The Giants had a chance to move into first place on Sunday-evening. In week 15 of the NFL season. Still playing meaningful games a few days before Christmas. That was the state of the NFC East. Such was the state of their modest but significant improvement seen this season.
By the end of the night, the Giants and Joe Judge were put in place. They were outclassed by the Browns, lost 20-6 at MetLife Stadium, put another embarrassingly unproductive foul on the field and this time got some shaky decision-making from their starting head coach.
First place felt millions of miles away.
The word that comes to mind: outclassed.
Colt McCoy, who started in place of the injured Daniel Jones, was totally ineffective and couldn’t get the Giants into the end zone. When he was able to move the ball, there were no points on the scoreboard after Judge avoided two field goals in the first half due to a bad fake and a failed fourth-down run. It was as if Judge had no confidence that his team could stick to the usual script – playing close, tight games and making a four-quarter turn.
McCoy went 19-for-31 for 221 yards – much of his yardage came in garbage time – and without much of a running game, he didn’t come close to duplicating his upset in Seattle when he filled in for Jones two weeks ago.
Baker Mayfield (27 of 32, 297 yards, 2 TDs) enjoyed a swing chair game, threw free and easy from the pocket, rarely touched, often able to pick from a tasty range of open goals as the Browns improved to 10-4 and closer to solidifying their first playoff berth since 2002.
Unless the Giants players and coaches were silent on radio and television and were away from social media all day, they knew how they fared in the league in week 15 before ever taking the field. From their point of view, two out of three were not bad. Their biggest rival in the NFC East, the Washington Football Team, lost 20-15 to the Seahawks. The Cowboys left last place, beating the 49ers 41-33. The Eagles went down 33-26 in Arizona.
All in all, not a bad turn of events for the Giants. They could have advanced for Washington (6-8) and back to first place in the division, based on a sweep in the two-game season series. That did not happen. Instead, they dropped to 5-9 and tied for third with the Cowboys (5-9), with the Eagles (4-9-1) in last place. Washington decides its fate in the division, and the Giants will likely have to beat the Ravens and Cowboys for a chance to extend Judge’s first season.
The Giants had three runs in the red zone in the first half and got away with just three runs, and Judge has to face the lack of production. Twice he swung away short field goals and twice he came empty. As a result, the Giants trailed 14-3 at half time.
It was as if Judge didn’t believe his team could stay with the Browns unless he took big swings. Judge missed twice.
The Giants got the ball first and advanced to the Browns 5-yard line. Judge dismissed Graham Gano, but the field goal unit immediately shifted and holder Riley Dixon fell back as a quarterback. He took the snap and chose a bad option, throwing the ball over center Nick Gates’ reach. It was a worthless fake attempt.
Next, the Giants used some solid running through Alfred Morris to get to the Cleveland 5-yard line. Again, Judge had no interest in tacking on three counts. He went for fourth-and-1 and Wayne Gallman was stopped without a win when Sterling Shepard failed to stop his man from backfield.
The Browns backed up deep into their own territory and made the Giants pay for the gamble as they embarked on a 10-play, 95-yard ride that culminated in Mayfield’s 2-yard touchdown pass to Jarvis Landry, passing over Isaac Yiadom jumped into the back of the end zone. The Browns led 13-3 after missing the extended (48-yard) extra run created by a harassing penalty from Landry.
McCoy was 6 of 12 for 91 yards in the first half. His most notable pass was one where he didn’t connect. He had a tight end to Evan Engram open from the Cleveland 19-yard line, but the ball hung up, allowing safety Karl Joseph to arrive and hit the ball off Engram.
The Giants played without James Bradberry, their top cornerback, who is isolated to himself as a risky close contact after his chiropractor tested positive for COVID-19. That undermined the secondary of an irreplaceable defender, and cover suffered greatly. They couldn’t handle the tight ends the Browns put into routes and Mayfield had easy choices as he was rarely pressured as he rolled out of the bag.
Already in control, the Browns dropped the hammer when they put together another 95-yard drive, with Nick Chubb conceding a yard out early in the fourth quarter.