My apologies to fans of both the Giants and the Bengals, but this game was a battle between a movable object and a stoppable force. These are two teams in the middle of the pack that are searching for an identity, and each one presents the other with opportunities. The Giants Defense stood tougher at the end and held up.
This was a nice win for the Giants. It is their 4th straight, and keeps buying them time to improve. They are improving in some areas, like the pass rush. But the OL still has its troubles and the number of Offensive miscues was almost comical at times. Eli had his fair share of blunders that would cost the team dearly against a better team. He lofted up an INT that effectively was a punt, but it was a quick turnover after Collins had gotten one of his own INTs (his 4th in 3 games). Lewis the rookie ran some poor routes, one which looked like it resulted in a pick for Manning. Lewis was later benched, which led me to believe indeed it was him making one too many bad routes. The OL is beleaguered with injuries, but their play was still poor and resulted in a lot of havoc by Geno Atkins. Special teams gifted the Bengals with a return to the Giants 15 yard line. Field position was often not the Giants friend.
A metaphor for the Giants glass being half full or half empty? Weston Richburg. He was schooled by Atkins, yet it was his play getting up to the second level and blocking the Pro Bowl LBer Vontaze Burfict on the run by Jennings that sealed the game. When Richburg is good enough to handle both Atkins and Burfict, that is when the Giants will be legitimate contenders.
The defense was solid. The Bengals were held to 2 out of 11 conversions on 3rd down. That was the difference in this game. The Giants stopped the Bengals and the Bengals did not stop the Giants enough times.
The Bengals had 9 penalties and the Giants had only 2. In a game won by a single point, every possession mattered. So I watched in inverse horror as the opponent went into the “no-hurry” offense with one minute left in the 1st half. This is Marvin Lewis football. It is sloppy, inefficient and wasteful. This is why the head coach has never won a single playoff game for this franchise in 14 years. He’s smart enough to bring along Burfict as an undrafted free agent, yet they leave too much on the field.
OBJ’s double move on Pacman Jones for the Giants second TD was scintillating. Yep, never used that adjective here in 10 years of the blog. But this is what Giants fans get treated to, watching Beckham turn in superlatives on an almost weekly basis. McAdoo is trying to use Beckham on shorter routes more frequently, which is exactly what we prescribed early in the season when the Offense was stuck in neutral. When they overload him with resources over the top, keep going underneath. Beckham collected 97 yards. It was on 10 receptions. Before you get upset about his yards per catch being low, remember that (as Gruden noted) the Bengals spent a lot of resources limiting his YAC. That enables the team to get other opportunities. We saw Eli find a ton of receiving options in single coverage as a result. That is how this offense is going to move the ball.
We take this quick break from the recap to go on a philosophical sidebar. I can’t tell you how many times this blog has advocated getting Eli to run the ball ~once per game. You know what I am talking about. The pass protection holds long enough, there is a channel wide enough and long enough, so even slow Eli can swim to the first down. He’s 35. I know he is important to keep healthy. But there is nothing more demoralizing for a defense than to have a QB beat you when it has covered well downfield. The benefits of stretching a defense and holding them accountable for another area of the field are also valuable for the success of other elements of your offense. So maybe McAdoo can stretch teams with some designs which give Eli this purposed option in important 3rd down situations.
The Giants are 6-3 and their next two games should help them. They play the Bears and Browns. Monsters of the Midwest they are not. Get your business done. You’ll be 8-3 and headed into Pittsburgh. That game will (virtually) earn you a playoff spot if the Giants execute better. Roethlisberger, Bell and Brown are men. They will offer a test. The Giants final 5 games are against credible opponents. They play PIT, DAL, DET, PHL and WAS. They can win all 5 games. They can lose all 5 games.
Let’s take a moment to give Ben McAdoo some props for a gutsy call on 4th down and Goal. It was needed to win the game. I would have taken the 3. He went for it, cashed, and won. Big play.
The Giants won a close one with 3 things they were lacking last year: a 4th Quarter pass rush, red zone offense (3/3) and a run game to close out the win. They still need to improve greatly in all three areas but if they do, they can go up against any team. Beating the Bengals is one thing. Beating playoff winners is another.
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