Confident Giants bounce back, thump Browns

• Cleveland out-schemed the opponent early on, the Giants (3-2) out-adjusted the Browns
• Browns (0-5) had the early advantage courtesy of well-designed plays
• It was another steady performance by Manning, a career-high three touchdowns for Victor Cruz

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Down two touchdowns less than 5 minutes into the game, the New York Giants' bench was barely stirring.

Tom Coughlin was not getting red-faced and yelling at anyone. Justin Tuck simply placed his helmet down and put both hands on his hips. And Eli Manning, well, you should know he was like a statue.

A statue that inspired plenty of faith the Giants were about to turn this 41-27 victory over the Cleveland Browns around like so many games in the Manning era.

"When he's standing behind them, yeah," Coughlin said when asked if Manning's presence contributed to the calm. "That'll do it."

The Giants had been here before, as recently as Week 2 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They won that game, and they matched their point total in this one, thanks to another steady performance by Manning, a career-high three touchdowns for Victor Cruz and a career-best 200 rushing yards for Ahmad Bradshaw.

"My pregame talk today was all about starting fast, so that obviously got thrown out the window pretty early," Manning said. "They didn't listen to me on that."

While the Browns out-schemed their opponent early on, the Giants (3-2) out-adjusted the Browns on their way to scoring 41 of the next 47 points.

"We understand, with Eli, it's never over," said Cruz, who probably should've seen way more double teams than Cleveland showed him. "Being down 14-0, we've been down worse than that before. We knew we just had to keep our focus and keep plugging away and Eli would find us."

Brandon Weeden couldn't find his guy late in the second quarter on a third-and-1 sprint-out play. Instead, he found Giants safety Stevie Brown. If the Browns' rookie quarterback throws that one away, his team is lining up for a 43-yard field goal to give themselves a 10-point lead. Brown's 46-yard return gave the Giants the ball at Cleveland's 40-yard line. Two plays later, the game was tied.

Brown then recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff to set up Cruz's second touchdown. The Giants built upon their lead and matched the 41 points they hung on the Bucs here three weeks ago.

Not bad for a team that was missing wide receivers Hakeem Nicks and Ramses Barden, safety Kenny Phillips, defensive tackle Rocky Bernard, right tackle David Diehl and a few other key players. Winning without those guys might've been relatively easy against the Browns, but this coming Sunday's NFC Championship Game rematch with the San Francisco 49ers could be a different story.

"I'd like to get some folks back on the field," Coughlin said. "That might help."