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Giants - Browns
Game 5 preview

Mon Oct 13, 8:30 PM - Giants at Cleveland
Giants (4-0) vs Cleveland (1-3).
The Browns were on their bye last week so they've had a good long time to study the Giants. They got to see how explosive the Giants offense can be even without their number one receiver on the field and it couldn't have made them happy. The last game Cleveland played was at Cincinnati where both teams were trying for their first win of the season. The Browns got it (20-12) and ironically the Giants may have played a part in that. The Giants had played Cincinnati the week prior and as a result, Carson Palmer was too banged up to play against the Browns. His backup, Ryan Fitzpatrick, threw three interceptions and sadly, was their leading rusher in the game, gaining 41 yards with his four scrambles.

Plaxico Burress and the others.
For Plaxico Burress, 'the others' might be as ominous a group as they are for Jack and Kate in that TV show Lost. Plaxico is back for this feature Monday night football match, and maybe the one game suspension was a lesson learned or not. Plaxico should realize that he could actually get lost in this group of extremely talented players who took his absence way too well. With continued poor behavior patterns, Plaxico could end up stranded on an island, where it has already been proven here that going it as a team leads to much greater rewards than just mere survival. Have I 'lost' any of you with all that? Sorry. Anyway, it should be noted that without Plaxico last week, Manning completed a career-best 76% of his passes (19-for-25) for 267 yards, had two touchdowns and no interceptions for a career-high passer rating of 136.6. Manning has increased his passer rating to 99.7 on the season.

Plaxico Burress who?
Actually, that's what the Browns might be saying, because when it comes to Giants receivers making big plays, Domenik Hixon is the first that comes to their minds. The Giants played the Browns in the preseason with Hixon starting for an injured Plaxico Burress. He caught 4 passes for 63 yards and 2 touchdowns and took a kickoff for an 82 yard touchdown return. Last Sunday, the bye week couch potato Browns watched Hixon and Sinorice Moss combine for eight catches for 147 yards and three touchdowns. Eight different players came away with receptions and some were pretty big. Individually, Hixon had 102 yards on his first four catches, including a touchdown. Moss finished with four catches for 45 yards, and caught a touchdown from both Eli Manning and backup David Carr. Amani Toomer had four catches for 64 yards, Steve Smith, Derrick Ward and Kevin Boss each had two receptions, and even rookie Mario Manningham got his first NFL catch.

Cleveland - Offense.
The Browns finished last season at 10-6 which was six games better than the year before. The offense was really hot, scoring 402 points and the Browns were scheduled for three Monday night games this season. So far they have been less than inspiring. The Browns have scored just 46 points in 4 games and their offense is ranked last in the league. Quarterback, Derek Anderson, has completed less than half of his passes, the longest being 23 yards. His receivers are banged up, and or recovering, and so, tight end Kellen Winslow, leads the team with 19 catches for 170 yards and one touchdown, Unfortunately, he's missed practices this week and is listed as questionable, in the hospital with 'an undisclosed illness'. Running back Jamal Lewis was fifth in the league with 1,304 rushing yards last season. He currently has 235 yards over 4 games and is averaging 3.4 yards a carry.

Cleveland - Defense.
They are ranked 22nd against the run (126) and 10th vs. the pass (187). That defense faces a Giants team that leads the NFL in total offense (431 yards per game), rushing yards (181.3), yards per carry (5.8), first downs (24.2) and points (31.7). They've added Shaun Rogers and Corey Williams to improve their run defense. Dallas hit them good in the season opener but the Browns have improved since then. They held the next three teams to less than 300 yards of total offense. Still they have their work cut out for them, and for some strange reason decided to call out Brandon Jacobs this week. Corey Williams said, "If we can come out and hit him in the mouth from the jump, he tends to slow down and do some tip-toeing." Maybe he was watching some bye week Giants- Cincinnati gamefilm where Jacobs had 14 carries for only 35 yards. Aside from Brandon Jacobs averaging 5.8 yards a carry overall this season, Derrick Ward and Ahmad Bradshaw average 6.6. Of course, the defense has Eli Manning and all those receivers to worry about as well.

Giants - Kicking.
John Carney last week made three fieldgoal attempts and is 12-for-12 this season, but his kickoffs have come up short and one of them was out of bounds. Four of the nine kickoffs by Carney did not reach the 10-yard line and Coughlin said, "The ball out of bounds was not a good sign. We will just continue to evaluate that on a weekly basis." Tom Coughlin said this week Things will be similar to last week as he waits until game day to decide who will be activated Monday night, even though Tynes is no longer listed on the injury report.

David Tyree
He's been on the physically unable to perform list, and is eligible to start practicing next week. Tom Coughlin said he is uncertain if Tyree will return to work right away. The Giants have a four-week window in which to begin a three-week practice period before they have to decide on whether to activate Tyree.

NFC East Games.
On Sunday, St Louis plays at Washington at 1:00PM.
The 4:15PM games are Philadelphia playing at San Francisco, and Dallas at Arizona.

Check out.
The Team Giants Store, and see some of the really unique items we put together.
There are some items you certainly haven't seen elsewhere, and each sale helps out our site.

Notes.
Tom Coughlin and Browns coach Romeo Crennel worked together on Bill Parcells’ Giants staff that won Super Bowl XXV.

Giants are 14-2 in October under Tom Coughlin.

Former Giant Joe Jurevicius, Cleveland's third-leading receiver in 2007, developed a staph infection after having offseason knee surgery.
He is currently on their physically unable to perform list.

Giants most recently won 27-10 over the Browns on Sept. 26, 2004, and haven't lost in Cleveland since 1973.
Cleveland's last win over the Giants was 35-33 on Dec. 1, 1985 at Giants stadium

Giants have won 12 straight away from home, including the Super Bowl, which is considered a neutral site.

Giants are off to their best start since winning 10 in a row to open the 1990 season.

Cleveland is 5-9 in games after a bye week.

Cleveland is 0-2 at home where they will be facing the Giants.

Cleveland is on the road to face the 4-1 Washington Redskins next week.

Next Game
Oct. 19 San Francisco at Giants 1PM.
Giants Tickets  -  Buy or Sell      850+ Tickets / Parking Passes! (as of 10/11 - 10:00AM)

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