If desperation hasn’t necessarily set in by Week 6 of the NFL season, then it isn’t far off, either, for the league’s struggling teams.
The Cincinnati Bengals are one of those teams. Entering “Sunday Night Football” on NBC with a 1-4 record, their margin for error to rebound and make the playoffs was slim, to put it mildly.
With a 17-7 win on the road against the New York Giants, the Bengals preserved their outside shot at the postseason. And it wasn’t because of their usually high-performing offense. Instead, the win rested on a defense that has usually been the source of the team’s problems.
After allowing 10 or more points in 75 consecutive games, Cincinnati broke the streak while holding New York to points on just one of its 10 drives. Giants QB Daniel Jones completed barely half of his passes (22-for-41) while throwing an interception.
Bengals QB Joe Burrow was uncomfortable for much of the night, as well, despite entering as one of the league’s most prolific quarterbacks over the previous month. After being sacked 12 times in five games, he was sacked by the Giants four times Sunday alone.
Yet Burrow made perhaps the night’s key throw with 2:12 remaining in the fourth quarter, when he scrambled to his left facing third-and-12 and threw across his body for a 29-yard gain. Two plays later, the Bengals scored the game-sealing touchdown on running back Chase Brown’s 30-yard run.
The Bengals next face the Cleveland Browns on the road in one week. The Giants stay at home — where they are 0-3 this season — and host the Philadelphia Eagles.
