Week 6: New York Giants at Cleveland

A friend and correspondent who watches a lot of Cleveland football has a theory about the team’s problems this year that, I’ll freely admit, is probably more likely to be true than mine. (Mine being that the team needed to sign players with names even fancy-pantsier than Brodney Pool and Kamerion Wimbley) (These players could be imaginary, even: the boost of adding “Darjeeling Windsor” and “Fauntleroy Puddington” should far outweigh the fact that those players don’t exist) My friend Ted’s theory, in miniature, is that Coach Romeo Crennel is a dolt whose understandings of time’s basic rudiments are congruent with those of certain lower-order woodland creatures. “We would have beaten the Steelers 21-10 had the team been coached by a live human being,” he posits.

Maybe, maybe not. But since the Browns don’t seem to be adding any imaginary players, it’s probably worth paying some attention to Coach Crennel’s role in the team’s downturn in 2008. Bad injury luck going into the season hasn’t helped, and QB Derek Anderson’s regression back to his career averages is – while hardly unforeseeable – kind of a big problem. But while Romeo’s decision-making in the Pittsburgh game was pretty lame, the team’s biggest problems overall seem to be with the fat guys not named Romeo.

The O-line should come around fairly soon, especially with ace OL Ryan Tucker returning this week, and must do so for the team’s running game to get going. The defensive line – augmented by dangerously overweight run/face-stuffers Shaun Rogers and Corey Williams – has been less injured than ineffective, generating negligible pass rush and doing little to stuff the run against any team but Cincinnati (which kind of does it themselves). The defense hasn’t been quite as terrible overall as it was last season, but that small-but-noticeable uptick towards competence has essentially been cancelled out by a formerly explosive offense that has gained fewer yards per game than any NFL team this season.

That Cleveland offense should get better, all things considered, especially as supporting players return from injury this week and next. But, considering that they’ve played a Giants defense that has looked every bit as good as it did during the team’s Super Bowl run last season, it probably won’t happen this week. There are still some holes in the Giants D – mostly in the secondary, although there’s been improvement there – but the amazing pass rush and strong linebacker play has made it impossible for any quarterback to stay upright long enough to take advantage of those weaknesses.

The Giants’ line play on the other side of the ball has been equally dominant, and the skill personnel has executed well enough to put the Giants in the NFL lead in yards (431) and points (31.7). A weak schedule notwithstanding, the Giants have looked…well, think of Romeo Crennel’s tight-polo-shirt spring coaching ensemble, and imagine its opposite. That’s how good the Giants have looked. Crennel has certainly made some mistakes with the Browns – from clock management to not signing that Fauntleroy Puddington kid to wearing too-tight shirts – but some things are more or less out of his control. Getting beaten by a Giants team that has done a pretty good imitation of a juggernaut thus far seems like one of those to us.

GIANTS BY 12