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Giants - Browns
Game 3 preview

Sun Sept 26, 1:00 pm (CBS) - Cleveland at Giants

Giants at home again, this time against the Browns.
Last week the Giants gave the home crowd a thrill and the fans are hoping for another. Timing is everything and the Giants are catching Cleveland at the right time. The Browns had a 20-3 victory over Baltimore in week one, but in playing the Cowboys last week a number of their starters were sidelined in the 19-12 losing effort.
The injuries were to five starters with defensive tackle Orpheus Roye hobbling off in the fourth quarter, and rookie tight end Kellen Winslow suffering a broken leg after scrambling to recover an onside kick in the closing seconds. Right tackle Ryan Tucker (strained quadriceps), and defensive tackle Gerard Warren (strained chest muscle) will miss Sunday's game. Defensive end Courtney Brown (foot) is out for the season. Browns cornerback Daylon McCutcheon had surgery Tuesday on a middle finger broken in last week's loss at Dallas, and cornerback Anthony Henry had a concussion and is suffering from vertigo.
Meanwhile, the Giants who are still shaking off some of their early season injuries, should be at near full strength with the exception of strong safety Shaun Williams (7 unassisted tackles last week) who injured a knee while making an interception in practice on Friday. Williams will have surgery on his left knee Monday to repair damaged cartilage. That puts fifth round pick Gibril Wilson in the starting lineup alongside free safety Brent Alexander.

Who are these guys?
Recently added starters, defensive tackle Fred Robbins, outside linebacker Barrett Green, free safety Brent Alexander and reserve strong safety Gibril Wilson came up big last week. They were responsible for five of the Giants seven takeaways on the Redskins 16 possessions.
- Barrett Green was the 50th pick overall in the 2000 draft, and a three-year starter with the Lions who had 110-plus tackles during those years. He had recovered a Clinton Portis fumble for a 16-yard return that gave the Giants a 14-7 lead in the second quarter.
- Fred Robbins, a 55th pick overall draft choice by the Vikings in 2000 was brought here to stop the run. In this game he also forced a fumble, had two sacks, and intercepted a batted pass from Mark Brunell. He returned the Giants first interception of the season 13 yards to set up Steve Christie's 38-yard field goal for a 17-7 lead.
- Brent Alexander signed as an undrafted free agent by the Arizona Cardinals in 1994, has started in every game he's played since 1998 with the Panthers and Steelers. He had the first of his two interceptions off Patrick Ramsey, who had replaced Brunell (hamstring) with 1:22 left in the third quarter. Alexander's second interception was at the Giants 9 yard line with just 6:15 to play in the game.
- Rookie Gibril Wilson, playing in his first NFL game, had a fourth-quarter interception at the Giants 10 yard line, and later knocked away a fourth down pass headed for Clinton Portis with 1:24 remaining in the game.

Giants offense.
Much like the Giants of last year where Kerry Collins and the troops would impressively marched downfield for an early score and then fade from sight, Kurt Warner scored in dramatic fashion on a nice 38 yard strike to Tim Carter for seven points early in the second quarter and that was mostly it for his troops. The defense set that play up when Michael Strahan recovered a fumble at Washington's 38 yard line.
Then the defense scored a fumble-recovery touchdown, and soon after gave the offense the ball at the Washington 28 on an interception. They couldn't get a first down and had to settle for a field goal.
The offense did manage one 72 yard drive to the Washington 4 yard line, but once again came away with just a field goal. That was it for the offense for the rest of the game, only 4 more first downs, no more points while managing to rush for only 8 yards. They must do much better especially on the ground as obviously you can't always rely on the defense coming up with seven turnovers and scoring points for you to win the game.

Cleveland offense.
There wasn't much there last week and Jeff Garcia isn't doing nearly as well as his counterpart Kurt Warner, as both quarterbacks settle in with their new teams. Warner completed his first eight passes, and ended up completing 22 passes on 33 attempts for 232 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. Garcia completed only 8 passes on 27 attempts for just 71 yards and was intercepted three times. His quarterback rating was 0.0, and ratings-wise, it was Garcia's worst day. Now the Browns rank last in the NFL in passing.
This week Garcia has to play much better. He got the ball to the Browns first-round draft choice Kellen Winslow only one time last week, even throwing deep to Dennis Northcutt when Winslow was wide open 20 yards downfield. Winslow's not available now as the Cleveland offense has to try to overcome the memories of last week's game and all the injuries. These injuries force matchups like inexperienced tackle Joaquin Gonzalez replacing Ryan Tucker and having to go up against Michael Strahan.

Notes.
Kurt Warner has not thrown an interception in his first two games.
Last week the rushing game averaged just 2.2 yards per carry (28 rushes, 62 yards).
Shaun O'Hara the starting center for the Giants spent his first four NFL career years with the Browns.
Jeremy Shockey goes up against Cleveland coach Butch Davis who was Shockey's college coach at Miami.
Giants are favored by 3 points.
Fans attending the game are urged to arrive early to allow extra time for the ongoing security precautions.

Next Game.
Oct 3, Giants at Greenbay 1:00 PM - FOX.
The Packers are coming off a 21-10 loss to the Bears as they go up against Indianapolis in the late afternoon game. It will be a tough game for the Giants because as you know, Brett Favre won't just lie down and play dead for Michael Strahan.


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