EAST RUTHERFORD — The Giants’ offensive line had one of its best performances in a decade, and yet the team is still 0-2 with much tougher assignments ahead. That was maybe the harshest development to come from the Giants’ 21-18 loss Sunday in Washington. They averaged a whopping 5.9 yards on 22 carries, and the pass protection ranked sixth among the NFL’s 32 teams in Week 2, according to Pro Football Focus. It’s hard to imagine the offensive line playing much better than that. And now it must prepare to block three-time All-Pro Myles Garrett and an elite Browns defense coordinated by longtime NFL coach Jim Schwartz this Sunday in Cleveland. “They can get after the passer; penetrating front,” head coach Brian Daboll said before Wednesday’s practice. “They play a lot of man to man, and they mix in their zones. They do a great job of disguising. They’ve been effective.” Cleveland is fresh off an 18-13 win in Jacksonville in which the Jaguars actually rushed for 127 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries. But the Browns allowed only 13 points and had four sacks including defensive end Alex Wright wrapping up Trevor Lawrence in the end zone for a safety with 1:44 left in the fourth quarter. It’ll be interesting to see if the Giants can pound the ball on the ground again and if Daniel Jones can play something resembling mistake-free, efficient football through the air. “The line played really well,” Jones said. “I thought they controlled the line of scrimmage. I thought Motor (Devin Singletary) did a really good job finding holes and getting there, and I thought we had some good looks to run it.” Opponents are completing 53.2 percent of their passes through two games against the Browns, which is the lowest mark in the NFL. Jones improved from 52.4 percent with two interceptions against Minnesota in Week 1 to 57.1 percent with no interceptions in Week 2. “There are still some things I need to work on and clean up, for sure, but I thought overall there was improvement,” Jones said. “They’re a good pass rush, good players at every level. They’re aggressive, so all those things that good defenses do, we’ll be ready for it.” The Giants generated 71 percent of their 178 passing yards in Washington through Malik Nabers, who finished second among all receivers in Week 2 with 12 targets. The rookie will have a tougher assignment this week in three-time Pro Bowl cornerback Denzel Ward. Asked if he thinks defenses will eventually insist on using resources to make the Giants beat them with someone other than Nabers, Daboll said it was a better question for defensive coordinators. “However the game plans out, then you adjust,” Daboll said. “Whatever the targets were, that was a byproduct of what we were getting to as well. See how it goes game to game.” Kicking Update The Giants signed seventh-year kicker Greg Joseph off the Lions’ practice squad Monday and placed Graham Gano (hamstring) on injured reserve. Joseph figures to handle the Giants’ kickoffs and field goals for at least four games while Gano is on IR. They still have Jude McAtamney on the practice squad, but signing a player as experienced as Joseph suggests that they would rather have McAtamney continue to develop behind the scenes as an undrafted rookie from Rutgers. Joseph is 100-for-121 (82.6 percent) on field goals in the regular season for the Browns (2018) and Vikings (2021-23). His career-long kick of 61 yards beat the Giants as time expired in a game in Minnesota in December of 2022. “I thought he was the best option for us. He had a good kick the last time we played against him — 61-yarder,” Daboll said. “He’s been on a lot of teams. Come out here, get the operation down with the holding, the snapper and see how it goes.” Joseph was 24-for-30 on field goals and 36-for-38 on extra points last season. “I feel like I hit balls well,” Joseph said. “Definitely feel like I did better on PATs than I had done in the previous year, and that’s the important part for me is not focusing on that (the missed field goals), always improving and knowing how much better I can be because a lot of those kicks were close.” Injury Report The Giants are exceptionally healthy in Week 3, with cornerback Nick McCloud (knee) being the only player to miss Wednesday’s practice aside from the players on injured reserve. Rookie inside linebacker Darius Muasau (knee) has returned in a limited capacity after missing the Washington game. Linebackers Kayvon Thibodeaux (shoulder) and Isaiah Simmons (personal reason) were also limited during practice.