In the NFL, you are going to have these kinds of games. All very good teams have them. You wish it would not happen, but it does. Facing a team that on the surface should be a cake suddenly turns into what I call a “hell game”.
At Giants Stadium on Sunday, the world champions found themselves in this exact situation. Being 14-point favorites, the Cincinnati Bengals played like a desperate 0-2 team and gave the Giants all they could handle and provided an early season case of agita in the process.
The Giants in previous years would have lost this kind of game, but this is not the past. Summoning their championship resolve and comeback spirit, they rallied late to tie the game, saw the Bengals force overtime, but managed to make some key plays in overtime to walk away with a 3-0 record after a 26-23 victory.
On paper, this shaped up to be a mismatch. The offensive and defensive power of the Giants was supposed to overwhelm Cincinnati en route to an easy win. However, yesterday served as a reminder why games are played on the field and not on paper.
It was Eli Manning, with his team trailing by four late in the fourth quarter who once again drove his team down for the go-ahead touchdown. In the overtime session, it was Manning, facing heavy pressure that stood up and delivered once again.
The Bengals may be 0-2, but they are a talented offensive team that on any given day can put up points on the scoreboard as good as any other team. On this day, they played as if their season was on the line and gave everything they had. Unfortunately, on the road in the Meadowlands, it was not good enough.
At no point during the first three quarters did the Giants play particularly well on offense. Cincinnati’s decision to focus on shutting down Plaxico Burress with numerous defenders opened up holes in the middle of the field for Amani Toomer (5 catches – 64 yards) and Steve Smith (7 catches – 60 yards). Consistently blitzing Manning and playing with safety help over the top for the Giants to abandon their plan on attacking the Bengals depleted secondary downfield.
After Cincinnati scored the games first points with field goal, the Giants marched down and scored on a one yard Brandon Jacobs touchdown plunge to make it 7-3. The Bengals quickly answered on a 25-yard touchdown run by running back Chris Perry. Each team traded field goals and the Giants went into the half trailing 17-10.
The Giants inability to capitalize in the red zone forced them to settle for three John Carney (9 for 9 this season) field goals. This allowed Palmer and his offense to have a chance to steal the game late in the fourth quarter. Twelve plays and 82 yards later, Palmer found T.J Housmanzadeh in the end zone on a 17 yard touchdown pass to give the Bengals a 20-16 lead with 4:38 left.
It became one of those “we’ve been here before” moments. The Giants needed 68 yards for the go-ahead score and could not settle for a field goal.
Derrick Ward (nine carries – 80 yards) got it started with a 22 yard run on a draw play. Manning then found Toomer for 14 yards. After two incomplete passes, Manning would Steve Smith for 15 yards on third-and-10 to get the ball down to the Bengals 17. Ward rumbled down to three-yard line before Manning found tight end Kevin Boss for a four-yard touchdown pass to give the Giants a 23-20 lead with 1:50 to go.
Unfortunately, the Giants defense wasn’t able to close the show in regulation. Keeping extra blockers in the backfield to block, it negated defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s creative blitz schemes. This left holes in the secondary throughout the second half and mainly on the Bengals final possession of regulation. Palmer led his team down to the Giants 14 yard line before making a very curious decision.
There were 35 seconds left and the Bengals had one timeout. Rather than trying to go for the win, they allowed the clock to go all the way down to 12 seconds before Palmer hit receiver Antonio Chatman for an eleven-yard pass down to the three and called their final timeout. Kicker Shayne Graham sent the game into overtime nailing a 21-yard field goal.
Cincinnati went three-and-out in the overtime session and once again gave the ball back to Manning with a chance to win the game. He found Burress along the left sideline for 28 yards and followed that up with a terrific pass to Toomer for 31 yards down to the Bengals seven-yard line.
Carney came on to kick the game winner and the Giants ran their record to 3-0. It was not pretty, but at the end of the day, it is still a victory. You take it and you move on.
In this case, for the Giants, they take it and move on to a bye week that comes much earlier. Despite having not lost a game yet, several issues need to be addressed, mainly the teams currently inability to convert inside the red zone.
Defensively, despite racking up six sacks, the defense only has one takeaway on the season. Palmer was given plenty of protection in the second half, and despite the improvements in the secondary, were vulnerable because of the lack of consistent pass rush.
The Seattle Seahawks comes to town in two weeks. Maybe they will bring some wide receivers with them. Otherwise, Matt Hasslebeck will be in for a very long afternoon.
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