As any devotee of the NFL knows, games contain matchups, and those matchups are studied, analyzed and graded before they even happen. Who has the edge, which position group appears to be heading into oncoming trouble, what inadequacies or dominance can be anticipated.
This week, the Giants get a taste of all this, minus the consequences. Players were off on Monday. They practice at the team facility on Tuesday and then travel on Wednesday to Cleveland, where they will engage in joint practices Thursday and Friday with the Browns in Berea, Ohio. If the two teams can still stand the sight of each other after that, they will go ahead with their regularly scheduled preseason game Sunday afternoon at FirstEnergy Stadium.
The Browns are loaded, looking to take another step forward after their quantum leap in 2020, when they went 11-5 and qualified for the playoffs (they beat the Steelers in the wild-card round) to end an NFL-high 18-year postseason absence. They have premier players all across the field, and the upcoming one-on-one battles and team drills figure to greatly challenge the Giants in every way.
The first preseason game for the Giants was largely about evaluating the bottom half of the roster. Coach Joe Judge will get more of his starters on the field for the second and third preseason games. In many ways, though, what happens this week leading into the game with the Browns — and the following week, in joint practices with the Patriots in Foxborough, Mass. — will provide Judge a more accurate blueprint when it comes to finding the best 53 players to take into the season.
Joe Judge and the Giants will have joint practices with the Browns this week. Corey Sipkin“There’s no replication for a game,” Judge said. “Any experience these players get in a game itself is critical at the beginning of the season. The things you do in practice, you don’t do a lot of live tackling.
“So, the game itself is critical for them to be prepared physically and mentally, but in terms of the joint practices, it’s definitely a key part of our preparation. We’re at Cleveland, after that we’ll be in New England. Both will be unique in our experiences in terms of what we’re going to focus on with the other team, but both will be critical for us.”
There will be individual drills, seven-on-seven periods and full 11-on-11 periods, in full pads. Giants defensive backs, already so accustomed to going against their own receivers, now get to work against Jarvis Landry and, yes, perhaps, Odell Beckham Jr., who is coming off Nov. 10 surgery to repair a torn ACL. Saquon Barkley had his ACL reconstructed on Oct. 30 and will be held out of the joint practices this week. Beckham thus far has participated only in individual drills, so he might not run routes on any Giants defenders.
Seeing the blue figures to trigger something in Beckham, who after starring for the Giants on the field and making all sorts of noise off it was traded away after the 2018 season.
The Giants’ defense will also get to work against running backs Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt, and tight end Austin Hooper, plus a top-notch offensive line led by guard Joel Bitonio and tackle Jack Conklin. After honing in on the rhythms of Daniel Jones, Mike Glennon and Clayton Thorson throwing the ball day after day, the Giants on defense get to scope out Baker Mayfield, Case Keenum and Kyle Lauletta, a Giants fourth-round pick in 2018.
Safety Jabrill Peppers, who came to the Giants in the Beckham trade, was the Browns’ 2017 first-round pick and spent two years in Cleveland. He said “you know, not really’’ when asked if this return will mean anything special to him.
“It will just be nice to bang and compete against someone other than your own teammates,’’ Peppers said. “I think we have those guys and New England, so I’m going into them both the same way, gotta work on my technique, my fundamentals against other good players who are not your teammates. That’ll add to the competition aspect of it, but that’s about it.’’
For an offensive line that needs all the hard work it can get, the Giants will be tested by Myles Garrett and Jadeveon Clowney, pass rushers who likely will rough up the Giants’ tackles in individual drills.
“I think the veterans probably feel a kind of, I don’t know, I don’t wanna say sense of urgency, but it will be more than just a normal practice here at our facility,’’ Glennon said.
“I know it’s going to be competitive,’’ rookie linebacker Azeez Ojulari said. “To have the opportunity to go up against somebody else at practice is going to be good for us.’’
