
Giants’ defensive curveball leads to relentless pounding of Deshaun Watson
NY Post
CLEVELAND — The team that does not specialize in applying pressure via the blitz changed things up and that made all the difference.
“I mean, they switched up the game plan,” Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson said Sunday, after he finally picked himself up off the turf after a hard day’s work at Huntington Bank Field.
The Giants sacked Watson eight times and hit him 17 times, severe punishment that had Browns fans booing and jeering as the Giants went on the road and notched their first victory of the season, 21-15.
Defensive coordinator Shane Bowen is not known for heavy blitz packages, preferring to rely on establishing pressure up front with his four defensive linemen.
The Browns started out double-teaming both edge players, Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux, and Bowen adjusted by sending pressure up the middle, where Dexter Lawrence was dominating anyway.
“We knew there would be opportunities to get home because he’s a dynamic player, he looks for the big play, he likes to extend play,” Burns said. “We just kept in our minds to stay relentless and stay in the rush and that’s kind of what we did.”

Of course this is not 2018, this deadline does not represent a sea change in philosophy resembling that one. But, just as seven years ago, the hierarchy — different general managers, same CEO — is not homing in at making a run at eighth place at the expense of acquiring future assets in exchange for expiring contracts.