New York Giants defeat Cleveland Browns 37-34 in preseason

The Giants first team punched the Browns in the mouth the first half. They physically dominated them, and the score was 30-3 with 1 minute gone in the second quarter. The second units came in and it got sloppy. Just like the Lions did their rollouts on offense, the Browns got back in it with cornerback blitzes on defense, using regular season pressure in preseason to get back some composure and self-respect. Make no mistake, after Eli threw an anemic (Old Eli- telegraphed at the line of scrimmage) ball which was batted down at the line of scrimmage for a 3 and out, the Giants went on a rampage.

DOMENIK HIXON took over the game!

DOMENIK HIXON took over the game!

No, your eyes did see correctly. Manning hit him twice for some Toomer-esque TD toe taps in the end zone. Then he runs a punt back for a TD. Then he catches another 18 yarder from Wright after one of those corner blitzes. He was on fire.

Josh Huston left Beijing to do some shot putting in the Meadowlands. Ugly.

Eli still needs to be more accurate.

Sinorice Moss helped himself a lot, looked good, drew the penalty which started the Q1 rout.

Jacobs pounds the defense but boy does he take forever to get back to the line of scrimmage. There was one play where the O-line opened up a hole big enough to fit a grain combine through, and Jacobs picked up ~6 yards. Ward or Bradshaw would still be running. Jacobs had a fumble on a different play.

Manning ran for a first down to keep the (first?) TD alive. He needs to do that (on average) ONCE per game to keep the defense honest and make everyone else's job easier.

Giants first unit on defense settled down and looked good.

Giants were NOT good on kickoff coverage. Terrell Thomas had to save a TD return, makes the tackle at the ~10 yard line, and then Butler picks up the fumble for a 96 yard TD scamper. All set up by the rookie nice play on specials not giving up.

Umenyiora gives Derek Anderson a concussion on a sack.

I did not like Wright, he made some mistakes, took a step back from his first preseason positive performance.

Scary, but the first team defense looked great and did not play with Kenny Phillips. If Phillips comes along it will be impressive.

Michael Jennings did not help his cause. Downtick. Where was Brandon London?

Anyone see Boss or the TEs? Oh right, I remember. I heard that Matthews got called for a 10 yard holding penalty.

I do not like David Carr's mechanics. Are his hands too small? Why does it look like he pushes the ball instead of throwing it?

Bradshaw did good work. Pushed the pile, got first downs, good yardage and had a good blitz pickup. Ware looked good, but the second string offensive line was blowing holes open for him, so they were the ones who should be lauded.

The Dockery flub INT which turns into a TD is why the goofiness of preseason is not to be weighted heavily. Still a very nice game for the Giants before the game went sloppy.