Giants avoid another catastrophe with desperately needed first win over Browns
CLEVELAND — They tried every which way to do what seemed impossible — turn a rousing and rare victory into a devastating defeat.The Giants after building a comfortable lead got all sorts of uncomfortable on Sunday.
They bent, but they did not break.A 21-7 lead was trimmed and threatened but it never went away.The Giants needed to make a defensive stand and they did, coming away from Huntington Bank Field with a tense and badly needed 21 15 victory over the Browns.After an 0-2 start, the Giants could not absorb another loss and that they did not was a testament to their revolve at the end — and a truly dreadful showing from Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson.
The Giants sacked him seven times.Daniel Jones and rookie Malik Nabers were near-perfect in the first half, with that duo combining for two touchdown hookups.The offense took a nosedive in the second half, though, coming up with no points and allowing the Browns (1-2) to make a game of it.Jones finished 24 of 34 for 236 yards.
Nabers had eight catches for 78 yards.The Giants were in control, leading by 14 points at halftime after scoring 21 consecutive points, but their offense went to sleep and allowed the Browns to claw back in.Devin Singletary lost the ball on a fumble, Andrew Thomas was hit with a false-start penalty, Jones was sacked and the attack slowed to a crawl.
That allowed Watson, who had been terrible and hearing boos from his own fans, to finally look competent.He hit Amari Cooper — who cooked Deonte Banks several times — for a 6-yard scoring pass to make it 21-13 with 11:33 remaining.
The Browns went for two and got it when Watson found Jerry Jeudy.The Giants got a break when Jerome Ford fumbled and Azeez Ojulari recovered with 7:40 to go.The Giants offense, still stymied, could not take advantage and had to punt the ball away with 5:19 to go.Time for a last stand.
Kayvon Thibodeaux and Jason Pinnock stopped Jameis Winston’s quarterback sneak on third-and-1 and Dexter Lawence’s ...