4 things we learned from the Giants' 17-7 loss to the Bengals

For the New York Giants, every week seems to be a referendum on the entire season, the roster, the coaching staff, the general manager and even the ownership. The fans were desperate after two defeats at the start of the season. A surprising win in Cleveland later, there was hope… which was extinguished four days later when the Giants lost to Dallas without scoring a single touchdown. All seemed lost when the Giants traveled to Seattle without their star rookie receiver and faced a team that had beaten them soundly each of the last two years. Then they gave their best performance of the season and won against all expectations.

Tonight they returned home and faced:

• a bad team with no defense and a 1-4 record that they should beat? Or
• a dangerous team with a top-five quarterback and a top-five wide receiver just waiting to get its season started?

So what did we learn from their 17-7 loss to a Cincinnati Bengals team that looked like neither?

Bad MetLife Daniel Jones resurfaced

I couldn't hear any boos on TV until halftime. And give Jones credit for being a tough sonofagun, rushing 11 times for 56 yards while taking plenty of penalties along the way. But Jones was terrible in the passing game. With Cincinnati leading 7-0, he pushed the Giants deep into Bengals territory. Then, under pressure from former Giant BJ Hill in the middle, Jones tried to pass first in the red zone while stepping back instead of taking the sack. His arm was tipped and the ball was intercepted. He did something similar a few weeks ago in Cleveland, but this time Malik Nabers saved him by breaking up the would-be interception.

It's something we've seen all too often with Jones, but it wasn't the only problem. Jones was inaccurate on too many of his passes, not just on a few deep throws that he missed, but also on shorter, narrow-window throws. On an important fourth down pass, he was a little late with the right timing, allowing Cincinnati's Mike Hilton to intercept the ball. Several times he seemed to force passage to his first reading when someone else was open.

And all against one of the worst defenses in the NFL.

It wasn't all Jones' fault though…

The offense had one of its worst games of the season

Jones was probably under the most pressure he's faced since the Cleveland game. Formally, he was only pressured twelve times and dismissed twice, which isn't bad, but it would have been more than that if he wasn't skilled at climbing. Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo was often able to create traffic in the backfield, sometimes through blitzes and sometimes using just his front four. That was in part because tackle BJ Hill wreaked havoc inside against center John Michael Schmitz, while edge defender Trey Hendrickson beat Andrew Thomas. Thomas had an inconsistent season against several of the league's best pass rushers; He apparently injured his left foot this evening.

The defense played flat, daring Jones to throw over the top to beat them (which he failed to do when he tried, except for a 56-yard pass play to Darius Slayton that was called back because Thomas was too far over drifted out of the line of scrimmage). ). As a result, Jones often couldn't find anyone to throw to, even when he had time.

Reports of the defense's deaths are greatly exaggerated

When Shane Bowen replaced Wink Martindale as defensive coordinator, many of us were concerned about how effective he could be with what appeared to be a less aggressive approach. Things didn't look good in Game 1, when Sam Darnold completed his first 12 passes, or in Game 2, when Washington failed to punt and beat the Giants with seven drives that ended in field goals.

Since then, however, the defense has largely played admirably. In the last three weeks, Cleveland, Dallas and Seattle held 15, 20 and 20 points. On Sunday evening, Joe Burrow in particular was frustrated and held the Bengals to 10 points until the last minute of the game.

Tonight the Giants managed to put a lot of pressure on Burrow with Azeez Ojulari looking like his rookie self on one side and Brian Burns on the other, sacking him four times (once by Dexter Lawrence). For much of the game, Cincinnati's elite wide receivers JaMarr Chase and Tee Higgins were mostly contained by good coverage, with Chase often being held in check by two defenders. Cincinnati had scored 26, 38, 24 and 41 points in its last four games.

Tyrone Tracy becomes THE MAN

When the Giants selected Tracy in the fifth round of the draft, he was considered a “work in progress” – a converted wide receiver with just one year of experience as a running back. Last week in Seattle, with Devin Singletary out with an injury and Eric Gray in the doghouse for a goal-line error, Tracy got his chance and showed up.

Tonight, after the lead returned, Tracy once again amassed over 100 yards of offense (50 rushing and 57 receiving yards). He made some tough yards behind a line that didn't open up any big holes, he made defenders make numerous missed shots, and when he didn't, his contact balance allowed him to get important first downs. He appears to be one of the great assets of the 2024 draft.