Bengals fail to finish in New York as frustration mounts
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- At a critical crossroads of the season, the Cincinnati Bengals were repeatedly offered opportunities by the New York Giants to snatch momentum from a season spent spinning wheels in search of a surge.
Eli Manning threw an interception. The Giants botched contain on Andy Dalton. Sterling Shepard dropped a pass on third down.
In all, the Bengals started five drives in the final quarter-plus with a chance to cement a Monday Night Football win at MetLife Stadium.
Those ended in four punts and a pick. Meanwhile, the defense allowed the worst rushing team in football to put away the final minutes of the game on the ground.
Because of the crunch time failure in the 21-20 loss to New York on Monday, the road to a sixth consecutive playoff berth just got much steeper. The clock on the 2016 season spins closer to striking midnight.
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“It’s frustrating because it’s getting to that nitty-gritty time,” receiver A.J. Green said. “We need these wins. The division is wide open and we are just letting it slip away. We are not finishing these games. Tying one, losing by one. It’s tough.”
The Bengals (3-5-1) return home for next Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Bills, their second game at Paul Brown Stadium since beating Miami on Sept. 29. Optimism and hope of that night has given way to a undeniable new reality of inability to finish off potential wins.
The latest chapter involved a 20-14 lead and twice giving the ball back to a Bengals offense with a shot to extend the lead to two scores.
Even on defense, Vontaze Burfict enjoyed one of his most active games of the season with 11 tackles, one forced fumble a pass defensed and hit on the quarterback. Geno Atkins sacked Eli Manning and trucked a series of overmatched guards into the quarterback’s face all evening.
Yet, Rashad Jennings broke free for a 24-yard run to set up an eventual 3-yard touchdown to Sterling Shepard on a gutsy fourth-down call by Giants coach Ben McAdoo. The play gave the Giants the lead and - in three more drives - the Bengals never crossed midfield.
“In every game this year we played good enough to win but not sound enough to lose,” said safety George Iloka, who had an interception for the second straight game. “Every game besides the Cowboys we were right there or up at some point. It’s encouraging, yes, but discouraging because you are right there but somehow inch out a loss or they inch out a win however you want to look at it. It’s disappointing. we have to find a way as a team to stay motivated and know it’s not looking pretty but we are not out of it.”
Coming off a bye-week reset, players discussed the goal of running the table in the second half of the season. Despite the time away, this night looked far too much like the majority of the first half.
The Bengals were ineffective on third downs on both side of the ball. Offensively they only converted two of 11. On defense, the Giants converted 43 percent and also the key fourth-down TD.
The Giants entered the game dead last in rushing, but went to bed racking up 122 yards on 27 carries for 4.5 yards per rush. The 122 marked a season high for New York, who hadn’t topped 53 yards on the ground in any of the last four games.
Odell Beckham Jr. broke free for 10 receptions and 97 yards and a touchdown, ditching Adam Jones on a double move.
Green attempted to match him, but safety coverage over the top limited his impact to seven receptions for 68 yards. The Pro Bowl receiver hasn’t topped 80 yards in any of the Bengals' losses this year but has gone over 100 in all other contests.
“We are doing some good things,” said Hill, who rushed 15 times for 46 yards. “I don’t think we are doing great things otherwise we would be winning. We have to be more consistent throughout the course of our game and give ourselves a better chance to win otherwise we are going to keep losing.”
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At a game-and-a-half behind the Ravens, time exists to win the AFC North, but any room for error which did exist deflated in front of a national audience on Monday. To lose leaves a mark, but to do so when the Giants left myriad opportunities on the table leaves an indelible mark.
With each of these losses, frustration mounts. It certainly did again Monday.
“Guys are definitely frustrated,” left tackle Andrew Whitworth said. “You got no choice. Guys are working their tails off. It’s not a Monday-to-Sunday problem. Guys are working their butts off. They are in the facility all day and trying to find a way to win but for whatever reason we just can’t seem to get it to bounce our way.”