Missing several key starters, including star rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers, the New York Giants got a valiant effort from their defense on Sunday night, holding Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals to a single touchdown up until the final two minutes of their Week 6 matchup. It wasn't enough to give Big Blue the victory, however, as Brian Daboll's own offense sputtered when it mattered most, resulting in a 17-7 Bengals win and dropping the Giants' prime-time record to an NFL-worst 1-10 since 2018.
Burrow wasn't invincible at MetLife Stadium, where he required a brief fourth-quarter medical evaluation due to a hard hit from Dexter Lawrence and struggled to hit any deep throws to his talented wideouts. His improbable 47-yard touchdown scramble early in the contest put Cincinnati up first, however, and the Bengals never looked back. That's mostly because the Giants proved incapable of sustaining drives of their own, wasting a scrappy night from fill-in running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. (93 total yards, one touchdown) and another pocket-collapsing effort from Lawrence and Brian Burns with an erratic aerial performance from Daniel Jones, who was intercepted early.
The Bengals improve to 2-4 with the much-needed victory, while the Giants fall to 2-4.
Here are some overarching takeaways from Sunday's contest:
Joe Burrow is best known for his airborne strikes, but his legs got the Bengals on the board first with this unusually wide-open scamper for almost 50 yards:
Kirk Cousins is a prime example of a quarterback who's quickly but surely rewritten the narrative of his late-game poise. Daniel Jones isn't quite there. While he didn't have a fully healthy supporting cast against Cincinnati, he got respectable production from the backfield, with Tyrone Tracy Jr. converting a few short-yardage spots and showing up as a pass catcher, and had Darius Slayton repeatedly open downfield against a vulnerable Bengals secondary. Still, his accuracy was scattershot, and he never overcame an early pick that was at least partially due to a delayed delivery in a folding pocket. He left it all on the line as a runner, that's for sure, but the Giants are paying him decent money to be a winning quarterback.
Joe Burrow had a nice night -- much better than his passing marks indicate, considering how well he protected the ball and kept his top two targets involved despite a relentless push from the Giants' front. That said, holding just a three-point lead on New York up until the final two minutes of Sunday's contest is a clear indication Zac Taylor's squad remains a work in progress. The O-line was iffier than usual. The deep shots were hard to come by. And had the ball bounced a different way on Chase Brown's late fumble, or New York's Greg Joseph connected on just one of his two makeable field goal tries, we might've seen this one go to overtime. A win is a win, but the Bengals are very much scratching and clawing.
Quarterback remains an obvious concern, but there were still some positives in an otherwise frustrating and winnable night: Tyrone Tracy Jr. looks primed to at least split carries even when Devin Singletary returns, Brian Daboll's fourth-down aggression at least kept the G-Men competitive until late in the game, and Shane Bowen's entire defense -- from the Lawrence-led front to the Tyler Nubin-led back end -- kept some of the game's top perimeter playmakers in check.
The Bengals (2-4) will continue their road trip with a divisional showdown, visiting the Cleveland Browns (1-5), who lost a close one to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. The Giants (2-4), meanwhile, will play host to those same Eagles (3-2), looking to stay alive in an NFC East led by the Washington Commanders.
Greg Joseph misses his second field goal of the night -- both wide to the left -- and the Giants' comeback effort is stopped before it ever got started. Cincinnati wins 17-7 and improves to 2-4. Giants drop to 2-4. Both teams play division rivals next week: Bengals vs. Browns, Giants vs. Eagles.
It had been a struggle for Brown for most of the night. Before this 30-yard scamper, he had just 23 yards on 9 carries, and he had just nearly lost a fumble. All that is in the rearview now, though. The Giants now have to score twice and recover an onside kick, just to send this game to overtime.
What a throw by Joe Burrow. Rolling to his left, spinning his body around and hitting his man on the move just inside the sideline. Almost immediately after, the Giants almost caught an ENORMOUS break when Chase Brown fumbled on what looked like a nice run. But nobody could corral the fumble, the ball went out of bounds, and Cincinnati will get a chance to kill some more clock next.
The Giants have converted a pair of fourth downs tonight, but they've also missed a pair. On both of those misses, they had a defensive back make a huge pass breakup on what could have been a first down reception. DJ Turner just made it happen right there.
Joe Burrow went into the medical tent for an evaluation after taking a hard hit to the chest to close the Bengals' last series, but it looks like he's OK, now walking back to sidelines after a few moments.
This Giants defense has played a fantastic game. It's too bad the offense has not matched them.
A big drive from Tyrone Tracy got the Giants into field goal range... but Greg Joseph pulled his kick wide to the left. Instead of a tie game, the Giants still trail by three with Cincinnati having a chance to either extend the lead to two scores or at least kill some clock.
