Giants-Browns: 5 plays that helped New York win – Big Blue View
Giants-Browns: 5 plays that helped New York win – Big Blue View
How did the Giants pull off their victory?
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Giants-Browns: 5 plays that helped New York win
How did the Giants pull off their victory?
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The New York Giants won a roller-coaster of an affair in Cleveland on sSunday as Brian Daboll’s team picked up their first win of the season with a 21-15 victory. Eric Gray fumbled the opening kickoff and DeShaun Watson tossed a 24 yard touchdown to Amari Cooper, who finished the game with seven catches for 86 yards with two touchdowns.
Here are the five impactful plays in the Giants’ win:
Play(s) 1: Bowen’s harassing defense
Shane Bowen had an aggressive approach for Watson and this Browns’ offense. The Giants recorded eight sacks; they achieved these through blitzing, simulated pressure, twists up front with the linebackers, and through high-side rush success. Dexter Lawrence had two sacks; Brian Burns, Jason Pinnock, Elijah Chatman, and Azeez Ojulari had one; Kayvon Thibodeaux, Rakeem Nunez-Roches, Bobby Okereke, and Micah McFadden each had a half-sack. Here are five of the sacks:
Kayvon Thibodeaux wins high-side and collects a half-sack, along with Azeez Ojulari on first down. pic.twitter.com/PnIQBZtcmp
— Nick Falato (@nickfalato) September 22, 2024
Party in the backfield
Pitt Panther @Jason_Pinnock with his 3RD SACK of the season
Tune-in: NFL Sunday Ticket On YouTube https://t.co/O4REgjIsXU pic.twitter.com/gWFMD9oQGO
— Pitt Football (@Pitt_FB) September 22, 2024
Strip sack for Brian Burns! pic.twitter.com/39VLrAV140
— Nick Falato (@nickfalato) September 22, 2024
Beautifully executed twists w/ the LBs in the blitz to sack DeShaun Watson on consecutive plays.
First career sack for Elijah Chatman too pic.twitter.com/eYgMP5zLEZ
— Nick Falato (@nickfalato) September 22, 2024
Dexter Lawrence with a big third down sack to force a PUNT! pic.twitter.com/dkjPBfUCxD
— Nick Falato (@nickfalato) September 22, 2024
Play 2: Browns’ second turnover
The Burns’ strip-sack (above) occurred on a first-and-ten after a successful fourth-and-one conversion. The sack happened at Cleveland’s 40-yard-line, and the Giants turned that into Malik Nabers’ second touchdown (more on that later). The Browns had one other turnover in the game, as both teams exchanged a pair in the game:
Jerome Ford fumbles and Azeez Ojulari recovers it.
The Giants take over with just over 7 minutes left in the game.
A huge break for the Giants and so costly for the Browns. pic.twitter.com/ONiAg9taW1
— Doug Rush (@TheDougRush) September 22, 2024
This was a massive moment in the game — a first-and-10 fumble on the Giants’ 44-yard line with 7:47 left in the game. Cleveland got the football back two more times and went four-and-out on each. This was a dominate performance by the Giants’ defense.
Play(s) 3 Malik Nabers — changer of gameplans
The Browns questionably allowed the Giants to mix-and-match Nabers against their second and third string corners before adjusting in the second half. Nabers touched the ball 11 times with two carries and a red zone pass attempt. He finished with eight catches for 70 yards on twelve targets with two touchdowns. He also did his best impression of Randy Moss:
Malik Nabers! pic.twitter.com/z0CkFdvmyL
— Nick Falato (@nickfalato) September 22, 2024
Nabers possesses rare explosiveness and body control that is coupled with elite concentration that allows him to make plays like the one we see above. He showed his elite traits on his first touchdown late in the first half:
Jones to Nabers, touchdown #Giants! pic.twitter.com/gU5FT3cY89
— Nick Falato (@nickfalato) September 22, 2024
Cleveland attempted to put more points on the board before the conclusion of the first half, but Brian Burns forced a fumble that led to Nabers’ second touchdown of the game:
Malik Nabers touchdown No. 2 on the day.
⭐Star⭐ in the making. pic.twitter.com/fu98HCKUzH
— Nick Falato (@nickfalato) September 22, 2024
The Giants were able to get Nabers against a safety in the red zone, and Jones easily found his rookie for six. New York executed the two-minute drill well to take a two-touchdown lead. The presence of Nabers opens up the rest of the offense, and he’s a precocious — dynamic — receiver for the Giants.
Malik Nabers is the first player in NFL history with 20 receptions and 3 receiving TDs in their first 3 games in NFL history, per @ESPNStatsInfo.
— Jordan Raanan (@JordanRaanan) September 22, 2024
Play(s) 4: Devin Singletary and the run game
The Giants have established the run in their last two games. Devin Singletary rushed for 65 yards on 16 carries (4.1 YPC) with a touchdown on the ground. Tyrone Tracy Jr. added five rushes for 23 yards. Fumbles notwithstanding, the rushing attack of the Giants was efficient the last two weeks, and has helped the Giants move the football down the field. Singletary’s elusiveness — combined with the big men in the trenches — are reasons why the rushing attack was successful.
Singletary also has the ability to force missed tackles, like we saw against Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah:
Devin Singletary made Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah miss in space to help extend the #Giants drive.
Impressive ability to make the catch, recollect himself, flip his hips, and remove his inside leg as a target. pic.twitter.com/CBkeZ9lF34
— Nick Falato (@nickfalato) September 22, 2024
Singletary also showed elite second-effort to pick up the Giants’ first touchdown of the game:
The second effort of Devin Singletary leads to a #Giants touchdown. pic.twitter.com/H5GkbGp2bo
— Nick Falato (@nickfalato) September 22, 2024
New York also had a well-designed and executed screen to Singletary, which has been a rarity for the Giants in the past:
The #Giants finally hit on a well designed screen. Singletary took it 23 yards to set up his short yardage TD pic.twitter.com/s2MobqLydm
— Nick Falato (@nickfalato) September 22, 2024
Teams are playing more and more two-high defenses every year. The Giants have seen an increase versus that defensive structure, due to the presence of Nabers. However, one way to make defense’s pay for deep secondary pieces is to run the football. Nabers, plus an upgraded offensive line and quality running from Singletary, have allowed the Giants to function offensively — just hold onto to the football, please!
Play(s) 5: Overcoming a rough start
It was just about the stone worst start for the New York Giants in Week 3. The end-result does speak to the resilience of the team. Second year running back Eric Gray fumbled the opening kickoff:
Eric Gray fumbles the opening kickoff for the Giants. pic.twitter.com/TeDW3jJ5Vp
— Doug Rush (@TheDougRush) September 22, 2024
There’s only one thing worse than fumbling an opening kickoff on the road, and that is surrendering a touchdown on the next play:
Amari Cooper already has more points this week than the first two weeks COMBINED pic.twitter.com/QfuTfNuC7r
— NFL Fantasy Football (@NFLFantasy) September 22, 2024
The Browns offense struggled significantly after this play, as Shane Bowen’s unit sacked DeShaun Watson seven times. The coaching staff was rightly maligned through the first two weeks of the season, but they deserve a lot of credit for righting the ship in Cleveland after this devastating start. They’ll have a quick turnaround in Week 4, as they’re set to host the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday Night Football.
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Source: Big Blue View
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