Sunday at 1 p.m. is the preferred game time for most players. Eli Manning fondly recalls watching games as a youngster starting at noon in New Orleans, and as an NFL quarterback he prefers to get up and go play.
Sunday against the Browns marks just the second time in the first five games the Giants have an early-Sunday-afternoon kickoff after playing on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday nights. In their previous game at home for a 1 p.m. kickoff, the Giants came out half asleep, fell behind 24-13 at halftime and trailed 27-13 in the third quarter before using a 25-point fourth quarter to overtake the Buccaneers, 41-34.
“We’ve had a tendency to come out on a lull,” Justin Tuck said of the Giants’ performance at home in early-afternoon games. “I think we are kind of guarding against that this week.’’
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Coach Tom Coughlin made sure to remind his team about the last time the Giants faced the Browns. Coming off a Super Bowl victory, the Giants were 4-0 in 2008 before being thrashed in Cleveland 35-14 — their only loss in the first 12 games. The Browns entered that game with a record of 1-3.
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Is this the day when rookie running back David Wilson (six rushing attempts, 8 yards) finally does something positive on offense? His impressive work on kickoff returns has the Giants eager to get the ball in his hands.
“We keep trying to create things for him, but so far he hasn’t had success when we’ve given him a chance,’’ offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride said. “So we just keep waiting for that day when he makes a play for us and we’ll give him some more.’’
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Cornerback Prince Amukamara is now entrenched as a starter, but he was not exactly given a glowing endorsement by defensive coordinator Perry Fewell.
Asked to assess Amukamara’s play, Fewell said, “You know, that’s a hard question for me to answer because Prince is a guy that we have a lot of expectation for and he hasn’t had a lot of practice time, even though this is his second year. As he continues to play, he gets better.’’
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Safety Tyler Sash was not put back on the active roster. He was eligible to return for this game after completing his four-game suspension. The The Giants have until Monday to make a move on the roster for Sash.
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Defensive end Osi Umenyiora has two sacks this season but said he believes it is far too early to evaluate how he’s doing.
“I think I’ve handled my responsibilities, I’ve done the best that I can and I’ll pretty much leave it at that,’’ he said.“Would I have liked to have put up more numbers? I think everybody around here would. But at the end of the day, you can only do what you can do.’’
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Remember Gary Brown, the running back who played for the Giants in 1998 and 1999? He’s the running backs coach for the Browns, tutoring Trent Richardson.