The New York Giants’ offensive woes continued on Sunday night in their 17-7 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Giants entered the game averaging 17.8 points per game and were facing a reeling Bengals defense that was allowing 34.5 PPG over their last three.
This was a huge opportunity for the Giants’ offense to get untracked, even without their top wideout (Malik Nabers) and running back (Devin Singletary).
It didn’t happen.
“Hats off to the way the defense played,” head coach Brian Daboll said after the game. “Missed two opportunities in the kicking game. And then didn’t score enough points offensively. That starts with me.”
"It's hard to win football games when you score 7 points, that's the reality of it."
– Brian Daboll pic.twitter.com/BDD6hloz4z
— Giants Videos (@SNYGiants) October 14, 2024
Daboll did all he could. He dialed up five fourth down attempts — three of which succeeded — in an attempt to jumpstart the flagging offense. The execution simply just wasn’t there.
“It’s probably a number of things. I’ll go back and watch the tape,” Daboll said when probed about why the offense sputtered again. “I thought we had some opportunities throughout the game. Whether it be run, whether it be pass. We turned the ball over down there on that drive, which was a good drive, to come away with no points. I think we were 5-of-15 (on third-down), somewhere around there.
“Now we were aggressive on fourth down because I thought we needed to be against this offense. We just couldn’t generate any explosive plays. We had the penalty. Then other than that, we didn’t hit many explosive plays. That’s in a nutshell, before watching it.”
The Giants are averaging 16.0 points per game after six weeks. That’s 29th in the NFL right now. The three teams behind them — Cleveland (15.8 PPG), New England (13.8), and Miami (12.0) — all either have or have had quarterback issues/injuries this season.