January 9, 2009
BROWNS 35, GIANTS 14
Giants battered by Browns for first loss
Manning throws 3 picks as Big Blue suffers first defeat of season
Eli Manning leaves the field after losing 35-14 to the Cleveland Browns. Manning injured his ribs during this game, but an MRI was negative. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images / October 13, 2008)
CLEVELAND - It's been a long time since a Giants locker
room sounded like the one after last night's game: Silent.
As the defending Super Bowl champions absorbed their first loss in 10 months and 15 days, there was hardly a breath in the room. A 35-14 loss to a one-win team that entered the game with the worst offense in the NFL but never needed to punt will suck the wind from a team like that.
But within minutes of taking it on the chin from the Browns, the Giants had returned to their senses. The focus suddenly shifted to Sunday's game against the 49ers, just six short days away. And several players even admitted that they were kind of glad the team lost.
"There's no need to panic," linebacker Antonio Pierce said. "It's good. It's humbling."
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Running back Brandon Jacobs said the team might have needed a loss to refocus. "We needed to take that L and bring some people down a notch, know that we can get beat and come out playing harder," he said.
The Giants may have been spinning the defeat, but while they were on the field, it was the Browns who spun the Giants into the ground. Their offense kept the vaunted and physical Giants defense away from quarterback Derek Anderson, allowing him to throw for 301 yards and two touchdowns, and the defense intercepted Eli Manning three times, the final one returned by Eric Wright for a 94-yard TD with 8:07 left.
"A bad throw by me," said Manning, who entered the game having thrown just one interception all season. "I knew I had the right coverage, I've just got to throw it to the inside. [ Amani Toomer] ran a good route. Just a bad throw on my part."
Down by three touchdowns, the Giants drove to the Browns' 6 but turned it over on downs when a pass for Steve Smith skipped short with 3:58 remaining. That sparked a chant by the Cleveland fans that must have seemed implausible when the no-respect Giants started the season: "Over-rated!"
It was the first loss for the Giants since Dec. 29 when they fell to the Patriots in the regular-season finale. It ended their overall winning streak at eight games and their road win streak at 11.
The Browns clearly studied the Giants during their two weeks of preparation. In fact, they practically stole the game plan used by the Bengals three weeks ago, using a series of three-step drops and quick slants to keep the blitzes at bay.
The Browns churned out an 87-yard drive that ate up 8 minutes and 16 seconds and included five offensive penalties to take a 27-14 lead on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Derek Anderson to Braylon Edwards with 14:55 left in the game. The interception return and two-point conversion capped the scoring.
Things never seemed to click for the Giants, who held a 7-3 lead after a 7-yard TD run by Jacobs but almost immediately lost that lead when Jamal Lewis scored on a 4-yard run that was set up by a 70-yard pass from Anderson to Edwards. It was a deep throw in which Aaron Ross lost his footing while biting on an Edwards flinch to the outside.
The Browns pulled ahead 17-7 with 2:15 left in the first half as Anderson hit backup tight end Darnell Dinkins on a 22-yard seam pass between the coverage of Pierce underneath and safety Kenny Phillips over the top. Still, the Giants managed to close within a field goal at halftime when the drove 80 yards in 2:03 - helped by four consecutive passes to Smith for 56 yards - and scored on a touchdown pass from Manning to Plaxico Burress with 12 seconds left.
The Giants received the ball to start the second half and seemed poised to regain control of the game. Even Tom Coughlin said he thought the team would take the lead on that possession. "That didn't happen," Coughlin said, as Manning was intercepted on a deep pass for Burress. The ball was thrown to the outside on what was supposed to be a post route.
The Giants will dissect the loss today and, they hope, learn how to rebound from a loss. It's something they've actually been practicing for a while. "We've done a good job of even after a win, preparing as if we'd lost our last game," Shaun O'Hara said. "It'll just be a little easier this week to actually do that."
SUNDAY
49ers at Giants
1 p.m.
TV: Ch. 5
Radio: WFAN (660)
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