3 Key Takeaways from Giants’ Week 3 Win vs. Cleveland Browns

With the daunting chance of an 0-3 start staring them in the face, the New York Giants made a statement that they would not bow out early in their 2024 campaign, defeating the Cleveland Browns in the “Dawg Pound” 21-15 to notch their first win of the season. 

As any Giants game tends to go, it wasn’t an overall easy afternoon for the victorious visitors. New York jumped out to a 21-7 advantage in the first half thanks to three touchdowns from Malik Nabers and Devin Singletary. That soon went cold in the second frame and the onus fell on the defense for a second time to preserve the final outcome. 

Unlike Week 2 against Washington when they couldn’t get off the field, the Giants' defense was fully prepared to thrash the Browns’ attack. Behind a surprise strategy by Shane Bowen to send chaos at the quarterback, the unit kept Cleveland’s offense under wraps on 12 of their 14 possessions and made life miserable for Deshaun Watson to navigate in the pocket. 

While the win felt like a nail-biter that resulted from a conservative mindset down the stretch, it wound up being an excellent test of the entire regime’s resolve to see how they would respond under intense scrutiny throughout the week. Numerous seats were entering “hot” status, but from head coach Brian Daboll on down it was a solid performance that could turn things around and give the Giants much-needed confidence heading into a quick Thursday night matchup with the Dallas Cowboys at MetLife Stadium. 

All three phases continued to show progression in playing like a component football team, making it hard to select the three biggest takeaways from the Week 3 victory. Nevertheless, these were the details that stood out the most as New York now sits at 1-2 and looks to build off their momentous road victory.