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

The Giants came together on both sides of the football to account for an impressive road win and these were the details that stood out the most.

By Stephen Lebitsch

Sep 22, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones (8) hands the ball off to running back Devin Singletary (26) during the fourth quarter against the Cleveland Browns at Huntington Bank Field. Mandatory Credit: Scott Galvin-Imagn Images
Sep 22, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones (8) hands the ball off to running back Devin Singletary (26) during the fourth quarter against the Cleveland Browns at Huntington Bank Field. Mandatory Credit: Scott Galvin-Imagn Images / Scott Galvin-Imagn Images
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1- Giants Defense Showed Up

In the first two weeks of the season, there was a big question looming of where exactly was the pass rush of the Giants' defense. On Sunday, against a weakened Cleveland Browns front, the Giants’ unit finally provided the answer in one of the most dominating outings we’ve seen in a long time. 

Utilizing an unorthodox approach from defensive coordinator Shane Bowen that entailed sending extra blitzes at the quarterback, the Giants defense had Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson playing an endless game of twister in the pocket. It didn’t help that his offensive line was crumbling in front of him due to injuries, but New York sacked him a total of eight times for a total loss of 48 yards and made it difficult to use his mobility to escape and extend the Browns’ drives past midfield. 

Typically, Bowen is known for being a more conservative coordinator when it comes to the pass rush and electing to send the front four defenders to the backfield while the back two levels take on their assignments in zone coverage. Instead of doing that, he stuck with the scheme at hand and it worked with flying colors in confusing the enemy, as the Giants blitzed on 57 percent of the Browns’ dropbacks and created the second-most sacks of any pass rush with that rate of pressure since the 2006 season. 

What made the sack exchange even better was that it came from a multitude of players at all three levels of the defense. Per PFF’s Premium Stats, the Giants had 10 players contribute at least two pressures over the course of Sunday’s win, including the highest markers held by Dexter Lawrence and Brian Burns who logged a combined 13 pressures and three sacks in their first big game as a duo. The rest came from above, such as three pressures by safety Jason Pinnock, making it a prime example of a complementary effort that made plays time and time again. 

Those same plays came up big on several third and fourth down spots that could have altered the course of the football game late in the second half. With the Giants offense silent, the Browns’ squad attempted to pull off a remarkable comeback that made some noise with a touchdown early in the fourth quarter to cut the contest to a six-point affair. But their dreams were shattered on the remaining seven possessions by New York’s relentless front and the statement game came to its much-needed conclusion. 

“This (performance) means a lot,” said outside linebacker Brian Burns about his group’s lasting stops in the final minutes of the contest. “As far as like, how we want to play and what is expected of us, we knew we had to go back out and keep putting it on our backs.”

The Giants' pass rush will certainly need to put the team on their shoulders again in Week 4 against a stout Dallas Cowboys offensive line that has been one of the best starting lineups in the NFL for some time. They also need to clean up a few errors in the coverage game, but with the outing in Cleveland they now know how to create the winning formula on the defensive side of the football and that must be maintained as the bread and butter if they want to see similar results later in the season. 

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