5 Under-the-radar Giants to watch against Cleveland Browns in Week 15
These Giants are familiar to Cleveland Browns fans
The Cleveland Browns travel to greater New York City — Metlife Stadium in East Rutherford New Jersey to be precise — where no one can escape the media spotlight. There will be a buzz in the air, much like the Ravens at Browns game, simply because it’s the media capital of the world, and the people who write about the Giants are even a little nuttier than we are.
As of last week, the delirious New York media, which always overreacts to events both good and bad, was boosting coach Joe Judge for NFL Coach of the Year honors, on the strength of a four-game winning streak after starting the season 1-7. That 5-7 seemed much more impressive to many of the New York writers than the Browns going 9-3. Why? Because it’s New York!
An additional rationale could be that superstar Saquon Barkley was injured, and so any kind of offensive performance was not expected, especially because the Giants were unable to find any other backs besides Barkley in 2018 and 2019. Furthermore, New Yorkers are ecstatic at the performance of Daniel Jones, who has a chance to become the next Eli Manning.
Of course, they already had Eli Manning and could not wait to get rid of him, but that is beside the point. Not sure that they understood who they had. Manning led them to two Super Bowls, but Giants fans figure it is simply their birthright, and anyway it is four less than New England had with Brady, so Manning was obviously terrible.
Baker Mayfield, you see, is not the only quarterback who is treated unfairly by the press and by the fans. Nevertheless, Jones is a very good quarterback who deserved to be drafted high in the first round.
This week, the New York media is back to calling for the scalp of Dave Gettleman, the general manager. He gave up a superstar talent to the Cleveland Browns in Odell Beckham, Jr., but he also acquired a first-round draft pick plus Jabrill Peppers and cut some money off the salary cap, which will add up to something in a few years.
It seemed to this author at the time that the OBJ deal was a clear win for the Browns as they were planning a Super Bowl run in 2019 and the Giants were not, except that the Super Bowl run did not happen. Each year that the Giants accrue salary cap savings that helps them to afford a future free agent, and they have performers in star defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence (taken with that 17th overall pick in 2019) and Peppers.
So why kill Gettleman for that? Or for Daniel Jones not attaining Hall of Fame status in his second year? Or Saquon Barkley injuring his knee. Dang it Gettleman, you should only draft players who do not get injured! Every Giants fan knows that.
OBJ would have been much more important to the 2020 Browns team than he was to the 2019 team, so it is a double shame that he will miss his homecoming.
There are several former Browns who you may not realize are still in the NFL, let alone playing for the Giants. Backup quarterback Colt McCoy may see action if Daniel Jones’ bad hamstring does not heal in time for Sunday night, and practice team quarterback Alex “Youtube” Tanney. Yep, they are still out there, but not guaranteed to see action on Sunday night. One player who will see action is Jabaal Sheard who was run out of Cleveland to make room for Barkevious Mingo.
5. Former Browns quarterback Colt McCoy
Colt McCoy was drafted by the Browns back in 2010 and became one of a series of quarterback scapegoats in 2012 when the Browns drafted Brandon Weeden. The feeble-minded Browns front office decided that they could not stand the potential quarterback controversy of having McCoy and Brandon Weeden on the same roster (remember the problems of the San Francisco 49ers with Joe Montana and Steve Young? That is what the Browns were fearing.
They need not have worried. In 2011, McCoy had thrown 14 touchdown passes versus 11 interceptions. That’s not great but should have been acceptable to be the backup quarterback for Brandon Weeden, who was literally nearing retirement age on his rookie contract.
McCoy had a season with the San Francisco 49ers and then found his way to the Washington Football Team. He was a competent backup for five seasons and now has surfaced as a New York Giant. At 6-foot-1 and 212-pounds, he is the same size as Baker Mayfield.
There is a substantial chance he may see action on Sunday because Daniel Jones is all banged up with a pulled hamstring and a sprained ankle and he did not get any healthier with six sacks last week. Coach Chris Palmer and the Browns made up the theory in 1999 that it builds character for young quarterbacks to get sacked 50 times or more in a single season. However, it says here that this is faulty training. Quarterbacks are trained to lose when subjected to this type of punishment.