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Cleveland Browns vs. New York Giants: Key matchups, numbers entering Week 3
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- Cleveland Browns vs. New York Giants: Key matchups, numbers entering Week 3
CLEVELAND — The Browns won last Sunday afternoon in the Florida rain over the Jacksonville Jaguars . They're going to try to win in the Cleveland sunshine today against the New York Giants .
If they can accomplish that feat, it'll be a winning streak. It's just what the Browns (1-1) need before they embark on a three-game road swing starting next week at the Las Vegas Raiders .
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That Vegas vacation, though, is a week away. First, the Browns need to take care of business at home against a Giants team that's dropped each of its first two games.
Can Cleveland keep New York winless? Can the Browns bounce back from their last home game against an NFC East team, the opener against the Dallas Cowboys ? What's it going to take to do both?
Let's dive into that right now.
Cleveland Browns vs. New York Giants offensive matchup of the game: LG Joel Bitonio , C Ethan Pocic , RG Wyatt Teller vs. DT Dexter Lawrence
Cleveland Browns running back Jerome Ford (34) runs for a short gain as guard Joel Bitonio (75) shoves Dallas Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland (94) into him on Sept. 8 in Cleveland.
The Giants defense may rank in the high teens or low 20s in the league in most of the major categories. The one area, though, where New York is really good is along the line of scrimmage, with edge rushers Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux on the outside and, on the interior, defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence. In fact, Lawrence may be one of the best interior defensive linemen in the entire league. He can rush the passer and stuff the run, which makes him a handful for any offensive line. The added bonus of this matchup, from a strictly viewing perspective, is that it matches strength vs. strength depending on which of the Browns' two Pro Bowl guards he may be lined up against on a given play. It's going to be fascinating to watch because it's going to go a long way toward how the Cleveland offense ultimately looks.
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Cleveland Browns vs. New York Giants defensive matchup of the game: DE Myles Garrett vs. LT Andrew Thomas
New York Giants offensive tackle Andrew Thomas (78) blocks against the Philadelphia Eagles on Dec. 25, 2023, in Philadelphia.
It's not cheating to call a meeting of the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year and one of the league's best pass-blocking left tackles a matchup to watch. Oh, no, it's not. This has a chance to be a doozy, even with Myles Garrett less than 100% because of issues with his feet. He had those issues the first two weeks and managed to strip sack both Dallas' Dak Prescott and Jacksonville's Trevor Lawrence . However, Garrett wasn't going against Andrew Thomas, the Giants' stalwart left tackle who has only allowed one sack in 85 passing snaps through two games. In fact, since being a top-10 draft pick in 2020, Thomas has only allowed 21 sacks on 2,293 pass blocking snaps, 10 of them in his rookie season. The Browns can still win this game without Garrett necessarily "winning" this matchup. They'll all but certainly win it, or put themselves in great shape to do so, if Garrett does get the best of Thomas.
Cleveland Browns vs. New York Giants numbers to watch
7
The Browns are tied for third in the NFL through two games with seven sacks. Two of those belong to Garrett, but Za'Darius Smith, Dalvin Tomlinson , Alex Wright , Jordan Hicks and Quinton Jefferson have also added a sack each. That's quality production spread out through the front seven.
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163.0
The Giants defense, for as talented as their front is, has been run around, over and through in the first two games of the season. The Minnesota Vikings ran for only 111 yards and a 4.3-yard average — although they did average 10.9 yards a pass completion — in the opener. The Washington Commanders last week gashed New York for 215 yards (6.1 average), with Brian Robinson Jr. rushing for 133 yards and a 7.8 yards per carry.
24-11
The Browns have finally started to turn their home field into a true home-field advantage under coach Kevin Stefanski after years of that not being the case. Cleveland has a 68.6% winning percentage at home since Stefanski took over in 2020. Today's game will be the last chance for a home win in September, although multiple chances await over the final three Sundays in October.
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The Cleveland Browns defeat the New York Giants if …
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Quarterback Deshaun Watson continues to grow more comfortable both inside and outside the pocket as he did against the Jaguars. He was much more decisive on most of his throws in last Sunday's win, which led to some early success for the offense.
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If the Browns can continue to get the running game going by staying committed to that part of the offense. They don't need to run it 35 to 40 times, but running it effectively like they did against Jacksonville would go a long way to helping the offense stay on track.
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The Browns cut the number of penalties in half from the previous two games. So much of Cleveland's offensive issues, especially against the Jaguars, started with the flags and how they negated opportunities for success.
The New York Giants defeat the Cleveland Browns if …
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Quarterback Daniel Jones has time to throw the football and find one of his multiple wide receiving threats. The focus is obviously on stellar rookie Malik Nabers , but Wan'Dale Robinson and Darius Slayton are very good targets as well.
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The defensive front — led by Lawrence, Thibodeaux and, assuming he plays, Burns — makes life miserable for Watson in the pocket. Watson still got sacked twice and hit eight times by the Jaguars, so opportunities are there for the Giants.
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New York continues to dominate when the Browns get into the red zone. The Giants are fourth in the league in red-zone touchdowns allowed rate at 25%, compared to 40% (tied for tied 15th) for the Browns. Getting seven is better than getting three, or giving up three is still better than giving up seven. Unless you give up seven field goals, which is what New York did in last week's loss at Washington .
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Browns vs. Giants preview: Key matchups, numbers for Week 3
