Giants-Bengals final score: Giants win, 19-17, move into first place

The New York Giants held on to defeat the Cincinnati Bengals, 19-17, on Sunday afternoon at Paul Brown Stadium. Daniel Jones left the game in the third quarter with an apparent hamstring injury, but New York managed to improve to 4-7 on the season and move into first place in the NFC East ahead of the Washington Football Team. Cincinnati dropped to 2-8-1 on the season.

A 53-yard catch by Evan Engram on the Giants’ opening possession set New York up on the Cincinnati 4-yard line. After three missed chances, the Giants went for it on fourth down. Wayne Gallman rushed into the end zone to give the Giants an early 7-0 lead at 10:04 in the first quarter.

The Bengals responded with a 103-yard punt return by Brandon Wilson, knotting the score at seven.

A fumble by Engram at 8:53 in the second quarter set up a nine-play, 29-yard scoring drive by the Bengals. Cincinnati took a three-point lead off of a 44-yard field goal by Randy Bullock. Trailing 10-7 with roughly three-and-a-half minutes left in the first half, the Giants got the ball back with all three timeouts. Jones drove the team down the field to set up a 49-yard field goal by Graham Gano that tied the score at 10 heading into the locker room.

After Jones rushed for 7 yards to advance to the Bengals’ 21-yard line on the Giants’ opening drive of the second half, he appeared to reach back to his hamstring. After one more play, Jones exited the game and Colt McCoy took the field.

Jones re-entered the game on New York’s next possession, but left the field two plays later.

On fourth-and-6 with 2:52 left in the third quarter, the Bengals faked a punt and converted the first down to keep the drive alive. But the Giants got the ball right back when Brandon Allen’s pass up the middle was intercepted by Niko Lalos, who was making his NFL debut, at the Cincinnati 40-yard line.

On New York’s following possession, the Giants went for it on fourth down for the third time of the day. Dion Lewis rushed for seven yards to convert the first down and keep the drive alive. Then, at 11:43 in the fourth quarter, McCoy was unable to complete a pass to a wide-open Lewis on third down. Instead, the Giants settled for a field goal to make it 16-10.

With 4:19 left in the game, Drew Sample caught a pass from Allen, but Logan Ryan stripped the ball and recovered it to give New York back the ball at the Cincinnati 19-yard line. Gano converted a 32-yard field goal to complete the scoring drive and give the Giants a 19-10 lead.

The Bengals scored their first touchdown of the second half when Allen completed a one-yard pass up the middle to Tee Higgins with 2:38 left in the game, decreasing Cincinnati’s deficit to just two points.

The Bengals got the ball back with 57 seconds left but Jaball Sheard sacked Allen and forced a fumble that was recovered by Leonard Williams, securing a victory for the Giants.

First half

The Giants and Bengals were tied, 10-10, at the half.

The Giants ran 42 first-half plays to 20 for the Bengals, and New York held the ball for 17:57 to 12:03 for Cincinnati. The Giants had 223 offensive first-half yards while Cincinnati recorded 66.

The Giants went for it on fourth down twice in the first quarter and converted both. The first time, Gallman rushed for a touchdown. In the second attempt, Jones kept the drive alive when he rushed for two yards to the Bengals 33-yard line at 9:23 in the second quarter. On the next play, Jones completed a pass to Engram over the middle, but the Bengals’ Vonn Bell punched the ball out and caused Engram to fumble. It was recovered by the Bengals who capitalized on the turnover with a 44-yard field goal on their next possession.

In the team’s first game with new offensive line coach Dave DeGuglielmo, there were three penalties called on the offensive line in the first three drives. Two were called on Cam Fleming and one on Kevin Zeitler.

Jones was 14 of 23 for 167 yards in the first half. Allen was 7 of 10 for 53 yards.

Stats

Jones was 16 of 27 with 213 yards before leaving the game in the third quarter.

McCoy finished the game six of 10 for 31 yards.

Engram had six receptions for 129 yards, including one 53-yard catch and one 44-yard catch.

Gallman had 24 rushing attempts for 94 yards and one touchdown. It marked his fifth straight game with a touchdown.

Highlights

Injury news

Jones left the game in the third quarter with an apparent right hamstring injury.

Safety/special teams player Nate Ebner left the game in the first quarter with a knee injury and did not return.

Linebacker Kyler Fackrell suffered a calf injury in the second half and did not return.

What’s next?

The Giants will travel to Seattle on Dec. 6 to take on the Seahawks. The game is at 4:05 p.m. and will be broadcast on FOX.