New York Giants: Report card vs. Bengals as Big Blue takes NFC East lead

The New York Giants have the NFC East lead and we have report card grades for their Week 12 win.

The resurgent New York Giants (my pick to win the NFC “Least”, by the way) defeated the Cincinnati Bengals in the Queen City on Sunday afternoon, 19-17, to improve to 4-7. In doing so, the Giants have now taken the lead in the division and, against all odds, could be in line for a berth in the NFL playoffs.

It was far from a thing of beauty — no Giants victory has been this season — but they’ll take it and run with it. A win is a win and they’re playing in a division where wins have been hard to come by for every team.

With that, let’s dive into the Week 12 performance and hand out report card grades for every unit in the win over the Bengals.

New York Giants Week 12 Report Card: Offense

The big story of this game was the hamstring injury suffered by Giants quarterback Daniel Jones in the third quarter. How long the second-year signal-caller will be sidelined remains to be seen but it certainly looks like a multi-week setback.

Up until that point, the Duke product was efficient if not far from spectacular (16-of-27, 213 yards, no turnovers). He added 19 yards on the ground on six carries. Colt McCoy (6-of-10, 31 yards) replaced him and barely got Big Blue across the finish line.

Wayne Gallman (98 yards rushing on 24 carries) tallied a touchdown for the fifth consecutive game. Tight end Evan Engram finally awoke and had his finest game of the year (six receptions for 129 yards). The G-Men converted just nine of 21 third-down opportunities but did come through on all three of their fourth-down attempts.

Still, with that being said, they scored just 19 points against one of the poorer defenses in the league. That was disappointing.

Grade: C-

New York Giants Week 12 Report Card: Defense

This defense is getting better and better by the week. New York’s defensive unit actually allowed just 10 points (more on that below) and held the Bengals to only 11 first downs and 155 total yards.

Big Blue forced three turnovers (2 fumble recoveries, 1 interception) and sacked backup quarterback Brandon Allen twice. Do you think Cincinnati missed Joe Burrow and Pro Bowl running back Joe Mixon? You bet.

The Giants forced the Bengals to go three-and-out four times. Well done.

Grade: B+

New York Giants Week 12 Report Card: Special Teams

Good news and bad news here. Graham Gano connected on four field goals, including a long of 49 yards, but New York’s coverage units were brutal. Cincinnati’s Brandon Wilson tied the game at 7-7 with a team-record 103-yard kickoff return.

Not only that, but the Bengals kept a third-quarter drive alive when Shawn Williams rambled seven yards on a fake punt on fourth-and-6 from their own 20-yard line in the third quarter. The Giants have to shore up their coverage units but fast down the stretch of the 2020 campaign.

Grade: D+