Giants lost their first preseason game to Cleveland 17-14.
There was a 79 minute weather delay just after the game started.
Eli Manning was 6-of-8 for 53 yards and 1 TD.
Tim Hasselbeck was 8-of-15 for 87 yards with 1 INT and 1 TD.
Jesse Palmer was 3-of-6 for 37 yards and 1 INT.
Plaxico Burress and Ataveus Cash each had touchdown catches.
Brandon Jacobs had 12 carries for 73 yards and 2 catches for 13 yards.
Michael Cloud had 5 carries for 58 yards and 2 catches for 15 yards.
Michael Strahan had 1 sack.

Game Notes:
"I felt for the Browns fans knowing what it's like to sit through a bad weather day at the stadium, but at least the Giants fans at home got to see that nifty highlight film. It's like I say, 'There's an NFL highlight film for every team no matter how bad they were last year.' It was great to see Eli Manning lead the Giants to a touchdown on their very first possession of the season. It was even better that it was a touchdown pass to a wide receiver, something we didn't see on that highlight film they showed.
Penalties were pretty bad, but both teams made a bunch, so I'll hope it was due to the bad weather conditions and not something we'll see continue into next game. I doubt Tom Coughlin would put up with that. I remember that the low number they had in their first game with him as head coach was brought up by the press last year. (Giants had 5 and the Chiefs had 19 - TG Staff). It looks like Tiki will have some real backup help this year after seeing Brandon Jacobs and Mike Cloud play this game. Football is just starting and I want more. We'll see Carolina in a home game next week and I'm looking forward to that."

Game Notes:
"The Giants lost their first game, but that hardly matters in preseason. If you remember, they won the first time out last year and finished the season at 6-10. For the first game, on the road with bad weather conditions and an unusual long weather delay, you couldn't expect much. Just to talk about quarterbacks for a minute, Manning looked real good behind an improved offensive line, but as Harry Carson pointed out, we didn't see much depth behind him in this game. It's true that the other quarterbacks didn't have the first team on the field along with them, but the backup quarterback will usually be coming in when situations are bad and they have to have the skills to handle that.

Jesse Palmer may have gotten a bad rap from the announcers (sorry Harry). Tim Carter's foot got tangled up with his defender and Carter was falling forward, unable to continue his route. That made it easy for the ball to get picked off. Palmer made a good play when he was forced to scramble over to the sidelines out of bounds. He picked up 3 yards to face a manageable 3rd down and 4 at the Giants 21 after guiding the team up from their own 2 yard line. Palmer apparently forgot that it would take some extra time to scoot back to the huddle and get things going, because he was hit with a delay of game penalty. Now facing a 3rd and 9, the Browns were all over him and he was sacked for 11 yards.

Tim Hasselbeck looked good for awhile, and he threw a touchdown pass to Ataveus Cash to tie the game, but then he faded later in the fourth quarter. Is it just me, but Hasselbeck sure seems hyper. He doesn't stand still for second on the field. Jared Lorenzen didn't play much. He came in on one play and picked up a first down on a quarterback sneak. Later he was back in for the last play of the game, using his strong arm for the long hail-Mary toss that went incomplete.

One last thing. There must be a big difference fielding kickoffs instead of punts. Willie Ponder excels at kickoff returns, but looked terrible auditioning for punts."

Notes:

All four of the Giants quarterbacks got into the game.
Lorenzen came in to quarterback a play where he rushed up forward for a 1 yard gain and a 1st down.

Brandon Jacobs, the Giants 4th-round draft choice, rushed for 73 yards on 12 carries.
Jacobs also had a total of 66 yards erased by 3 Giants penalties, including a 43-yard run and 11 yards on a 3rd-and-1.

Michael Strahan had the Giants' only sack.

Giants committed 3 turnovers and had 15 accepted penalties for 121 yards.

Both teams combined for 28 penalties totaling 236 yards.

Romeo Crennel made his NFL head coaching debut for the Browns.

Last year in preseason game 1, Ron Dayne scored 2 touchdowns on runs of 29 and 67 yards.

Next Game
Sat, Aug. 20 Carolina at Giants, 8:00 PM ET

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