The Cleveland Browns may be facing a team they’re expected to beat when they go to New York to face the Giants but there are still three players to game plan for.
The biggest issue any team faces after a hard-fought loss is mental fatigue. After the Browns got dropped in the waning seconds of the Monday Night game against the Ravens, the Browns have a short-turn around to get refocused and to shake off the pain of defeat. The Giants may be 5-8 but Joe Judge has his team playing really well.
The defense is top-notch with a piece or two missing for it to be a truly big force in the NFC, and the offense with some help could be a big deal next year. That’s next year, however. This year, the Giants are still competing for the NFC East. The current divisional leader, the Washington Football Team, are only one game up at 6-7. So the Giants aren’t treating this season as done by any means.
So this is why the Browns need to shake off the loss to Baltimore and gameplan for these players.
Daniel Jones/Colt McCoy
This one is a tricky one. Daniel Jones is a play-maker. Sure, his touchdowns are down this year, but he can really get things done. It doesn’t matter if he’s forced to throw it, or if he’s on his legs, Jones is a threat to score a touchdown from anywhere. The problem Jones faces is his offense isn’t very good. The best player, Saquon Barkley, tore his knee up to start the season and the Giants don’t’ have a true number one receiver, or even a true number two receiver. He also doesn’t have a great offensive line either. He’s doing the best he can.
He’s also hurt, which throws a huge monkey wrench into everything.
That means former Browns quarterback Colt McCoy may start. McCoy’s been a fine backup in his career, with 30 touchdowns, 28 interceptions, and completing 60% of his passes. McCoy has put together a nice little career. However, his skill set is vastly different than Jones’s and he isn’t the fit for the offense Jones is. If McCoy does start, this offense may be in trouble.
Evan Engram
It turns out when you cut two of your best tackling and coverage linebackers, teams try to exploit that. It’s clear that none of the starters on this unit should be expected back in 2021 as starters. Not after the way they’ve played all year, and certainly not after the way they played against the Ravens’ Mark Andrews. Andrews is a fine tight end but he doesn’t make waves like Rob Gronkowski used to or like Travis Kelce does currently. Yet, Andrews cut the Browns linebackers up with ease.
Evan Engram is even less on that elite-tight end scale and isn’t on Andrews’ level. Yet, if anyone doesn’t think Engram can’t roast the Browns defense like Andrews did, you’re kidding yourself. The Browns defense is among the league’s worst and has only ever survived as long as it had because Kevin Stefanski used the offense to prologue drives, keeping the defense off the field.
Regardless of who’s at quarterback for the Giants, they’re going to be throwing to Engram and throwing at him a lot. On the year he has 50 receptions for 526 yards. He’s shown to have the ability to bust out big days against bad defenses, see his performance against the Bengals for proof.
It might matter some who’s starting at quarterback but considering tight ends are described as “security blankets” by a lot in football, it would make all the sense in the world that Colt McCoy would target Engram more than usual.
Leonard Williams
The long-time Jet turned Giant has played his entire professional career for one of the two-New York (Jersey) based teams. He’s been a steady defensive presence on the line at both end and tackle, and while he’s never lived up to his expectation as the sixth-overall pick, Williams has had some strong seasons. For instance currently with the Giants.
In his first full year with the team, Williams has a staggering 8.5 sacks up the middle. He’s been a wrecking ball for this Giants defense, which is better than anyone could’ve expected. They’re seventh in the league against the run, and as a team, they only have one-less sack than the Browns (34 to 33). Part of that is due to Williams having a big year for them.
His success is even more compounded when you realize the Giants spent money on free agent linebacker Blake Martinez, who is roaming the field like a man possessed, already fourth in total tackles with 118. He was a player that the Browns could’ve chased after, but opted not to.
Now, this defense looks poised to give the Browns running game fits all day. Especially if Wyatt Teller is forced to miss time.