Too Little Too Late, Browns Fall To Giants 21-15

The Browns opened hot and closed with a pulse but it was too much to overcome their lapse in between.

(Photo - Cleveland Browns)

The game opened about as perfectly as the Browns could hope. Tony Brown forced Giants return man Eric Gray to fumble the opening kickoff, and one play later Amari Cooper hauled in a 24-yard touchdown. The score was 7-0 and the energy inside the stadium unfortunately found it’s peak.

The hot start gave the Browns had every ingredient they needed to get their second win of the season Sunday but they were lifeless and undisciplined over the following two quarters and it ultimately cost them a game they needed.

The Giants second half was riddled with poor play and missed opportunities as they let the Browns hang around, but the Browns offense failed to capitalize late and fell short once again in Huntington Bank Stadium, 21-15, for their second home loss of 2024.

Let’s dig into the game notes from a disappointing loss.

• I can safely say this Browns offense is one of the worst in the NFL right now — if not the league’s worst. They have no identity, nothing they can lean on, and different snaps have issues from different personnel consistently.

• Deshaun Watson went 21-37 for 196 yards and 2 touchdowns. He was…below average, I suppose from the first take. The biggest problem is that he isn’t uplifting and overcoming. They need him to do that. Sure, the pressure is rough at times, but he is dropping his eyes and working up into the pressure for sacks too often. The accuracy is inconsistent and the processing is still too slow. He didn’t lose this game for them but he also didn’t go win it either. We will have to get the best assessment from watching the All-22.

  

  (Photo - Cleveland Browns)

• The Browns offense went for just 217 total yards on 63 plays. 3.4 yards per play. The offensive line is beat up as Joel Bitonio had to play left tackle and Ethan Pocic was at left guard late into the game as Jedrick Wills, James Hudson, and for potions of the game, Dawand Jones left hurt.