CLEVELAND, Ohio — The day began out so completely for the Browns, who had been favored by a landing over the winless Giants at Huntington Bank Field.
They compelled a fumble on the opening kickoff, and Deshaun Watson threw a 24-yard landing move to Amari Cooper on the primary play of the sport, the identical Cooper who struggled the primary two video games and vowed that he was “humbed and motivated” to proper the ship towards the Giants.
The Browns had the Giants on the ropes in a New York minute, with the barking and hooting crowd poised for a tail-whipping on the lakefront after that 33-17 beatdown by the Cowboys within the opener. Little did anybody know on the time that the Browns had peaked 11 seconds into the sport.
By halftime, they trailed 21-7, and by the top, that they had not solely misplaced the sport, 21-15, they misplaced a few of their greatest gamers to accidents, together with proper guard Wyatt Teller, who was dominated out with a knee harm shortly after heading to the locker room within the third quarter. He’s one among 4 gamers who will bear MRIs on Monday, together with Jed Wills Jr. (knee), James Hudson III (shoulder) and Myles Garrett, who aggravated accidents to each toes and decrease legs.
But essentially the most painful half for the Browns was shedding to a Giants crew they need to’ve beat to fall to 1-2 general and 0-2 at dwelling earlier than embarking on a three-game highway swing to Vegas, Washington and Philly.
“Obviously very, very disappointed,” Kevin Stefanski mentioned. “I’ve got to get it fixed. It’s really disappointing on a bunch of different levels. I know we can be better, and we will be. That’s not good enough from a player standpoint, from a coaching standpoint, you name it. Just not good enough and you’re not going to win games when you play like that.”
For the second time this season, Watson was sacked and hit method too many occasions. He was taken down a career-eight occasions — two greater than by the Cowboys — and hit 17, identical as within the opener. That’s a three-game whole of 16 sacks and 42 hits — a recipe for catastrophe for a participant coming off surgical procedure to restore a fractured shoulder.
“It’s not for lack of effort and obviously Deshaun gives you everything he has,” Stefanski mentioned. “He can’t get sacked that many times, can’t get hit that many times. That’s on me and that’s on us to get that fixed.”
Despite a makeshift offensive line that completed with left guard Joel Bitonio at left deal with, middle Ethan Pocic at left guard, Nick Harris at middle, rookie Zak Zinter at proper guard and Dawand Jones again at proper deal with after a quick outing on the bench along with his sore knee, Watson (21 of 37, 196 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs, 89.5 ranking) pulled the Browns to inside 21-15 with 11:33 left within the recreation on a 6-yard TD move to Cooper and a two-point move to Jerry Jeudy.
The crowd, which booed the Browns off the sector at halftime and picked proper again up within the second half, got here again alive as Watson scrambled for 14 yards to the Giants’ 18 on the TD drive.
“That’s who he is,” Cooper (7 of 12, 86 yards, 2 TDs) mentioned. “He’s a fighter. That’s why the Browns were so interested in him to begin with. With all the turmoil that we had on offense, we still had an opportunity to go out there and win. I gave him a lot of credit for that.”
But after closing to inside 6, Watson was unable to produce the gamewinning TD drive on any of his three possibilities within the ultimate 9:53. After driving to midfield on two Cooper completions, Watson handed off to Jerome Ford on a draw and he dropped it. The Giants recovered to foil likelihood No. 1.
“Tried to hand the ball to him and after that, I just saw the ball was on the ground,” Watson mentioned.
But he inspired him after the sport.
“Told him, ‘keep your head up, man and we’re going to keep coming to you. We believe in you,’” Watson mentioned.
The protection, which shut out the Giants within the second half, compelled one other punt, and Watson took over for likelihood No. 2 at his 20 with 5:19 left. On third and 1 from the Browns’ 29, Jameis Winston was compelled to the fitting by Kayvon Thibodeaux and stopped for no achieve.
“I’ve just got to get the first down,” Winston mentioned. “That’s it. I’ve got to be better.”
On fourth and 1, Watson had Jordan Akins open in the fitting flat, however ran to the left and was stopped quick for what went down as his eighth sack.
“I was just trying to reach,” Watson mentioned. “The play was an RPO … Slant wasn’t there. I guess they had a collision and I’m not fixing to just throw it covered. Tried to get the first down, and they stopped it short.”
The Giants took over on downs on the Browns’ 29, however kicker to Greg Joseph sailed a 48 yard discipline objective broad proper to give his former crew likelihood No. 3.
Taking over at his 38 with 3:00 remaining, Watson threw three straight occasions for Cooper, together with a deep overthrow on third and 4. Watson’s go-to man on the afternoon, Cooper received dinged on the play and had to come out.
