10 things to watch in Giants vs. Browns

The Giants’ defense had mixed results in last weekend’s NFC East matchup. The unit struggled to slow down the Commanders’ rushing attack, as Brian Robinson Jr. broke out for a career-high 133 yards and 7.8 average yards per carry, Austin Ekeler added 38 yards on eight carries, and quarterback Jayden Daniels contributed an additional 44 yards on the ground. Altogether, Washington finished with 215 rushing yards and an average of just over 6.0 yards per carry. Due to their success running the football, the Commanders dominated the time of possession, 37:32 to 22:28.

The Giants also had difficulty getting off the field on third down. The Commanders converted on 50 percent of their third down attempts (seven of 14), in addition to their lone fourth down attempt. In the season opener, Washington was only able to convert on two of their eight third down tries. All of this led to the Commanders scoring on every single one of their drives, except for a kneel-down before halftime.

There was a big positive for the defense, though. The unit, led by defensive coordinator Shane Bowen, has emphasized the importance of “protecting their house” when opponents get into the red zone. Well, the Commanders had six trips inside the Giants’ 20-yard line on Sunday, and the defense was able to keep them out of the end zone every time. Washington even got the ball inside the 10-yard line on four occasions, and each time the defense held tough. The pass rush also registered five sacks and seven quarterback hits on Daniels, a big improvement from their one sack and two quarterback hits in the opener.

“Four-point plays are critical,” Daboll told the media Wednesday about the team’s red zone defense. “Three-point game. Playing well in the red zone, you’ve got to do a good job of keeping them out of the red zone more and continue to evolve offensively and score when we’re down in the red zone, which in the first game we didn’t. Last game we did. The consistency factor early on in the year on both sides we’ll continue to work on.”

Malik Nabers isn’t the only Giants rookie performing well to start the season. Through the first two games, the Giants have had three players on the field for every defensive snap – linebacker Bobby Okereke, cornerback Tae Banks, and Tyler Nubin. The rookie safety has recorded 11 total tackles (eight solo) to start off his NFL career while lining up all over the…