I didn't see the game, what do you guys think, is this a reasonable analysis of the highs and lows of the game?

from insidefootball.com

Giants - Cleveland: Hits, Misses & Musings

Hits

Domenik Hixon. He caught an 11-yard TD fade from Manning to give the Giants the first quarter lead and on this one, he remembered to drag his feet before momentum carried him out of bounds. HE also had an 82-yard touchdown return with nine seconds left to make it 23-3 with nine seconds left in the first quarter.

Eli Manning. Although he only attempted seven passes (completing four), he looked much sharper this week than he had in the preseason opener against Detroit. His two touchdowns to Domenik Hixon were text book style and Manning looked far more comfortable behind center this week than in the first week.

Terrell Thomas. He came up with a couple of nice stops on kickoff returns to stop the hemorrhaging on kickoff coverage, including his stop on Syndric Steptoe’s 90-yard return at the end of the first quarter.

The Starting Defensive Line. IT's hard to pick out one guy from the group who stood out above the others, so let me run down the list. Osi Umenyiora, who had a big match up against Cleveland left tackle Joe Thomas, more than held his own, in fact winning more battles than he lost. Tackles Barry Cofield and Fred Robbins continued to do a fine job at plugging up the middle and, in fact, each stuffed a Cleveland running back. And Justin Tuck showed good speed coming across the other side of the field on a one-yard stuff of Jamal Lewis in the first quarter.

Danny Ware. Ware had a big night as a kickoff returner, his best effort of the evening a 59-yarder which he almost broke were it not for a breakdown in the blocking in front of him. Ware has good acceleration and vision, and could make the roster ahead of Reuben Droughns if he continues to excel on special teams. Ware finished the night with three kickoff returns for 117 yards (39.0 average).

He wasn’t too shabby as a ball carrier either, running the ball at will up the middle and finishing the night with a team-leading six carries for 53 yards, and a long of 20.

Misses

Cleveland. Six penalties in the first quarter alone, including LB Aundra Davis swinging at a Giants player and missing for an unsportsmanlike conduct, and an off-side penalty on the Giants’ second TD of the night, a 24-yard touchdown pass to Hixon from Manning

Brandon Jacobs. He had some problems with ball security this week, coming up with two fumbles which, thanks to the alert play of his teammates, didn’t result in disaster. The first occurred when Sean Jones stripped the ball on a rush that ended up going for negative two yards. Kareem McKenzie recovered it, and thanks to an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against Audra Davis, the Giants ended up netting 13 yards on the play. The second fumble was an aborted play on a first and ten from his 47, which fullback Madison Hedgecock pounced on at the Giants’ 43, for a four-yard loss.

Giants Kickoff Coverage. The first quarter was definitely one for this unit to forget as Cleveland returned three kickoffs for a total of 171 yards, a 57 yard average. The third kickoff return, a 90-yarder by Syndric Steptoe, would have gone for a touchdown were it not for a nice stop by Terrell Thomas.

Anthony Wright. He finished four of eight for 34 yards, no touchdowns and one interception. Granted his protection was spotty, but most of the time Wright looked indecisive and appeared to lose his composure when under pressure. Wright, who again was the victim of some shoddy pass protection by the second team offensive line, had to come out of the game late in the second quarter with a back injury, the severity of which isn’t known.

Kevin Dockery. How does he not come down with a third quarter interception of a Brady Quinn pass intended for Syndric Steptoe? Dockery was in perfect position top make the pick and in fact had the ball in his hands, but he couldn’t gain control of it and knocked it back to Steptoe, who took it in for the 44-yard touchdown play which closed the Giants’ lead 30-24 with 12:47 left in the third quarter.

Josh Huston. He missed a 42-yard field goal placed on the right hash wide right. So for those of you who were hoping that maybe the kid would have a big night and perhaps unseat the injured Lawrence Tynes, don’t hold your breath waiting for that to happen.

Musings

• The Giants starters played a clean game. There were no penalties in the first quarter, and just one yellow flag in the second quarter a holding infraction called against TE Michael Matthews with 2:21 left in the first half.
  
  
• I also thought the overall tackling by the first and second team defense was a lot crisper than it was in the preseason opener.
  
  
• Good job by the first-team receivers, Sinorice Moss and Domenik Hixon. I thought the routes were a lot crisper this week and were run with purpose.
  
  
• Only one penalty in the first half by the Giants – a holding call against TE Michael Matthews. In the second half, there was only one flag, defensive pass interference called against cornerback Darren Barnett. The Giants finished with two penalties for 15 yards. The Browns, by contrast, recorded ten flags for 128 yards.
  
  
• Quiet game by the dynamic rookie safety Kenny Phillips. Not to worry though. He still has the goods and I would be shocked if he’s not starting before too long.

Injuries

The injury list didn’t appear to be too serious this week, though head coach Tom Coughlin said he was waiting to learn more about the status of some players.

First the good news. LB Mathias Kiwanuka, who originally wasn’t supposed to play due to a groin injury, dressed and took some first quarter snaps.

Now for the bad news. Receiver Brandon London left the game in the second quarter for evaluation on his shoulder. He said that X-rays were negative and that he was to have a MRI on Tuesday to determine the extent of the damage to his AC joint. QB Anthony Wright had to leave the game toward the end of the second quarter with a back injury, which Coughlin said he didn’t know the extent of.

Reuben Droughns suffered heat cramps; rookie corner Terrell Thomas suffered what Coughlin described as a “slight” hamstring pull. Also RB Kay-Jay Harris suffered an ankle injury and was seen going for X-rays at the end of the game. Coughlin didn’t know the severity of that injury either.

Seen and Heard

Former Giants DE Michael Strahan was in attendance, standing on the sidelines. Also in attendance was Drew Rosenhaus, the agent for receiver Plaxico Burress.

The Final Word

Want some advice from your friendly correspondent? If you’re planning to attend any Giants regular season games, LEAVE EARLY. Parking lots open five hours ahead of kickoff and tonight I left my house at about 3:45. I made it to the stadium and to my seat in the press box by 4:30, but not before I had to hunt around for a parking spot (this year the media is sharing a lot and there were a number of cars already there when I arrived).

In speaking with my colleagues, who left a little later than I did, they said the traffic was a nightmare. Seriously, with roads closed due to the construction of the new stadium, if you thrived on back roads the way I used to, well, there ARE no more back roads that I know of. So do yourself a favor. LEAVE EARLY.

It's pretty accurate.

Sinorice Moss beat his man again this week for what would have been a nice play if he weren't held. Moss has some wheels and is starting to show some of the speed that we've all been waiting for these past few years.

Droughns had a nice push up the middle for what became a safety on a failed punt try by the Browns. Still not enough imo to keep him on the squad. We have 4 better running backs than him.

Danny Ware reminds me of Ward. Sorta the same type of player. Ware had a great game and ran hard.

Woodson made a lot of hand offs to the rbs so we didn't really get a chance to see his arm unfortunately.

I've been hearing a lot of negativity about Carr around the net. I thought he did a fine enough job. Some people need to be reminded that he was playing with back-up and rookie receivers.

DJ Hall didn't look to good on a few routes, but again this is probably due to not being familiar with the QB in real game time.

Bottom Line: Our first team absolutely destroyed the Browns and Eli and Hixon were definately the show of the night.
Oh.. and our first team defense also stuck it to the Browns.

Carr looked better than Wright.
Kehl has a lot to learn but what bothers me is that he's screwing up on the basics.
Moss and Hixon looked good. We are stacked at WR.

Thomas was a huge miss. Wiffed on a few tackles and didn't play great. Hurt his hammy but he's a miss, not a hit.