Week 3: Tales from the timeline

The New York Giants earned a 21-15 road victory over the Cleveland Browns after a devastating start. New York’s coaching staff positioned them well to defeat Cleveland. Shane Bowen dialed up the pressure and blitzed on 57% of DeShaun Watson’s drop backs, with significantly more Cover-1 and Cover-1-Hole on the backend.

The Giants twisted, slanted, and used several pressure methods to confuse and harass Watson. New York also started running more quarters from pre-snap middle-of-the-field closed looks in the second half. The Giants were disciplined and gap-sound vs. the run, and used tempered rushes to contain Watson, who only had 26 yards rushing.

The Giants had a field day defensively. Dexter Lawrence currently has 17 pressures and three sacks on the season; he ranks top five in pressures, and Zach Allen of the Broncos is the only interior defensive lineman with more pressures than Lawrence (Allen has 18). Below are all of Dexter Lawrence’s pressures from Week 3:

Lawrence made a statement early in the game by forcing this third-down sack:

Bowen deserves a massive cap tip; he identified a problem with the Browns and relentlessly attacked their offensive line and quarterback. Head coach Kevin Stefanski found few solutions until late in the third quarter when the Browns sprung a solid HB-Draw run to Ford, followed by a first-and-10 screen with 1:19 left in that quarter — it was the first time since their opening play that the Browns’ offense gained leverage in the tug-of-war match. That’s one reason why the end result was this much pressure for the Giants:

Here are some of the sacks, and pressures:

Azeez Ojulari’s impact was felt in the game. He played a season-high 28 snaps on Sunday and recorded four pressures with a sack.

The Giants attacking style on defense dictated how this game would materialize. The Giants also had this beautiful third-and-1 stuff of a Watson QB sneak:

The Giants’ defense feasted against a beat-up offensive line and did what they needed to do. Watson was bad in the game, but massive credit should still go to Bowen.

Offense

The offense stayed on script and attacked the Browns’ aggressive defense well. In our preview of the Browns’ defense, we discussed how quick the Browns are to fit the run and how their aggressive style stifled the Jaguars to a 49% no-gain or negative play rate in Week 2. New York overcame two holding penalties on its second drive, which ended in this Devin Singletary touchdown:

That second drive was 13 plays and went for 81 yards. Twenty-three of those yards came on a first-and-10 screen:

The screen was a huge play on the drive, but Jones was able to connect with Wan’Dale Robinson on second-and-16, positioning the Giants in Browns’ territory:

Cleveland brought blind-side pressure at Jones several times, and the Giants adjusted well. One of the blind-side blitzes was the roughing the passer penalty that negated an interception; I’m uncertain if the interception was more Theo Johnson’s fault for not being in position — it’s hard to say. Regardless, Johnson hasn’t looked great through three games on other plays (he’s played on more than 80% of the team’s snaps this season).

Daboll made Schwartz pay with simple, quick concepts to attack their aggression, like Tyron Tracy Jr.’s 12-yard catch and run on first-and-17:

Despite the offensive mistakes, the Giants stayed on script and put themselves in a successful position on that first drive — a drive where Malik Nabers did not see a target but did see two carries, with one on fourth-and-short. However, the game became the Malik Nabers’ show after that drive.

Jones diagnosed the blindside pressure while deep in his territory on second-and-eleven. The Giants would go on and score:

Singletary does a phenomenal job making Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah miss in space. Singletary currently ranks second in missed tackles forced (17) behind 49ers RB Jordan Mason.

The Malik Nabers Show

“The Malik Nabers Show, starring…Malik Nabers, Brian Daboll, Daniel Jones…” Luckily for us, the audience, it’s a VERY good and entertaining show. Nabers finished with eight catches on 12 targets for 78 yards with two touchdowns, two carries, and a passing attempt. Here are all of his targets from Week 3:

His first touchdown was an excellent move to beat his defender to the corner while showing sensational body control, concentration, and levitation ability:

He is quickly becoming one of the best receivers in football. Speaking of, he did his best Randy Moss impression to get the Giants into scoring position before the touchdown above:

If Nabers just had forced an incomplete pass it would have been a positive play on his resume — BUT TO COME DOWN WITH THE FOOTBALL?! Remarkable. Here’s a quick video of the previous two plays:

Nabers scored another touchdown shortly after Brian Burns forced a fumble in the two-minute drill before the first half’s conclusion. Jones did a good job staying on the outside receiver, which created the throwing window to a leaping Nabers in the end zone:

Rushing attack

The Giants only had 3.5 yards per carry on the ground, and 43 of Singletary’s 65 yards came on this play that sealed the Giants’ victory late in the fourth quarter:

Remove that 43-yard gain, and the Giants look almost inept on the ground. However, the Browns all-out uber-aggressive approach against the run lead to the Giants’ success through the air and with deception.

As previously mentioned, the Browns were deadly attacking forward and shut the Jaguars down near the line of scrimmage in Week 2. The Giants had a few negative runs, but the offensive coaching staff did a marvelous job of making Schwartz and his defense pay for their aggressive approach.

New York ran split-zone, duo, and zone-read to keep the back-side pursuit defender in check. Daboll’s play-action passes, screens, and game plan versus the aggressive team forced them out of position; coaching, plus the Giants’ execution, bested the Browns. Here are a few other quality runs by the Giants:

Other offensive plays

I appreciated the Giants’ own aggressive approach on defense, and that mentality was also applied to the offense in the second-half. New York did not just attempt to bleed the clock out with a two-possession lead. It’s fair to question if it was a wise decision, but they attempted a TE Leak play to Theo Johnson that was nearly intercepted; thankfully, Nabers knocked the pass away from the Browns’ defender:

Jones gains a lot of depth on his drop, which would have made this a VERY far throw for the quarterback. Also, the Browns do a good job closing width on Johnson. This may have become another disaster if Nabers didn’t knock the ball away. I do, however, appreciate the aggressive nature. The Giants also took two consecutive slot-fade shots to Nabers in the second-half.

They also opened the second half to combat the Browns’ aggressive style with this play-action completion to Daniel Bellinger:

I also want to highlight another tight end — Chris Manhertz. He’s played 28%, 46%, and 38% of the snaps each week, respectively. Not only is he trusted as the duo TE to the play-side, tasked frequently to hold the point of attack against 270+ pound defenders, but he’s also nimble and strong enough as a pass protector:

If there’s an unsung player on the offense, it’s Manhertz, who does the dirty work in the trenches and competes his backside off to success. He was an excellent addition and filled a role that the Giants desperately lacked depth in last season.