Giants lose to Bengals as offense held to one touchdown

The Giants took the risks. They did not get the rewards.

Despite an all-out decision-making effort by Brian Daboll to play Sunday night’s game against the Bengals aggressively, a mindset that included five fourth-down conversion attempts in the second half while trying to spark a stagnant offense, the Giants lost, 17-7, at MetLife Stadium.

“It’s hard to win games when you score seven points,” Daboll said of the offense, which finally scored a touchdown at home for the first time this season but also turned it over in the red zone and missed two makeable field-goal attempts. “Seven points won’t get it done.”

The Giants had a chance to tie the score with 10:27 left in the game, but Greg Joseph’s 47-yard field-goal attempt hooked wide left. The defense forced a punt and the Giants got the ball back at their own 11 with 8:06 remaining.

They drove to the Bengals’ 35, but on third-and-2, running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. slipped for a loss of a yard. Rather than attempt another field goal, this one from about 54 yards, the Giants tried to convert on fourth down. Daniel Jones’ pass intended for Darius Slayton across the middle was broken up by DJ Turner II and the Bengals got the ball back on downs with 3:01 left.

The defense nearly forced a three-and-out, but on third-and-12 from the 34, Joe Burrow scrambled and found Andrei Iosivas for a 29-yard pass that went a long way toward sealing the Bengals’ win.

Chase Brown made things interesting with a fumble on the next carry just before the two-minute warning. Jason Pinnock had a good shot at recovering the loose ball, but it went out of bounds and the Bengals retained possession.

“That’s a ball we have to get,” linebacker Brian Burns said.

On the next play, Brown held the ball tight all the way to the end zone for a 30-yard touchdown with 1:52 remaining.

Joseph missed a 45-yard field-goal attempt with 51 seconds left to end any hope of a Giants comeback. The Giants (0-3 at home) and Bengals both are 2-4.

“It’s very disappointing,” Jones said of the offense. “Just couldn’t sustain drives, couldn’t execute, get into a rhythm. I feel like we’ve taken steps and progressed as an offense [in recent weeks], and we didn’t do that today.”

The game dropped Jones’ career record in prime-time games to 1-14. He has not thrown a touchdown pass at home since the game that clinched a playoff berth against the Colts late in the 2022 season. He finished this game 22-for-41 for 205 yards with an interception and gained 56 yards on 11 carries. Tracy had 17 carries for 50 yards and caught six passes for another 57.

After a low-scoring first half, the Giants came out determined to take chances. Facing fourth-and-2 from their own 38 after the Bengals declined an illegal-formation penalty and essentially dared the Giants to go for it, Daboll took the challenge and kept his offense on the field.

“I thought we needed to be aggressive,” he said. “We didn’t have any points and I felt good about the stuff we had.”

It didn’t work. Jones’ pass for Wan’Dale Robinson was broken up by Mike Hilton.

But three plays later, Azeez Ojulari forced a fumble by Zack Moss that was recovered by Micah McFadden, and the Giants had the ball back.

They remained adamantly aggressive on that possession, and this time it paid off for them.

Facing fourth-and-2 from their 40, they converted on an option pitch right to Tracy for a gain of 4. On fourth-and-1 a few plays later from the Bengals’ 35, the Giants again converted on a 5-yard run by Tracy behind a key block from tight end Chris Manhertz. Then, after a pass into the end zone for Slayton drew a pass-interference penalty and put the ball at the 1, Tracy capped the 16-play, 79-yard drive with a touchdown run that tied the score at 7.

The Bengals answered with their own newfound offensive spark as Burrow hit Ja’Marr Chase for a gain of 33 yards that began a drive that would reach the Giants’ 1. On third-and-goal from the 1, Moss appeared to score, but Cordell Volson was flagged for holding Dexter Lawrence. That made it third-and-goal from the 11, and Lawrence sacked Burrow to force a 37-yard field goal that gave the Bengals a 10-7 lead after three quarters.

“Our defense played very good football,” Daboll said of an effort that held the high-scoring Bengals to one touchdown in the first 58 minutes, a 47-yard run by Burrow. Daboll called the defensive performance “winning football.”

The offense was decidedly not.

The Giants’ best scoring chance other than the touchdown came late in the first quarter. Jones had just completed passes on three consecutive snaps for a combined 38 yards to reach the 14, but on his next dropback, he tried to strong-arm an ill-advised pass into the end zone with Bengals rusher and former Giant B.J. Hill pulling him down. The pass fluttered into the air and was intercepted at the 3 by Germaine Pratt.

“If we got sacked, we got sacked,” Daboll said. “You don’t want to turn it over . . .  That’s a decision [Jones] would like to have back.”

The Giants also had a big play in the second quarter when Jones hit Slayton for 56 yards, but Andrew Thomas was flagged for being illegally downfield and negated the play. Without that play, the Giants’ longest gain all night was for 15 yards.

Notes & quotes: LT Andrew Thomas suffered a foot injury and said he will have an MRI on it to determine the extent on Monday morning. Thomas, clearly bothered by the injury, allowed two sacks to Trey Hendrickson . . . Ojulari, making his first start of the season in place of Kayvon Thibodeaux (on injured reserve with a fractured wrist), recorded two sacks and two other quarterback hits.

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.