Giants grades vs. Cincinnati Bengals in Week 6: F's for offense and special teams
Giants head coach Brain Daboll looks on during the second quarter against the Cincinnati Bengals at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
OFFENSE: F
Just when we think that face-palming, eye-rolling version of Daniel Jones is gone for good, he pops up at the worst possible time. On Sunday, it was at the end of a really solid first-quarter drive when he forced a throw that was intercepted and killed the team’s best chance for a touchdown in the first half. Jones said he was trying to throw the ball out of the back of the end zone, but he probably should have just taken the sack on that first-and-10 play from the 14. The Giants didn’t have a play longer than 15 yards all game, which means every plodding drive has to be nearly perfect to succeed, and they are not near that level of performance. Tyrone Tracy Jr. had 107 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown in his second game in place of injured starter Devin Singletary, but Jones was the team’s leading rusher.
DEFENSE: C
Keeping Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins out of the end zone was priority number one for the Giants, and they accomplished that. They also kept a decent amount of pressure on Joe Burrow, sacking him four times. But there were two big plays that resulted in touchdown runs — a 47-yarder by Burrow and a 30-yarder by Chase Brown — that ruined an otherwise strong effort. They did a great job forcing a turnover after the first turnover on downs in the third quarter and a fairly quick punt after the first missed field goal in the fourth to get the ball back to the offense, but that loose fumble that Jason Pinnock had a chance to recover, which wound up rolling out of bounds and staying with the Bengals with 1:58 remaining, will cause some sleepless nights.
SPECIAL TEAMS: F
Graham Gano is eligible to return from injured reserve this week if his hamstring is ready, which means this wasn’t good timing for Greg Joseph to miss two important field goals from makeable distances of 47 and 45 yards. If Gano is ready, Joseph’s time with the Giants may be over. Emergency replacement punter Matt Haack was the holder on those kicks, but there was no indication he was to blame for them both sailing wide left. Haack, signed on Saturday, performed fine in his primary duty with four punts, two of them downed inside the 20, after Jamie Gillan hurt his left hamstring during the week. Punt returner Ihmir Smith-Marsette left the game for a while with a foot injury and was replaced by Adoree’ Jackson, but he was back on the field for the final fair catch.
COACHING: D
Brian Daboll attempted five fourth-down conversions. The three times he ran the ball, the Giants were successful, and the two times he passed, they were not. On the uber-critical fourth-and-3 with 3:05 remaining, he called for a crossing route by Darius Slayton that the receiver himself described as “kind of a tough play.” Daboll took the blame for the offensive ineptitude, but there were chances for the Giants to score points; they just failed to execute. They were penalized only twice for 9 yards, but one of them was the illegal lineman downfield flag against Andrew Thomas that negated a 56-yard pass. The defensive game plan was mostly solid, but the Bengals outsmarted them on the Burrow's long TD by overloading the left side with all the playmakers and then running right where the entire half of the field was wide open. It was the longest scoring run by a quarterback against the Giants since Bill Dudley went 66 yards for the Steelers in 1942.
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.
