LITTLE GIANTS
The Giants had a chance to move into first place Sunday night. In Week 15 of the NFL season. Still playing meaningful games a few days before Christmas.
By the end of the evening, the Giants and Joe Judge were put in their place. They were outclassed by the Browns, losing 20-6 at MetLife Stadium, once again putting an embarrassingly unproductive offense on the field and this time getting what could be seen as too aggressive decision-making from their rookie head coach.
First place felt a million miles away.
The word that comes to mind: Outclassed.
Colt McCoy, starting in place of injured Daniel Jones, was unable to get the Giants in the end zone. When McCoy was able to move the ball, points did not materialize on the scoreboard after Judge eschewed two field goals in the first half for a bad fake and a failed fourth-down run.
“Field goals weren’t going to win this game,’’ Judge said after the Giants dropped to 5-9 and into third place. “I’m not afraid to call things aggressively. When you make calls like that, you let your players understand you have confidence in them and that they can play the game aggressively.’’
It did not work. McCoy, getting the plays called by tight end coach Freddie Kitchens, replacing offensive coordinator Jason Garrett (COVID-19) was 19 of 31 for 221 yards. McCoy did not come close to duplicating his upset in Seattle when he subbed for Jones two weeks ago.
Baker Mayfield (27 of 32, 297 yards, 2 TDs) enjoyed a rocking chair game, throwing free and easy from the pocket, rarely touched, often able to choose from an appetizing array of open targets as the Browns improved to 10-4 and moved closer to solidifying their first playoff berth since 2002.
“Hats off to Baker,’’ safety Logan Ryan said. “If we didn’t have respect for him then we defi
nitely have respect for him now, because he definitely was one of the most efficient quarterbacks we went against this year.’’
The day started off just fine for the Giants. Washington lost to the Seahawks 20-15. The Cowboys moved out of last place, beating the 49ers 41-33. The Eagles went down in Arizona 33-26. The Giants could have moved ahead of Washington (6-8) and back into first place in the division, based on sweeping their two-game season series. That did not happen. Instead, they fell to 5-9 and into a tie for second-place tie with the Cowboys (5-9), with the Eagles (4-9-1) in last place.
“We’re not totally out of this thing,’’ receiver Sterling Shepard said.
The Giants had three red-zone trips in the first half and came away with only three points, and
Judge has to take some of the heat for the lack of production. Twice, he waved off short field goals and twice he came up empty. As a result, the Giants trailed 14-3 at halftime.
The Giants got the ball first and advanced to the Browns’ 5-yard line. Judge sent out Graham Gano, but the field goal unit immediately shifted with holder Riley Dixon dropping back as a quarterback. He took the snap and chose a bad option, throwing the ball over the reach of center Nick Gates.
“You hit that thing and you’re the guru,’’ Judge said. “You don’t
hit that thing everyone wants to second-guess the decision.’’
Next, the Giants used some solid running by Alfred Morris to get to the Cleveland 5-yard line. Again, Judge had no interest in tacking on three points. He went for it on fourth-and-1 and Wayne Gallman was stopped for no gain.
“Joe’s an aggressive head coach,’’ Ryan said. “You can do that when you have a really good defense and you believe in your defense. We got to back our head coach when he does make aggressive calls.’’
Backed up deep in their own territory, the Browns made the Giants pay for the gamble, as they embarked on a 10-play, 95yard drive culminated in Mayfield’s 2-yard touchdown pass to Jarvis Landry, who leaped over Isaac Yiadom in the back of the end zone.
The Giants played without James Bradberry, their top cornerback, who is in self-isolation as a high-risk close contact after his chiropractor tested positive for COVID-19. That sapped the secondary of an irreplaceable defender and the coverage suffered in a big way.
Still, the Giants allowed 20 points to a team that scored 41 and 42 the past two games.
“We moved the ball up and down the field and we just have to figure out how to score touchdowns,’’ McCoy said. “Our defense is playing well, they only gave up 20 points. I think if you want to point the finger at anybody you can point it at me, I need to be better, I need to get us lined up right, I need to make sure I’m pinpoint with my throws down in the red zone and we’ve got to score more points.’’