Bengals vs. Giants 2016 results: New York squeezes past Cincinnati, 21-20

The Cincinnati Bengals and New York Giants came into Monday Night Football needing wins to stay in their divisional races. The Giants came out of the evening with the victory, 21-20 over the Bengals.

Eli Manning and the Giants got off to a good start, scoring a touchdown on the first drive of the game that went 80 yards in just under four minutes. Manning hit Jerell Adams with a 10-yard pass for the early lead.

Andy Dalton and the Bengals were quick to counter. On their second play of their first drive, the Bengals brought out the Star Wars formation, and completed a 71-yard pass to Tyler Eifert.

The Bengals scored two plays later on a Dalton pass that went 13 yards to A.J. Green.

The next six drives of the game weren’t very entertaining. five of them resulted in punts, with one having the Giants turn it over on downs.

As the half started winding down and after a 25-yard field goal by Mike Nugent to make it 10-7 Bengals, the Giants made another push towards the end zone. This time, Odell Beckham Jr. made a pair of sweet moves for a score, and gave the Giants a 14-10 lead.

It wasn’t the only heads up play Beckham made right before the half. He was put in on defense to prevent a successful Hail Mary by the Bengals, and it worked.

He really used his head on this play.

The third quarter belonged to the Bengals. On the opening kickoff, Alex Erickson returned the kick for 84 yards, setting the Bengals up at at Giants 13-yard line.

All the Bengals had to do was hand it off to Jeremy Hill twice, and he got the remaining 13 yards, and found the end zone to make it a 17-14 Bengals lead. The Bengals would extend that lead to 20-14 on their next drive, after forcing the Giants to punt.

The final drive of the Giants extended early into the fourth quarter. It was just 47 yards, but Manning connected with Sterling Shepard for a two-yard pass to give them a 21-20 lead.

On the Bengals ensuing drive, Green appeared to have hurt his leg, and limped to the sideline only to return later. On the same drive, Dalton would throw an interception to Landon Collins. Unfortunately for the Giants, Manning gave it right back on the first play of their drive.

Late in the fourth, the Giants defensive line stepped up and was able to get to Dalton on consecutive plays, forcing them to punt with just over three minutes remaining. Coming into tonight’s game, they were the worst in the league in sacking the quarterback.

The Giants were able to run out the clock, and secure the 21-20 victory.

The Bengals fall to 3-5-1 on the season with the loss, and remain in third in the AFC North.

The win keeps the Giants ahead of Washington and the Eagles for sole possession of second place in the NFC East at 6-3, and is their fourth consecutive victory.