on the road.
Thanks to his efforts, including those when it mattered most, Lawrence put forth another staple showing as one of the leaders of Shane Bowen’s group. He posted three tackles, two of which were sacks, one tackle for a loss, and four quarterback hits, adding to a resume that will only gain more respect from the rest of the league as the season progresses.
