Odell Beckham Jr., Giants Keep Browns Winless With 27-13 Victory

Odell Beckham Jr. recovered from a right thumb injury early on to record six catches for 96 yards and two touchdowns, thus leading the New York Giants to a 27-13 road victory over the still-winless Cleveland Browns on Sunday.

Odell Beckham Jr., Giants Keep Browns Winless With 27-13 Victory

It marked the sixth consecutive win for the Giants (8-3), their longest wining streak since 2008. If the season had ended Sunday afternoon, they would have earned the first wild-card spot in the NFC. They travel to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers (6-5) next Sunday.

The Browns, meanwhile, have now fallen to 0-12, with an NFL-worst point differential of minus-155. If they lose their final four games, they will become the second 0-16 team in NFL history, joining the 2008 Detroit Lions. They have a bye next weekend.

“We’ve got to find a way to put together a win,” said Hue Jackson, the Browns’ first-year head coach. “And who knows? There’s four games that we’ve got an opportunity to go out and play, so there’s four opportunities to win, and there’s another four opportunities to lose.”

The game was closer than the final score suggests. It was 0-0 until midway through the second quarter, and New York’s lead was cut to 7 points in the fourth. A key Giants score came on a turnover, with defensive lineman Jason Pierre-Paul recovering a fumble by Cleveland quarterback Josh McCown and returning it 43 yards.

Giant coach Ben McAdoo criticized his team’s errors, including nine penalties, which cumulatively cost 100 yards, or an entire football field. A holding penalty on a punt early in the fourth quarter negated what would have been a touchdown return from the Giants’ 41 by Beckham.

Beckham initially began celebrating in the style of Cleveland NBA star LeBron James, before realizing his TD didn’t count. The wideout later got to channel his inner James when he scored the Giants’ final touchdown, a 32-yard pass, with 5 minutes remaining in the game.

“We had some opportunities to make some big plays and we didn’t make them,” McAdoo said.

Giants QB Eli Manning pointed to “too many three and outs” and a need to “be better on third down–” New York converted 4 of 13.

“We’ve just got to find ways to not let the defense back on the field, close these games out ourselves, and take steps as an offense,” Beckham said. “I don’t think we took a step back today, but I do think we could’ve taken a bigger step forward.”

The Browns’ defense, meanwhile, has been atrocious, and the statistics reflect this. It entered the game ranked second-worst in the league in both yards and scoring per game.

However, with two Giants TDs coming either directly or indirectly off turnovers, there was also the sense that Cleveland’s offense had let its defense down.

New York’s first score came after Browns running back Isaiah Crowell fumbled on Cleveland’s 25-yard line midway through the second quarter. Manning found wide receiver Dwayne Harris in the end zone on a 13-yard fade– Harris’s first catch of the season.

The Giants’ Bobby Rainey, handling return duties usually reserved for Harris, later muffed a punt, turning the ball over on the Giants’ 30. Giants kicker Robbie Gould also missed an extra point. Pinned at the Cleveland 5-yard line after another Giants punt in the second half, McCown hit Terrelle Pryor for a 54-yard catch on a play-action pass. Three snaps later, McCown dropped back to pass and was hit as he threw. The ball popped into the air and fell right into the arms of Pierre-Paul, who scored. Gould’s missed extra-point attempt made it 20-6.

It was Pierre-Paul’s third career touchdown, and the first since a Fourth of July fireworks accident in 2015 severely injured his right hand, leading to the amputation of his right index finger. The turnover was originally ruled an interception but later defined as a fumble.

Manning finished 15 of 27 for 194 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.

The Giants, who entered the game with the second-fewest yards rushing per game in the NFL, again struggled on the ground. Running backs Rashad Jennings and Paul Perkins combined for 84 yards on 24 carries.

Aside from the fumble, Crowell had 22 touches, between rushes and receptions, for 91 yards. McCown finished 25 of 43 for 322 yards and a touchdown.

CLEVELAND, OH – NOVEMBER 27: Odell Beckham #13 of the New York Giants avoids a tackle by Derrick Kindred #30 of the Cleveland Browns during the fourth quarter at FirstEnergy Stadium on November 27, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)