The Cincinnati Bengals aren't asking for style points. None were served Sunday evening.
Jokes about the Bengals never showing up in September aren't as funny anymore because it's mid-October and they still seem stuck in the mud. At least they had an ugly victory. The defense made enough plays to support an offense that had surprisingly few plays and managed to pull out a 17-7 victory over the New York Giants.
If you want to be optimistic, it was a good sign for the Bengals that their struggling defense played by far its best game of the season and cruised to victory. Assuming the offense plays much better than it did on Sunday night, maybe that's a sign that the Bengals can still play an important role in the AFC playoffs. They just haven't looked like this team often this season.
On Sunday night, the Bengals scored a big touchdown from Joe Burrow and not much else. However, the Giants didn't gain much. The Bengals, who were 1-4 in Week 6, are desperate for wins, and a win on Sunday will move them back to 2-4 on the season. But anyone who's watched knows that the Bengals don't seem any closer to overcoming their early-season slump.
Poor start for both teams
There have been some exciting primetime games this NFL season. Sunday evening was not one of them.
Both teams had a hard time getting anything done. Daniel Jones made a terrible interception while under pressure and missed several other shots. The Bengals' offense wasn't much better, but at least Cincinnati had one unexpected highlight. Burrow, who had never run for longer than 23 yards in his first 57 NFL games, took off on third-and-18 and simply kept running because there were no Giants defenders around him. He scored on a stunning 47-yard touchdown run. It was a nice play for Burrow, but also a red flag that the Giants allowed Burrow to end such a streak.
One sequence summed up the game quite well. The Giants gained 8 yards on third-and-10 but received an illegal formation penalty. The Bengals probably made a mistake by giving up the field goal, as the Giants went for it on fourth-and-2 instead of third-and-15. However, the Giants were so poor on offense that they were unable to convert because Jones' pass was broken and incomplete.
Finally, the Giants broke the lead. After a fourth down, the Bengals lost and the Giants made several plays, including a defensive pass interference call to the first-yard line. Tyrone Tracy Jr. he scored on a run and the game was tied.
The Giants had been playing pretty poorly up to this point. However, the score remained tied until the third quarter.
Bengals regain the lead
The Bengals appeared to take the lead on a Chase Brown touchdown, but it was called back due to a holding penalty. Of course. The Bengals then took a 10-7 lead on a field goal. The Giants tried to respond but missed a field goal. Of course.
Both teams needed a win. The Giants entered the field with a 2-3 record and the Bengals 1-4. And he was there for the taking, but neither team seemed too excited to grab him.
The Giants had another opportunity late in the fourth quarter and tied the score again. They reached the territory of Bengal. However, the Giants didn't trust that special teams had previously attempted a field goal from about 54 yards after the miss, so they settled for fourth-and-3. Jones' pass was off target and incomplete, as was the case on fourth down in the third quarter.
The Bengals needed one big play to put away the Giants, and Burrow did it. On third-and-12, he rolled left and hit Andrei Iosivas for 29 yards. One more moment after that was appropriate considering how both teams were playing. Brown broke his streak on the first try, but went down. The Giants had a chance to recover and another chance to win. However, the ball passed through them and went out of bounds. You can't keep giving your opponent so many opportunities until Brown finally broke off a 30-yard touchdown run with 1:52 left to end the drama. The Giants then got into field goal position, hoping to recover the onside kick later, but again missed a field goal from the left side.
It was sloppy on both sides. At least the Bengals got over the mistake and came away with a win on the other end. Perhaps they'll soon look more like the Super Bowl contender we've come to expect this season. It hasn't happened yet.
