The New York Giants can be had early. We learned that again in the opening minutes of Sunday's 41-27 win over the Cleveland Browns.
The heavily favored Giants stumbled out of the gate in the first quarter as the Browns turned an Ahmad Bradshaw fumble into a Trent Richardson touchdown run from 15 yards. Minutes later, Cleveland quarterback Brandon Weeden connected with fellow rookie Josh Gordon on a beautiful 62-yard scoring strike for a 14-0 lead, catching the MetLife Stadium contingent off-guard.
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Those Giants fans already know that New York cannot be judged on how it begins, but how it finishes. Eli Manning and his offense answered Cleveland's raucous opening note with an 11-play, 92-yard scoring drive that chewed up six-plus minutes of the clock and ended with the first of three touchdown passes to Victor Cruz.
Bradshaw also bounced back, rumbling for 200 yards on the day and wearing out a Browns defense that surrendered another 259 yards to Manning through the air.
"We battled back," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. "... That was not an easy win."
Cleveland's sloppy play and momentum-killing turnovers fueled New York.
The Giants scored 17 points in the final 2:52 of the first half, and New York has made a habit of climbing back into games this season. We saw it against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 2, and Big Blue wore down the Browns on Sunday. In what looked like trap-game material, Coughlin's team never blinked.
Follow Marc Sessler on Twitter @MarcSesslerNFL.
