New York Giants at Cincinnati Bengals, Week 12 | How and What To Watch

Here's everything you need to know to watch the Giants' Week 12 game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Author:
Patricia Traina
Publish date:
Nov 29, 2020 8:00 AM EST

It’s all coming together for the Giants.

A win over the Joe Burrow-less Cincinnati Bengals combined with a loss Monday night by the Eagles to the Seattle Seahawks, and the Giants, thanks to the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Washington Football Team, leap into first place in the NFC East.

Got it?

If not, you might want to follow the same advice that head coach Joe Judge has stressed to his players about scoreboard watching.

Given how tight the NFC East is, Judge has emphasized taking it one week at a time, which, if you think about it, will save a lot of grief in figuring out what scenarios need to occur before a division winner is crowned.

“The only thing that matters is what we do from this point forward,” said Giants head coach Joe Judge. “We have to show consistent improvement. I think our players have done that throughout the year, but nothing before this game is going to matter. Nothing is going to help us beat the Bengals other than what we do this week to prepare and how we execute for 60 minutes against Cincinnati.”

But what about the division coach?

“In terms of the entire division, the most important thing truly is what I always say, is being a better team every week and being a better team at the end of the season because everyone right now is on equal ground going forward.”

This is the same mental approach Joe Judge has pushed since Day 1, and now, with the team finally starting to put complete games together, the hope is that they continue to stay locked in to the here and now.

So will the Giants, who are seeking regular-season win No. 700 in franchise history and who, with a win, would become the first road team in the series with the Bengals to win a game, pull it off?

Keep it here at Giants Country, where Jackson Thompson will be running the live blog and community discussion, and Patricia Traina will be bringing you stats, facts, and observations.

Then be sure to check out our postgame coverage.

Game information: New York Giants at Cincinnati Bengals

Current Records: Giants 3-7 / Bengals 2-7-1

Date/Time: Sunday, November 29 at 1:00 p.m. ET

Where: Paul Brown Stadium, Cincinnati, Ohio

Streaming: Yahoo! Sports (mobile browser or app) – Check local listings - Data charges may apply. NFL Sunday Ticket

TV: FOX (Kevin Kugler, Chris Spielman, and Laura Okmin)

Radio: WFAN 660 AM (Bob Papa, Carl Banks)

Referee: Carl Cheffers

Money Line: Bengals +220 Giants -264 (via BetMGM)

Spread: -6 (Giants) / +6 (Bengals)

Over/Under: 44.5

Giants Final Injury Report:

Questionable: CB Brandon Williams (ankle)

Bengals Final Injury Report:

Questionable: CB Mackensie Alexander (hamstring)
Questionable: LB Markus Bailey (hamstring)
Questionable: RB Giovanni Bernard (concussion)
Doubtful: WR Mike Thomas (Hamstring)

What To Watch For:

Giants aim for a third consecutive win and 700th regular-season win in franchise history.
Giants aim for a sixth consecutive game rushing for at least 100 yards.
Giants look to improve to 72-66-2 vs. the AFC North all-time.
Quarterback Daniel Jones aims for a fifth consecutive game with at least 20 completions and a third consecutive game with a passer rating of at least 90.0.
Running back Wayne Gallman Jr. aims for 5th consecutive game with a rushing touchdown. The last time a Giants running back scored a touchdown in 5 straight games in a single season was Andre Brown in 2012.
Receiver Sterling Shepard aims for 5th consecutive game with at least six receptions.

Goal to Go: Avoid the Bye Week Blues

Sometimes we can’t help ourselves.

We go away for a long weekend to relax and unwind from our jobs only to return to work on a Monday and find that it takes us a day or two to drag our minds from wherever it was we spent the weekend relaxing into the present.

In football, that’s called the bye week blues, which comes about when a team goes on a bye and comes out flat in its next game.

The Giants have seen that happen twice this year, beating Washington and Philadelphia off their respective byes. But this week, with New York coming off its own bye—they are 13-19 in games following a regular-season bye, including 4-11 on the road—Judge is determined to have the Giants sidestep the bye-week blues.

“We’ve looked at that from both sides. What does Philly do coming out of a bye? What did Washington do coming out of a bye? All that stuff. You tie back into Ron’s (Rivera) history in Carolina, you look at what Doug (Pederson) has done in the past as well,” Judge said in trying to learn from his opponents’ mistakes.

And what conclusions did he reach?

“To me, it’s all based on how you handle the game week,” he said. “I’d say the biggest thing for me when you get into the game week of not kind of walking into it. You have to get back into working that routine—that’s very important to me.”

That approach is more critical this year than ever before, especially after the Giants had their two light practices scheduled for the bye wiped out thanks to some positive COVI-19 cases.

Whether it pays off and the Giants deliver crisp, mistake-free football—important if they’re to extend their winning streak to three games—remains to be seen.