Browns vs Giants- Preview and Prediction
Written by: Tony “The Prophet” Yantosca
The Giants had a Golden Opportunity to take a big step and solidify their lead atop the NFC East. What happened is that they were reading their press clippings while the other 3 teams in the division won. Washington now has the inside track to win the division. I think they can win 2 of the next 3 and finish 8-8. The Giants have to hope they go 2-1 and Washington goes 1-2 and they both go 7-9 and the Giants would win the division because they beat Washington twice. To what end is it to win the division. You fall 8-11 spots in the draft and you get the first-place schedule picking up the Packers and the Rams or Seahawks. I’m looking for them to make a playoff push next year and fill the missing pieces on this team.
Looking at the Cardinals game, for the second meeting in a row the Giants were down big early. Last year it was 14-0 in the first quarter. This year it was 13-0 at the half and 20-0 in the third. The offensive line regressed to the Ereck Flowers days giving up 8 sacks and 5 fumbles. The Giants just came out flat. It was the second worst performance since the 49ers game where they got smoked by a team missing 12 of their 22 starters.
The Giants performance was pathetic no matter how you measure it. The formula that they have used over the past seven games fell apart. That is run the ball, play strong defense and don’t ask Daniel Jones to do much in the game. The streak of 7 100+ yard running game came to a halt. The Giants got dominated in time of possession 37:53 to 22:07. The Gmen were totally dominated in total net yards, 390 to 159. The third down efficiency was 25%. The big four skill players for the Giants caught 9 passes (Shepard & Slayton 3, Engram 2 and Tate 1) for 123 yards. Jones who was coming off his hamstring injury was probably still hurting. His numbers were pathetic, 11 of 21 completions, 52%, and a super low 6 YPA. His year-to-dateyards per game for 12 games is a super low 205 yards/game. That’s why I said they want him to be a game manager. #DannyTurnover returned with 3 fumbles but only 1 lost. Jones has 21 interceptions and 16 fumbles lost on 28 fumbles all in 24 starts. 37 Turnovers in all, but who is keeping score more than I have! He’s gotten better this year but again based on the evidence he is not the answer at quarterback long term and they are trying to hide him.
So, the Giants move onto the Browns at home. This game was flexed to primetime because the Cowboys suck (which is great for Giants fans and you know how much it kills Jerry Jones!) and the Giants were on a 4-game win streak. The Browns come in after a Monday night shootout with the Ravens. They came back after being down by 14 only to get beaten at the end of the game by a 55-yard field goal by Justin Tucker. The Giants have won 6 of the 7 last meetings but it means nothing because when you meet once every 4 years you play a totally different team. The only Giant from that last meeting is Shepard and the Browns have only 3 players. The 2016 draft is an indictment on Jerry “Reach”. Shepard is the only man standing from thehorrible Eli Apple (only lasted 2.5 years with the Gmen and created a ton of dead money) draft.
For Giants to win they have to run the ball to keep the Browns off the field and slow the pass rush. The main reason to run is that Jones probably is not going to play. McCoy is not going to throw over 150 yards. If they want any chance it will be in the run game. The Giants average 117 yards/game and the Browns give up 114 yards. The Browns do give up touchdowns in the run game giving up 16 so far. I am assuming Jones will not be able to play. McCoy will have to take some deep shots to keep the Browns defense honest. The Browns are going to dare the Giants to throw by keeping 8 players in the box.
McCoy will have to get rid of the ball quickly and hopefully the meltdown last week by the offensive line is temporary. Myles Garrett will be after him. He already has 10.5 sacks, 3rd in the league and 4 forced fumbles which is second. He will be going against rookie left tackle, Andrew Thomas, who has allowed 8 sacks, 7 quarterback hits and 39 quarterback hurries. It’s old home week as Olivier Vernon returns with getting 7 sacks and 2 last week vs the Ravens. He is going against Cam Fleming who has allowed 6 sacks, 7 quarterback hits and 21 quarterback hurries. The Browns also feature former Giants linebacker, BJ Goodson. He leads the Browns with 84 tackles. The Giants own Peppers plays against his own team. Speaking of playing against their own team, Freddie Kitchens will be calling the plays because Garrett is out with Covid. He sucked when he was with the Browns. He is immature and I remember him for wearingthat t-shirt that said, “Pittsburgh started it” after the helmet incident. He had to backtrack big time after that and he blamed it on his daughter who he said gave him the idea. Really? He’s on the Giants because he is buddies with Judge who were both at Mississippi State.
When the Browns have the ball, they will use their two-prongrushing attack of Chubb and Hunt. Chubb has 881 yards that ranks 5th despite missing 4 games. Chubb has 11 runs of 20+ yards and that is only behind Derrick Henry. Hunt has 772 yards rushing and is the third down back as he was with the Chiefs and has 31 catches which is tied for second on the team. They run behind one of the best offensive lines in the league with Conklin, Teller, Trotter, Bitonio, and Wills, who I wanted the Giants to draft. Time will tell if the Prophet was right or Gettleman with the Thomas pick. Their 14 giveaways are tied for 6th fewest thanks to the line.
Mayfield is coming off 2 good weeks with over 330 yards passing and 6 touchdowns. With Bradberry out Landry will be in play and could have a big week. This is a big blow for the Giants because Bradberry could have taken Landry out of the game leaving Higgins and Peoples-Jones to beat them. Peoples-Jones is the 9-route deep threat. He doesn’t have many catches but he averages 23.8 yards/catch. The Browns have a trio of tight ends to use, Hooper, Bryant and Njoku. The Giants front seven will have to put pressure on Mayfield or it is game over.
The Giants play worse at home. You saw how bad they played last week. The Giants are 6-16 since the start of 2018. They are something like 16-3 covering the spread on the road. They did not win all those games but they are competitive. The problem for the Giants is that they cannot keep up with the scoring with the Browns. The Giants are 31st in scoring and by the way for you Jones Truthers he is a big part of the anemic offense. Bradberry being out is a huge blow. I am calling this one: Browns 31 Giants 16.
New York Giants Underground 