Cincinnati put together its been drive since the opening possession, but only came away with three points this time around. The Bengals got down to the goal line and punched it in with Chase Brown, but a holding call negated the score. Then, Dexter Lawrence -- who is in the middle of a monster season that has him in the thick of the DPOY race -- stepped up with a big sack to limit the Bengals to a field goal. 10-7 Cincy late in the third quarter.
On their best drive of the night, the Giants found their way into the end zone. It took them 16 plays to go 79 yards, necessitating two fourth-down conversions along the way. Tyrone Tracy finally got something going on the ground, and he's the one who punched it into the end zone from a yard out for the first score of his NFL career. Amazingly, this was also the Giants' first home touchdown of the season.
Tyrone Tracy Jr. has been a genuine bright spot for the Giants, at least. Certainly gives them more juice than Devin Singletary seemed to offer as the RB1. He's shown good vision and shiftiness on a few critical short-yardage opportunities and shown up in the pass game for Daniel Jones, too. Leads New York in catches.
So, the Giants go for it and fail on fourth-and-2 in their own territory. Sets the Bengals up with a great chance to extend their lead. But then Zack Moss fumbles and gives New York the ball right back. It has been that kind of night for both offenses, folks.
A genuinely intriguing pre-trade-deadline thought here. The Bengals certainly aren't going to be itching to give up draft capital for a highly paid defender when they've yet to even lock up Ja'Marr Chase and/or Tee Higgins, but it's fun to dream up this scenario if you're a Cincinnati fan.
Giants running backs Tyrone Tracy and Eric Gray have now combined for 10 yards on their 6 carries. Daniel Jones is averaging less than 5 yards per pass attempt. Just about the only thing that has worked for New York's offense tonight is Jones scrambling.
Azeez Ojulari missed out on a sack back in the first quarter. He just came up with two on the same drive to force a Bengals punt before the end of the half. Giants defense has clamped down since that Burrow touchdown run.
Darius Slayton and a 50-plus-yard catch-and-run and it comes alllllll the way back due to an ineligible man downfield penalty. Jones had to hold the ball for half a second too long and it allowed a lineman to get ~3 yards downfield. The Giants really needed that play and couldn't get it.
It's not every day that you see Ja'Marr Chase drop a wide-open pass the way he just did. If he brings that in, he might still be running after crossing through the end zone. That drop ends a drive that included two fantastic catches by Tee Higgins, who apparently brought his velcro gloves tonight.
Since that big run by Burrow on the opening drive, the two teams have combined for 130 yards on 32 plays. Not too much happening here beyond that one Giants drive into Bengals territory that ended in a pick.
Daniel Jones had an open man for a deep ball on that third down. Alas...
it's been an up-and-down start to the season for burns so far. he had 2 sacks and 3 tackles for loss coming into this game after getting a huge contract this offseason. He just made a huge play on third down, stoning Zack Moss in the backfield to shut the Bengals' drive down in its tracks.
Just when it looked like Daniel Jones was getting something going... He was 4 of 5 for 47 yards on the drive, which brought the Giants deep into Bengals territory. And then he came off of Tyrone Tracy in the flat to try to throw back across his body, got popped by B.J. Hill in the process, and earned himself an interception for his troubles. Yikes.
So, the broadcast was trying to explain what happened on Azeez Ojulari's near-sack of Joe Burrow near the goal line, on which Burrow spun away and then threw the ball out of bounds. Cris Collinsworth seemed to think that Ojulari pulled up to avoid a penalty for roughing the passer; but it sure looked like Ojulari thought he had forced a fumble and was looking for the ball on the ground. That's what former NFL guard (and Pushing the Pile co-host) Kyle Long thought, as well.
New York's first play went for a first down, but then the Giants went three-and-out. This is not a team that is built to come from behind -- especially without Malik Nabers. They need their defense to get the ball back quickly from Joe Burrow and Co. right here or things could spiral away from them.
This was the second time on the opening drive that Joe Burrow quickly took off from the pocket on third down. The first time, he moved the chains. This time, he took it to the house. With the Giants in man coverage, there was nobody in front of Burrow once he escaped the pocket. He had enough room to more than double the longest run of his career.
Interesting for the Bengals early: Zack Moss, who got the start in each of the first five games, was introduced with the starters on TV -- but Chase Brown actually took the first two snaps before Moss came in for pass protection on third down. Both players were limited at times in practices this week. Brown has been the much more explosive back of the two and has touched the bal more often when in the game, but Moss has played more snaps every week so far.
With no Devin Singletary for the Giants tonight, look for another strong dose of Tyrone Tracy Jr. in New York's backfield. He eclipsed 120 yards in Week 5 and is up against a weaker Bengals run "D."
As expected, no Malik Nabers or Devin Singletary for the Giants tonight. They'll also have a replacement punter with Jamie Gillan out.
No surprises or major absences for Cincinnati tonight. Sheldon Rankins and Mike Hilton are back.
