Well I guess I owe an apology to Chris Mortensen for bashing him on his pick of the Browns over the Giants tonight. He was right and I was wrong, very wrong.
Who was that team wearing the New York Giants uniforms playing against the Cleveland Browns? Because it wasn’t the New York Giants team we saw in their other four games this season.
The Giants were awful right from the opening drive of the game. They continuously let Derek Anderson throw down the field and make the big play on them and it was actually rather disgusting to watch. Every third down the Browns converted and they put together long drives, eating the clock, and then putting up points on the board. They looked kind of like this team called the New York Giants that I usually watch.
Eli Manning had been so good for so long that he was due for an awful game at some point, but what a night to choose to do it. On national TV, in the same week that many media members actually said that he is now better than Peyton Manning, Eli throws three picks in the most humiliating and devastating loss since his four interception game against the Vikings last season.
But it wasn’t just Eli who was bad. Plaxico Burress might have caught a touchdown pass, but he missed a lot of balls, caused Eli to throw a pick once, and also dropped a first down pass early in the game that would have set the Giants up nicely. Maybe Plaxico should attend more meetings and show up to practice. I was one to say that the situation needed to go away, but until Sunday, all you are going to hear is how Eli and Plaxico were not on the same page.
Aaron Ross has been great since he joined the team last year. But tonight he was terrible. He rarely covered his guy and was responsible for just about every big play that the Browns made. Ross tripped, stumbled, and was injured several times in the game, but the coaches kept going with him, when he was clearly not right.
And speaking of the coaches…what are they getting paid for? I am a huge fan of Steve Spagnuolo, but when your “dominant” defense and pass rush is getting manhandled in the first half, don’t you think it would be wise to make adjustments at half time. The defense might as well have not even show up tonight because they didn’t force the Browns to punt once. NOT ONCE.
And who was calling the plays? What member of the Giants on the sidelines thinks that it is smart to run the ball on 2nd and 11 on your own side of the field? What person with NFL coaching credentials can justify calling that type of play because that scenario happened tonight. And so did many other scenarios just like it.
But as bad as the loss was, it can do some good for the Giants. Now that they are no longer undefeated, the Giants can take a look at what can actually happen when you don’t show up to play in the NFL. And with their first loss since Week 17 last year, the Giants can feel humbled and realize that they are not going to coast through the season.
So on a night the Giants had a chance to distance themselves from the pack in the NFC East, they did Washington and Dallas a favor by mailing it in against the Cleveland Browns. And if they don’t come to play against the 49ers on Sunday they are going to have some serious problems because then their schedule gets tough.