Browns bask in limelight as Manning, Giants stumble

Turnovers and sloppy play doomed New York, which had no answer for Derek Anderson and Braylon Edwards.

By VINNY DITRANI, The (Hackensack N.J.) Record

Last update: October 14, 2008 - 10:05 AM

MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL CLEVELAND 35, N.Y. GIANTS 14

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CLEVELAND - The Giants frittered away a golden opportunity to open up some daylight between themselves and the rest of the NFC East on Monday night when they became uncharacteristically unglued in losing to Cleveland 35-14.

Eli Manning, who had thrown one interception in the first four games, threw three as the Giants dropped to 4-1 and saw their 13-game winning streak away from home come to an end. The last one was a killer, as it was returned 94 yards by Eric Wright for the clinching touchdown.

"We just played sloppy football," Manning said. "We had three turnovers -- three interceptions on my part -- and that's unacceptable. We have to get back to playing smart football."

As a result, the Giants remain just one game ahead of Dallas and Washington in the loss column.

"We make no excuses for this," said coach Tom Coughlin. "We just got beat. We got physically beaten, we lost the turnover battle and they were outstanding on third down. We couldn't get them off the field."

Though the offense was sloppy, it was the Giants' defense that was horrendous against an offense that ranked last in the NFL entering the game. The vaunted pass rush was non-existent against Derek Anderson, who had all evening to select his receivers.

"They did a good job with three-step drops early," said defensive end Justin Tuck. "But I don't think we were on our game tonight. I don't feel like we played our style of football; we let them dictate to us, rather than us dictate to them."

Led by tumbling wide receiver Braylon Edwards, who did an Olympic-caliber cartwheel and back flip during pregame introductions, Cleveland won a Monday night game for the first time since 1993.

Edwards had 154 receiving yards and scored on an 11-yard pass from Anderson that gave Cleveland a 27-14 lead.

"This is us," Anderson said of the Browns' deserving the victory. "These were the guys who made plays all last season."