On fourth and 4, Watson hit Cooper’s substitute, Cedric Tillman, within the palms with a move over the center, however the ball slipped proper by means of. Tillman agonized over the drop on the bench, placing his head in his palms and punching the air whereas Giants’ working again Devin Singletary ripped off a 43-yard run to seal the victory.
“Just didn’t make the play,” Tillman mentioned. “I let the team down. I make that play most of the time, but unfortunately didn’t make it today.”
Watson, who was strip-sacked late within the first half to arrange Malik Nabers’ second TD catch, had advised Tillman the ball was coming to him.
“I’m gonna give him a chance to make a shot,” Watson mentioned. (*8*)
Cooper additionally inspired the second-year professional.
“I just told him, never let them see you sweat,” he mentioned. “Those things happen. It’s football.”
But the sport was largely misplaced within the first half, when the Giants’ protection dominated with relentless blitzing, stunts and video games, and the Browns made Giants QB Daniel Jones seem like an All-Pro.
“They switched up the game plan,” Watson, sacked thrice within the first quarter, mentioned. “You’ve got to give their DC Shane (Bowen) a lot of credit for doing something different … they did a good job of trying to create some mismatches and different confusion up front to get us off our timing in the passing game.”
With Wills making his first begin at left deal with since he tore his MCL final November and Jones scuffling with an aggravation of his personal MCL restore, the Giants crashed the perimeters and Watson had no likelihood. Late within the second quarter, Brian Burns beat Jones for the sack-fumble, with the Giants changing it into the backbreaking Nabers TD.
Despite the bodily beating and the Fox cameras catching him rotating his shoulder on the sidelines, Watson emerged unscathed.
“I’m going to be fine,” he mentioned. “If they’re not going to drag me off the field and I don’t have to have surgery, I’m going to compete until the final whistle.”
The recreation additionally turned on the primary play of the Giants’ second drive when a Greg Newsome II roughing the passer name that worn out a Ronnie Hickman interception on the Giants’ 24. Newsome hit Jones within the helmet along with his palms, snapping his head again.
“Obviously anytime you can get the ball in advantageous field position, I thought that was a great play by our guys,” Stefanski mentioned. “My look at it, I did not believe it was forcible to the head. I know you can’t hit the quarterback in the head, but obviously the referee saw it differently.”
Newsome additionally lamented the decision.
“A lot of calls are gonna be 50/50,” Newsome mentioned. “You can’t get everything right. It’s tough. At the end of the day, we’ve got to find a way to win, and you’ve got to find a way to keep going.
The Giants marched 81 yards in 13 plays that drive, ending it with a 1-yard run by Devin Singletary to tie the game at 7 with 2:07 left in the first — the first of three straight first half TDs. On their second TD drive, Nabers snatched a 28-yard sideline pass right out of the hands of Martin Emerson Jr., who also gave up the 3 yard TD.
“They were targeting me,” Emerson mentioned. “It’s got to be better. Got to win those one-on-one matchups.”
For the second straight recreation dwelling recreation, the protection cracked early after which stiffened, this time permitting Jones to go 17 of 19 for 178 yards and two TDs within the first half, each to Nabers (8 of 12, 78 yards, 2 TDs), the No. 6 general pick of LSU.
“They just executed well,” Garrett, who walked slowly to the rostrum with a pronounced limp, mentioned. “Getting us upfield running, running those screens, those quick swings and just keeping us off balance by continuing to get the ball out in a variety of ways quickly … we also missed too many tackles.”
Cooper, who busted out of his two-game hunch, surmised that the Giants introduced extra fireplace.
“You could blame a lot of things,” he mentioned. “We’ve just got to go out there and want it more. We’ve got to give that team their credit. They were hungry, they were desperate for a win and they came out and outplayed us. That’s what I would attribute it to.”
So the place do the Browns go from right here? They slipped one other recreation behind the 3-0 Steelers within the AFC North, and are tied with the 1-2 Ravens. The 0-2 Bengals play Monday evening.
On MRI Monday for the Browns, they usually’ll quickly know the destiny of their Pro Bowl proper guard in Teller, Wills, Hudson and Garrett, who visited the medical tent twice through the recreation and had to be helped off the second time. Teller’s harm appeared severe, and the Browns have loads of regrouping to do on the offensive line. But the Super Bowl mission stays the identical, even with the three-game highway swing up subsequent.
“We never lose confidence,” mentioned Newsome. “We’ve got playmakers. It’s the third game of the season. We’ve got a lot of football left to play.”
Next
The Browns play the Raiders in Las Vegas at 4:25 p.m. subsequent Sunday.
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