Giants win over the Browns 21-15

"I've seen a lot of bad things happen to the Giants over the years, but today's game opening was something else. After living through the worst 11 seconds of my fan life, I didn't think I'd be smiling by the end of the first half. The Giants fumbled the kickoff return and Deshaun Watson's first pass went to Amari Cooper for a touchdown. Well the Giants didn't quit, and not only did they shut the Browns down, they scored three touchdowns. Malik Nabers had two, and Devin Singletary another, on a short touchdown run. I can't remember the last time the Giants had something like a 21-7 halftime lead.
Inspired by how things were going, I was hoping it would continue into the second half. The defense handed Watson his fifth sack of the day, and they were quickly three-and-out. Then suddenly a shot of reality came back three plays later when Singletary fumbled the ball over on our side of the field. Our defense hung tough, and luckily Cleveland's field goal attempt was wide left. The Giants offense didn't seem the same after that, and three punts later, things had drifted into the fourth quarter.
The Browns had good midfield position, and they suddenly came alive, and five plays later scored a touchdown, and a two point conversion that cut the Giants lead to 5 points. Things were headed in the wrong direction, and after another Giants three-and-out, they got lucky when Watson fumbled the ball. After five plays though Cleveland had it back. I thought they were foolish to go for a fourth-and-one from their own 29-yard line as there was still four minutes left, and the Giants offense wasn't going anywhere.
As if to prove my point, the Giants actually lost one yard before attempting a field goal. They missed it of course, and the Browns were still alive with three minutes left to steal this game. Watson threw three straight passes to Cooper, a completion and two incompletions, with Cooper being injured on the last. He wasn't available for Watson's next throw on fourth down and it was incomplete. All the Giants had to do now was kill the clock, and they did when Singletary ran 43 yards to the Cleveland 1-yard line and stopped. Three kneel downs and the game was thankfully over, and the Giants had their first win of the season. I hope things go easier for the Giants and me when they play the Cowboys this upcoming Thursday."

"There was some talk going into this game about the connection between Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson and top receiver Amari Cooper not being there the way their first two games went. Those thoughts didn't resonate with Giants fans when they saw Watson's first play of the game, a long deep pass to Cooper for a 24-yard touchdown. After that the Giants defense may have been caught a bit off guard as they did not expect to be on the field just yet. Their offensive unit was expected to be out there, but Eric Gray fumbled the kickoff return. In any event the Giants were quickly down 7-0.
Giant fans weren't happy, but by the end of the half they were happy to note how well Daniel Jones was connecting with Malik Nabers. Jones threw six passes to the rookie receiver and all were caught, for 66 yards and two touchdowns. In fact, Wan'Dale Robinson, Devin Singletary, Tyrone Tracy Jr., and Darius Slayton caught every pass as well. Jones threw for 178 yards on 17 of his 19 passes. The two missed ones were to Theo Johnson and Jalin Hyatt.
The offensive line was doing the job protecting Jones with just one sack registered, and all those completions resulted in 10 first downs. The rushing attack did not produce many yards, but there were 4 first downs, and Singletary had one rushing touchdown. The defense, after their first play mishap, had the Browns shut down. They shut the Browns down again at the start of the second half with a three-and-out, and Jones picked up right where he left off, with a nice 17-yard completion to tight end Daniel Bellinger.
Jones next was complete to Nabers for 4 yards, but then Singletary fumbled on his carry. It was around midfield and the Browns advanced the ball only ten yards before trying a 53-yard field goal which they missed. Their defense buckled down on the Giants after that, and kept them with poor field position starting at their own 5-yard and 9-yard line on their next two possessions. Watson had his longest run of the game on this drive, a 14-yarder that had his team at the Giants 18-yard line. His next pass went to Jerry Jeudy for 12 yards, and the next to Cooper for a touchdown. Watson hit Jeudy again in the endzone for a two point conversion. It was now a 21-15 game in the fourth quarter with plenty of time for both teams to score points, but neither one did, and the Giants had their first win of the season.
Their offense certainly looked much better in the first half than the second, and overall there wasn't much of a rushing attack in this game. Jones completed only 7 of his 15 passes for 58 yards in the second half. Singletary totaled 16 carries for 65 yards, but most of those yards were on the Giants last possession of the game when the desperate Browns were trying to get the ball back one last time and let him break free for a 43 yard run to the endzone. Singletary was smart enough to slide to a stop at the one yard line to run the clock so the Giants could end the game. Along those lines you could say that the Giants could have finished this game with 30 points if Singletary ran it in, and kicker Greg Joseph, subbing for Graham Gano, didn't miss on a 48 yard field goal.
The defense did their job today keeping the Browns off the field so their offense would have more time. It was a bit over 19 minutes for the Giants and 11 for the Browns in the first two quarters. The Giants offense didn't take advantage of what they were given in the second half. The Browns were kept off balance and Watson looked lost at times taking 8 sacks that cost them 48 yards. Cleveland's rushing totaled just 69 yards on 18 carries. The Giants have a short week to figure out the good and the bad before they host the Cowboys on Thursday night."

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