After losing by double digits at home to the Cowboys, Cleveland bounced back with a tough win on the road against Trevor Lawrence's Jaguars.
The Browns, who have been hit by a string of injuries, will host the Giants, who narrowly missed out on a win on the road at Washington last week.
Will Cleveland continue to bid time while worrying about the return of star running back Nick Chubb, or will the Giants pull off an unexpectedly strong performance and beat the Browns on the road?
Last week's Giants-Commanders game was a strange one.
Washington scored 21 points, all of which came on seven made field goals.
Conversely, New York scored 18 points on three touchdowns, but an injury to Graham Gano forced the Giants to get creative.
First, they brought in punter Jamie Gillan to try and score another point, but failed.
The Giants then attempted two-point conversions on their next two touchdowns, but both failed.
On the one hand, the Giants' offensive momentum with Daniel Jones under center and consecutive stops in the red zone were promising.
Still, they allowed a nonsensical 425 yards of total offense to the Commanders, who have a rookie quarterback and limited receiving weapons.
Meanwhile, Cleveland redeemed its Week 1 home loss to Dallas with a win on the road against Jacksonville, which features a talented team on both the defensive and offensive ends.
Deshaun Watson didn't have a standout performance in Week 2, but he still performed well enough, completing about 65% of his passes for 186 yards.
It was a step forward for the Browns offense.
Unfortunately, they were just 2-of-14 on third-down attempts. Bad.
Barring some great play from left tackle Andrew Thomas, it's hard to imagine a way for a struggling Jones and a terrible offensive line to score against the Browns.
Cleveland's defense has performed below expectations so far this season, but most of the team's issues have stemmed from offensive turnovers and poor field position to start the game.
Either way, there's no better time than now to get the ball rolling against a Giants offense that finished 30th in offensive DVOA (FTN) and team run-blocking grade and last in team pass-blocking grade in 2023, according to Pro Football Focus.
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The Browns have struggled consistently on third downs over the first two weeks (31st in third-down conversion rate), and it's almost hard to see them having much success against a team that's at least good at defending the red zone (4th in opponents' red-zone points percentage).
This will be a messy game and neither team is likely to have much success offensively.
So despite the lower total, the under is worth it at 38.5.
recommendation: Under 38.5 (-108, DraftKings).
