3 reasons for optimism in Week 3

The New York Giants will play their second straight road game on Sunday when they take on the Cleveland Browns. They come in with hopes of getting their first win of the season, which is quickly getting away from them.

The Browns are coming off their first victory of the year in Week 2 against the Jacksonville Jaguars and are nearly touchdown favorites at home against the Giants.

New York hopes to continue the improvement we saw from Week 1 to Week 2, but face a tall task in the Browns.

Here are three reasons for optimism ahead of Sunday’s matchup.

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New offensive weapon unleashed

The Giants let Saquon Barkley walk in free agency and brought in Malik Nabers to be their featured weapon in the offense.

In the team’s Week 2 matchup against the Commanders, Nabers was featured early and often and had a breakout game that proved he is everything he was hyped up to be.

Clearly, Brian Daboll had a plan to get Nabers the ball as much as possible and we can likely expect the offense to continue to run through Nabers.

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Offensive confidence to build off of

Last week, the Giants’ offense had a much-improved performance — particularly quarterback Daniel Jones.

Jones came in poised to silence the critics and had a much cleaner performance than a week prior against the Vikings.

It wasn’t just Jones, however. The offensive line contributed to a strong performance in the running game as well which helped open up the passing game.

Obviously, the Giants did not get the win last week but there was much more to come away feeling good about that they will hope to bring into Week 3.

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Offensive Line Competence

The Giants’ offensive line has been getting worked on for what feels like 15 years at this point. But it’s finally beginning to resemble something noteworthy.

In Week 3, they will have the biggest individual task they’ve faced so far this season in Myles Garrett, who is one of the best pass rushers in the NFL and can take over a game.

In previous years, a player like Garrett would be a terrifying task for the Giants’ suspect offensive line. However, this group may be up to the task. They may not be able to keep Garrett out of the box score, but they’ll be motivated to at least limit his impact on the game.