In a tight affair at the MetLife Stadium, the New York Giants escaped with a narrow victory on Monday Night Football. They defeated an underwhelming Cincinnati Bengals team 21-20.
New York’s defense came up big tonight and Andy Dalton and the Bengals’ high-powered offense. The Giants defense held Dalton to just 16/29 passing for 204 yards, while throwing one touchdown and one interception.
Landon Collins had the pick tonight for the Giants. It was his fourth in the last three games. He said of his play in recent weeks, “I’ve never had a stretch like this. Not in college. Not in high school,” (quotes via the New York Giants).
Those stats from Dalton do not even tell the whole story. The defensive line put pressure on Dalton on seemingly every play, and that paid off as they sacked the Bengals quarterback three times for combined loss of 18 yards.
Teams trade first quarter touchdowns
The New York Giants offense could not have asked for a more perfect start, with their offense driving 80 yards to score the first touchdown of the game.
Eli Manning threw six passes and all of them were caught for positive yards. Brandon Jennings add eight more yards on the ground, to start what would be one of the better rushing nights for the Giants so far this season. From 10 yards out, Manning hit Jerell Adams on a short pass before Adams scampered into the back of the end zone.
Cincinnati answered quickly. On the second play from scrimmage, Dalton threw a fantastic ball over the top to Tyler Eifert over the top for a big 71 yard gain. After a penalty, Dalton hit AJ Green to tie the game up after the extra point.
New York scored once more in the opening to retake the lead right before halftime, to go up 14-10. Manning, on this drive, was a little inconsistent under center. But nonetheless, they marched right on down the field, slowly but surely. With 13 yards to go before finding the end zone, Odell Beckham Jr. spun right around Adam Jones and was found wide open in the upper left hand corner.
Cincinnati storms out of halftime, falls short of victory
The Bengals seemed to have things turned around starting the third quarter of the game. Alex Erickson gave his team great field position after returning the second half kickoff to the 13 yard line. Two plays later, Cincinnati scored when Jeremy Hill found a hole on the left to take a 17-14 advantage. One offensive drive later, the Bengals had to settle for three points, to push their lead to six.
In the fourth quarter, though, the Giants managed to score one more time to regain the lead for the final time. Jennings earned his money on this drive. He broke off a 24 yard run to bring New York inside the red zone. It took just one more play before Jennings scored from nine yards out to seal the victory over the Bengals.
Coming up
The season is drawing to an end in the next several weeks, and both clubs are on the outside looking in regarding the playoff picture.
Next week, the New York Giants face off with the Chicago Bears while the Cincinnati Bengals host the Buffalo Bills.