Bengals 31, Giants 13: November implosion in full swing

The New York Giants are now in full-blown November implosion mode. The Giants (6-4) were awful Sunday in a lopsided 31-13 loss to the 4-5 Cincinnati Bengals, a game in which the Giants were never competitive.

The Giants have now lost both of their games this month, and six straight November contests overall. They still lead the NFC East, but they are threatening to make the division competitive despite the obvious inadequacies of the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles, playing each other today with records of 3-5.

Why did the Giants lose on Sunday? The reasons are obvious, and plentiful.

There was another awful start to a game, falling behind 14-0 only 4:01 into the game?

There was another horrible breakdown by the secondary, allowing a 56-yard touchdown pass to A.J. Green on Cincinnati's first possession.

There was awful special teams play for the second straight week. The Giants allowed a 68-yard punt return that set up a Cincinnati touchdown.

There were four Giants' turnovers, three by quarterback Eli Manning.

Speaking of Manning, there was a resurrection of the extremely bad Eli as he threw two awful interceptions while already in the clutches of Cincinnati defenders. This, incidentally, was the Giants' third straight game without a touchdown pass.

There were two failures in the red zone in the first half, and an Ahmad Bradshaw fumble in the red zone in the third quarter when the game was still in reach.

There was awful offensive line play, especially in pass protection. Manning was sacked four times, and hurried or hit numerous other times.

There was a dropped touchdown pass by Victor Cruz.

In other words, there was blame for pretty much everyone.

The Giants have a bye next week. They host the Green Bay Packers in two weeks.