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After a demoralizing Week 1 loss to the Cowboys at home, the Browns turned it around in Week 2, going down to Duval County to face the Jacksonville Jaguars and coming home with a win. It wasn’t the prettiest win, but like touchdowns it’s not “How”, it’s “How many”. An early Deshaun Watson rushing TD, a trio of Dustin Hopkins field goals, and a late safety to seal it up and the Browns evened their record. Now we’re onto the Giants, a team yet to taste victory this early in the season, but one with some talent.
Giants (0-2) @ Browns (1-1)
Kickoff – 1:00p CBS
Line – Browns –6.5 O/u 38.5
Series - Browns 28-22-2
Last Meeting – Browns 20-6 @ East Rutherford, NJ on 12/20/2020
How Hot is Hot?
With the way last week’s game against the Commanders played out, and by that, I mean this -
The Giants became the first team in NFL history to lose a regulation game after scoring three touchdowns and allowing none.
As an outsider, that’s gross. As a fan, that’s gotta be awful. As a Giants player, it must be demoralizing. As a coach? It’s games like that that’ll get you fired. Giants HC Brian Daboll is in his third season in New York and despite winning the AP NFL Coach of the Year award in 2022 when he took the G-Men to the playoffs (including a victory over Minnesota), 2023 was a disappointment, and this year isn’t shaping up any better.
Sure, he was saddled with Daniel Jones who, rookie season aside, has been less-than-stellar in his NFL career, and not even having Jones for most of 2023 wasn’t any better. He also went into last week’s game with an injured kicker and no replacement.
If the Giants are flying home on Sunday evening with an 0-3 record, expect the heat to get turned up, WAY up, on Daboll.
Bits and Baubles
Browns – Amari Cooper has the worst catch rate in the NFL this season at 29.4%. Despite being targeted 17 times, Cooper has managed only 5 catches for 27 yds. Myles Garrett has the same issue in both feet but will be able to play through the pain and address it surgically after the season. Cleveland has committed a league-high 24 penalties after the first two weeks, five more than Pittsburgh.
Giants – The Giants new DC Shane Bowen has some issues with his run defense, it’s bad, not the worst, but still, pretty bad. Giving up 163/YRPGA isn’t good enough and going into a game against Cleveland they’ve got to be counting their lucky stars that the Browns are short-handed at the RB position this week. Rookie Malik Nabers is showing that he was worth that #6 pick, of 65 targeted passes this season, Nabers has been the recipient of 25 of them, reeling in just under 200 yards and a touchdown this season.
Injury report
Browns
David Bell – WR – OUT/IR (Hip)
Pierre Strong Jr. - RB – OUT (Hamstring)
David Njoku – TE – OUT (Ankle)
Jedrick Wills Jr. - OT – Questionable (Knee)
Jack Conklin – OT – Questionable (Knee)
Giants
Graham Gano – K – OUT/IR (Hamstring)
Nick McCloud – CB – OUT (Knee)
Brian Burns – LB – Questionable (Groin)
Darius Murasau – LB - Knee
Fantasy advice
Same as last week, David Njoku is sitting this one out and so Amari Cooper and Jerry Jeudy should be picking up his targets though Elijah Moore got a healthy target share as well. Don’t sweat Cooper’s poor performances so far this season, it looks like Watson is going to keep force feeding him the ball until he booms.
Malik Nabers is one of the rarest commodities there is in fantasy, a rookie receiver who is a solid week-to-week fantasy starter, unless he’s listed as “OUT”, he should be in your lineup. Jalin Hyatt might be poised for a breakout game this week with the Browns' defense focusing on Nabers. Now, Hyatt has zero catches on one target this season but he’s going to blow up soon, this might be the week.
Prediction
Browns 24-13
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