Giants take gamble, edge Bengals 21-20

That isn’t to say that Big Blue can’t win a wild card spot or even the division, but just that it makes the road to Houston that much harder.

New York Giants head coach Ben McAdoo won’t get too far ahead and start talking playoffs, not even after his team rolled off an impressive victory over the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday night.

“Well I’m glad he was listening”, McAdoo said Tuesday.

If they want to extend their four game winning streak, the Giants will need to string together more offensive performances like the one they had against Cincinnati. NY could have opted to kick the field goal, but head coach Ben McAdoo chose to leave his offense on the field without hesitation.

Green begged to differ with his quarterback, saying he knows exactly what the Bengals’ problem is on offense.

“We’re really looking forward to February 5 in Houston”, Beckham said with a grin.

“It’s a good defensive scheme”, McAdoo said. Coughlin, who stepped down after last season, was the last to be introduced, and he started by saying he wasn’t going to be “cheated” in giving his acceptance speech. This season, the close games are breaking their way. The other Bengals score in the first half would come because of an Eli Manning interception, but the defense held them to just three points despite starting in the red zone. (Both are more possible than anyone thinks, but still.) The Giants can’t make it out of that scrum?

The offense goes out and gets a slim lead and then they rely on their defense to stand tall late in games. It didn’t happen past year. Take five seconds to sign up for our FREE newsletter here. Green finished with 7 catches for 68 yards receiving and 1 touchdown.

In fairness to the Bengals, they’ve lost to the Steelers, Broncos, Cowboys, Patriots and Giants, who are a combined 32-14 this season.

The lack of pass protection continued to be a perplexing problem for the Bengals after they allowed just 2.1 sacks a game last season while going 12-4 in the regular season and winning the AFC North.

“We can’t have our team fracture”, Johnson said.

McAdoo, who has not been afraid to take similar risks, said his decision was aided by seeing how well the team came through in practice leading up to the game. Dalton completed just 55 percent of his pass attempts, often rushing his throws. Cincinnati was driving inside Giants territory with a one-point lead and 11 minutes, 35 seconds left in the game when Collins made his weekly huge play.

“He’s fantastic right now”, Pierre-Paul said. “So it comes down to execution and guys making plays”.

Beckham said he usually goes to LeBron James for inspiration, watching the King play games earlier this year but after seeing his first UFC fight – McGregor inspired him to ball out. But his rookie year was a rough one.

“He had some moments where he needs to play better”, McAdoo said. “It’s tough to move the ball against that defense”. Previous year sticks with him.