Eli Manning Front & Center of Giants Debacle in Cincy

BENGALS 31
GIANTS 13

It didn't take long for the Giants to find themselves behind in this contest.

In fact the Giants fell so far behind, so fast that the rest of the game became elementary as the Cincinnati Bengals waltzed to a dominating 31-13 victory over the defending Super Bowl champions.

It only took five plays for the Giants to find themselves in big trouble, when Andy Dalton found A.J. Green wide open down the sideline for a 56-yard touchdown, after he blew past Corey Webster en route to the end zone.

After Big Blue went three-and-out on their opening possession, Cincinnati stuck it right down the Giants throats when Adam Jones brought the punt return back 68-yards to the Giants 11 yard line. Smelling blood in the water, the Bengals attacked aggressively, as Dalton attempted two striaght passes before connecting with Andrew Hawkins for the score to bury the Giants 14-0.

With only four minutes elapsed in the first quarter the game was basically over.

The Giants were flat all day. They didn't have an answer for the Bengals blitzing defense, which spent the entire afternoon harassing quarterback Eli Manning. Manning had his worst game of the season, failing to throw a touchdown pass for the second consecutive game, and failing to move this football team anywhere near the endzone.

Manning overshot, and underthrew his wide receivers, who were extremely well covered. Victor Cruz who hauled in three catches for 26 yards, was thrown to only four times on Sunday.

When Manning was pressured, he made some horrid mistakes that buried New York even further.  Manning's first pick was Mark Sanchez-eshc, as he tried to avoid a sack and threw the ball up into the air only to have it picked off by defensive tackle Pat Sims. The turnover set the Bengals up at the Giants 12, allowing Dalton to complete a 10-yard touchdown strike to Jermaine Gresham to make it 14-6.

On the Giants ensuing possession, Manning tried to break from the pocket and heave the ball downfield, but his wobbly pass was intercepted by Nate Clements, setting up another score for Cincinnati, as Dalton hit Mohammad Sanu with his fourth TD pass of the day.

With the loss the Giants now stand at 6-4, still in first place in the NFC East, but there is reason for concern. With the Dallas Cowboys victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, it makes it clear that Big Blue will be fighting off Big D for the division for the rest of the season.

The Giants schedule is not easy. Games against Green Bay, Washington, New Orleans, Atlanta, Baltimore and Philadelphia remain, and it is conceivable that if the Giants struggles continue they could find themselves gasping for their playoff lives come week 17.

If Dallas and New York should, let's say, finish 9-7, Dallas would win the division outright, since they would have a better divisional record than the Giants. The Giants would have to not only win 10 games, they now have to hope that Dallas losses one of their remaining divisional games against Washington and Philly to help the Giants out.

Then again, maybe this is just another November swoon for the Giants, and they will turn it around in December. However with that schedule, the Giants are going have to really earn every win they can get to fend off a complete collapse.