Two teams with hopes of salvaging their season meet Sunday night when the New York Giants face the Cincinnati Bengals in East Rutherford, N.J.
The Giants (2-3) not only have the advantage of playing in their home stadium, but they are also coming off a 29-20 road win over the Seattle Seahawks and now return with a chance to get to .500 on the season.
The Bengals (1-4) hope to get past their most recent disappointment in a season full of them, as they lost 41-38 in overtime to the visiting Baltimore Ravens last week.
The Giants are dealing with injuries to key performers on both sides of the ball.
Coach Brian Daboll said outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux is week-to-week after undergoing surgery to address a wrist injury, while rookie star wide receiver Malik Nabers was improving midweek but still remained in the concussion protocol and was day-to-day.
New York running back Devin Singletary was a limited practice participant on Wednesday after sitting out last week with a groin injury. He is “trending in the right direction” toward a return Sunday night, according to Daboll.
In their win at Seattle, the Giants recorded a season-best 420 total yards. They held the Seahawks to their lowest point total of the season, and New York is allowing just 20.8 points per game.
Dexter Lawrence has fought through double and triple teams to record six sacks, the highest total by a New York player through five games since 2011, when Jason Pierre-Paul had 6.5.
“It’s not an easy thing,” Daboll said. “There were times last week where there were three guys on him. So, again, he understands that. When he gets his opportunities, he’s got to make them go. Very thankful that he’s on our football team.”
The Bengals have little to be thankful for lately.
Against the Ravens, they built three different 10-point leads in the second half thanks to an impressive performance from quarterback Joe Burrow. However, the defense failed to protect the advantages, Burrow threw a late interception in regulation and the special teams failed in overtime when holder Ryan Rehkow bobbled the snap on a potential 53-yard game-winning field goal.
Burrow, who threw a career-high five touchdown passes, completed 30 of 39 attempts for 392 yards and a 137.0 passer rating. Burrow’s top receivers — Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins — each had a pair of touchdown grabs.
Cincinnati coach Zac Taylor preached the importance of not looking beyond this week’s matchup against the Giants.
“We’re five games into the season,” Taylor said. “I know what the noise is. We’re 1-4, and so we’re accountable for all of that. It’s not good enough. We have too much talent on this team to be in the position we’ve found ourselves in right now.
“But all we can do focusing forward is (to ask ourselves), how do we beat the New York Giants? How do we have a great week, how do we get back on the winning track? You look around the AFC and there’s plenty of opportunity there moving forward, and we just need to take advantage of it.”
The Bengals have scored 30-plus points in each of their past three games. They enter Week 6 tied for fourth in the NFL in scoring (28 points per game), ninth in total offense (359 yards per game) and fifth in passing offense (263 yards per game).
The two teams are meeting for just the 12th time, with the Bengals leading the series 6-5. The Giants won the most recent meeting 19-17 in 2020 at Cincinnati, the only time the visiting team has prevailed in the past 11 encounters.