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Giants-Browns ‘Kudos & Wet Willies’: Week 3 Winners and Losers
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Giants-Browns ‘Kudos & Wet Willies’: Week 3 Winners and Losers

Let’s rewatch the New York Giants’ much-needed 21-15 victory over the Cleveland Browns last Sunday in our traditional ‘Kudos & Wet Willies’ style.

Tribute to…

Dexter Lawrence — The big man said this week that he was “pissed off” about the loss. Well, Sexy Dexy did something about it Sunday with two sacks, three tackles (one for loss) and four quarterback hits. Lawrence had an early sack to force a run and a fourth-and-1 sack.

Malik Nabers — Players know players. Listen to Brian Burns talk about Nabers after Sunday’s game:

Yes, Nabers looks special. He certainly was on Sunday — for the second straight week. He caught eight passes for 78 yards and two TDs, including an incredible twisting touchdown catch.

Nabers had a 28-yard catch on a ball that Cleveland’s Martin Emerson probably thought he was going to intercept, until Nabers just ripped it away.

Nabers also made a great play when Daniel Jones’ arm was hit, causing a pass to flutter through the air and appear to be an interception, until Nabers made sure that neither of the two Browns defenders in position to make the play could catch the ball.

Nabers is already rewriting the record books.

Perhaps the Giants should just drop the idea that Nabers is trying to throw touchdown passes to Daniel Jones.

Brian Burns — We’ve been waiting for Burns, the edge defender the Giants invested heavily in this offseason, to make a positive impact. On Sunday, on a day when his playing status was in doubt due to a groin injury, Burns made that impact. He had a sack/fumble, two passes defensed, two quarterback hits and a tackle for loss.

Shane Bowen/pass rush — I put these together because one had A LOT to do with the other.

When Cleveland began the game with a makeshift offense that was missing starter Jack Conklin and lost three players later in the afternoon, Bowen abandoned his usual reliance on the four-man pass rush.

The Giants defensive coordinator let everyone, and I mean everyone, loose to go after Cleveland quarterback DeShaun Watson. The result was eight sacks and 17 quarterback hits.

Lawrence and Burns have already received Kudos. There are a number of other notable players who were part of the storm the Giants sent Watson’s way.

  • Linebacker Micah McFadden had a sack and three quarterback hits.
  • Safety Jason Pinnock was sacked.
  • Defensive tackle Rakeem Nunez-Roches had a half-sack and a quarterback hit.
  • Defensive tackle Elijah Chatman, who probably deserves a separate Kudos, had the first sack of his career, a fumble recovery and a quarterback hit.
  • Kayvon Thibodeaux had a half-sack and two quarterback hits.
  • Edge defender Azeez Ojulari had his most impactful game in a long time, with a sack, a fumble recovery and two quarterback hits.

Brian Daboll — On the third anniversary of his beloved grandmother’s death, Daboll came armed with an excellent game plan. The Giants used a lot of short and intermediate passes, took some deep shots and screens. The Giants threw in a varied running game featuring Nabers, Jones and rookie Tyrone Tracy, as well as Devin Singletary.

Even in the second half, when the Giants weren’t scoring, it seemed like Daboll had a good feel for what he wanted to do. The Giants just weren’t executing it well, with Jones missing a deep throw to an open Nabers and Singletary fumbling.

Daboll’s offense has shown many positive signs in recent weeks.

Wan’Dale Robinson — The Giants’ slot receiver becomes ‘Robin’ to Nabers’ ‘Batman.’ Robinson had another efficient game with seven catches on eight targets for 61 yards.

Wet cocks to …

Eric Gray — How long can the Giants keep sending Gray back to return kickoffs? Opponents are clearly kicking the ball to the second-year running back, who lost the kickoff and punt return jobs a year ago due to ball security issues.

Gray fumbled the opening kickoff, putting the Giants behind 7-0 just two plays into Sunday’s game. In my opinion, Gray shouldn’t be there anymore.

Tae Banks — The Browns went after Banks on their first offensive play, and Amari Cooper schooled the 2023 first-round pick all day. Cooper had two touchdown catches, a 24-yarder on the first play and a 6-yarder in the fourth quarter that Banks was badly manipulated on. Cooper finished with seven catches for 86 yards.

In his first three games as the Giants’ CB1, Banks has seemed no match for the opposing team’s best wide receivers.

Greg Joseph — The Giants may have a new placekicker on Thursday night when they take on the Dallas Cowboys. In his Giants debut as a replacement for the injured Graham Gano, Joseph was in good form. Joseph made just three of six field goals from 40-49 yards last season for the Minnesota Vikings.

When Joseph had a chance to give the Giants a two-score lead with 3:04 left, he missed a 48-yard attempt. It was a terrible kick that doesn’t give the Giants any confidence that they made the right choice in signing him off the Detroit Lions’ practice squad.

Andrew Thomas — I hate to put Thomas here, but he clearly lost his matchup against Myles Garrett. It really wasn’t close.

Thomas also committed two penalties: a false start and a foul.

Kwillies to …

Devin Singletary — Singletary had a good game statistically, throwing 16 carries for 65 yards (4.1 yards per carry) and a touchdown, including a 43-yard run that secured the win, and making four catches for 43 yards. Still, Singletary fumbled for the second straight week. Can’t let that become a trend.

Daniel Jones — I’ll be honest. I was torn between a Kudo and a Kwillie for the quarterback. I ended up going with the Kwillie.

Jones was good on Sunday. But not as good as he could have been.

The quarterback was 17 of 19 for 178 yards and two TDs in the first half. According to the broadcast, that was Jones’ career-high first-half completions. However, he went just 7 of 15 the rest of the way. Jones missed a deep throw to Nabers and likely missed a short throw to Wan’Dale Robinson that forced a punt. He came away with an early interception that was neutralized by a penalty, though I wonder if rookie tight end Theo Johnson wasn’t where Jones expected him to be on that play.

Jones threw only 1 of 4 balls more than 20 yards beyond the line of scrimmage and the completion was a great catch by Nabers on a contested ball.