The Giants won the game.
Each of them will need to be analysed and assessed in what could be a very difficult season for them to master.
A 21-15 win over the Browns in Cleveland meant the Giants were back on track after losing their first two games. They looked like the best team in the world when they scored 21 straight points to take a 21-7 lead, but their failure to score in the second half and the fact they had to hang in there shows this team has very little room for error. That hanging in there was all the more meaningful for a team that knew how an 0-3 record could affect their ability to advance this season.
Let’s take a look at how they secured their first win.
— He's already getting special player treatment from not only opponents, but also his coaches and teammates. Malik Neighbors was targeted 12 times this time around after being targeted 18 times last week against the Commanders. He had eight receptions for 78 yards, including a jumping three-yard touchdown catch and a five-yard scoring catch 93 seconds after the initial catch. Neighbors was feeling guilty after a costly drop late in the fourth quarter of last week's 21-18 loss to the Commanders, and it would have been interesting to see how he would respond to that faux pas. Ultimately, Neighbors said he let down the veterans on the team because they trusted him to play and then he didn't perform when the team needed him. In the end, Neighbors handled it well, and the veterans in the locker room told him he was too hard on himself.
“After I saw it, I told him, 'You didn't let anybody down. It happens. We're professionals. We're going to make plays and miss plays. All great players do that,'” defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence said. “The key is to react, and that's what great players do.”
More on Neighbors: His 23 pass catches are tied with Anquan Boldin for second-most in an NFL game through a player's first three games. Rams guard Puka Nacua owns the record with 30 pass catches in 2023, his first year in the league.
Additionally, Neighbors (21 years, 56 days) is the youngest player in NFL history to have two touchdown catches in a game – Mike Evans (21 years, 73 days) accomplished the feat in 2014.
After the game, it's sometimes more interesting to hear what the opposing team has to say than what the Giants have to say. Deshaun Watson was lavish in crediting Giants defensive coordinator Shane Bowen for changing the way the Browns expected the Giants to defend. Bowen coached the Titans for three seasons, but he was not a blitz-heavy play-caller and continued to rely on applying pressure with his front four whenever possible in the first two games against the Giants. In the first two games, the Giants blitzed on 25% of their pass rushes. Against the Browns, Bowen increased that substantially, blitzing on over 55% of the Browns' dropbacks. The Giants received seven of their eight sacks as a result of those blitzes.
Let Bowen win.
“I think a lot of credit goes to their DC Shane for doing something different than we did … obviously we expected pressure, but we had to prepare for the worst no matter how much pressure they applied,” Watson said. “And they did a good job of creating mismatches and confusion up front to throw off the timing of the passing game, so in order for us to fix that, we've got to figure out the right protection to beat our opponents and understand what kind of pressure they're applying off the edge.”
“We're not a very high-pressure team, but that was what they were going for in this game. So they pressed a lot more on downs than they normally do, and especially on first downs they pressed from distances they normally don't. On second down and long downs, normally it's man coverage, but they used a lot of man coverage and they pressed. They planned it well.”
— If you got in a minute late, you missed the Giants trailing 7-0 11 seconds into the game. Eric Gray lost a fumble on the kickoff and Watson threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Amari Cooper on the first play from scrimmage, the quickest touchdown the Giants had allowed since the 1970 merger.
— Did you have Devin Singletary on your fantasy football team last week? If so, you don't want to hear any moans about him sliding down at the 1-yard line after skating 43 yards with two minutes left. Singletary gave himself up to help the Giants win the game. The Giants were up by six points, and after Singletary's slide, all the Giants had to do to get their first win of the season was kneel on the ball three times.
“The motor did a great job,” coach Brian Daboll said, referring to the nickname everyone gives to the Giants' starting running back.
Singletary had a bit of a close call, appearing to make it all the way to the end zone before sliding to a stop inches short of the goal line.
“We were trying not to score anymore, trying to make a run all the time, and I saw him running and I was like, 'Drop off, hurry up, he's a little too close,'” receiver Wan'Dale Robinson said. “He got it done. It just showed how professional Motor is.”
Yes, Singletary knew exactly where he was.
“I just wanted to make the most of it,” he said.
As for not scoring, Singletary understands that might have angered a few fantasy football players.
“I know they're mad at me,” he said. “I know what it brings.”
— The Giants no longer use Azeez Ojulari as their starting outside linebacker after trading for Brian Barnes, but the move doesn't mean Ojulari no longer has a role on defense. The 24-year-old had one sack, two quarterback hits and a fumble recovery on running back Jerome Ford in the fourth quarter. Ojulari is in the final year of his contract and is playing more of a backup role with fewer snaps.
“When I'm out there I just try to play for my team,” he said.
The Giants' eight sacks are their most in a single game since they recorded eight in a 36-7 win over the Titans on Dec. 7, 2014. The Giants are just the fourth team in league history to have nine different players record at least a half-sack in the same game since individual sacks became an official statistic in 1982. The Giants have recorded 13 sacks over their past two games, with Lawrence and (surprisingly) safety Jason Pinnock leading the way with three each.
