Giants top Bengals as Daniel Jones Shines Again

Giants rookie quarterback Daniel Jones once again led his team in passing, completing nine out of 11 pass attempts for a 118.8 NFL rating and engineering a 7-play, 62-yard touchdown drive as the Giants topped the Cincinnati Bengals 25-23.

Jones, who continued to impress with his stellar ball placement, even took a crushing blow when the starting offensive lines’ protection broke down.

The rookie bounced back from that hit, which knocked the ball out of his grasp (teammate Brittan Golden recovered it) and proceeded to continue marching the Giants down the field.

“That’s what we thought he was when we drafted him,” Shurmur said after the game.

“About every six or seven days now I’ve been able to tell you, ‘That’s what we saw when we drafted him.’ He has a feel for playing the position, and he’s steadily getting better every time he takes the field, whether it’s practice or games.”

Shurmur then added, “You can ask me all you want about why I like him. It’s time to start asking the people that didn’t like him what they think.”

Jones connected with fellow rookie Darius Slayton, who made his Giants preseason debut, on a 27-yard pass, the second-longest play of the drive after Jones’ 35-yarder to Golden two plays before he was hit.

The drive capped with running back Rod Smith rushing for a 1-yard touchdown to give the Giants a 10-7 lead midway through the second quarter.

“I’ve said it all along, Daniel, when it’s his time to play, he’s going to be ready,” Shurmur said after the game.

“We’re going to continue to get him ready, and we have a couple of weeks left before we play Dallas.”

Not to be outdone, Eli Manning had himself another impressive opening drive, even though his stats--four of eight-- didn’t reflect it.

Manning, who saw two of his pass attempts dropped by receiver Cody Latimer (including one that would have gone for a touchdown), connected with five different receivers on that 15-play drive before the Giants had to settle for a 41-yard field goal by Aldrick Rosas.

The Giants starting defense did a nice job of holding the Bengals to three points, but there was a little bit of sloppiness on the first drive when they allowed a 28-yard pass completion by quarterback Andy Dalton to tight end C.J. Uzomah.

While the passing defense overall wasn’t as sharp this week, the Giants pass rush took a step forward.

Rookie Oshane Ximines added two more sacks to his team-leading three for the preseason. Safety Sean Chandler and linebackers Josiah Tauefa and Keion Adams contributed one each.

Receiver Brittan Golden finished with a team-high 59 receiving yards, catching two out of four pass targets.

Golden, who was also johnny-on-the-spot in recovering Jones’ fumble after he took that big hit, also recorded a 68-yard punt return. However, he lost the handle on another punt return which the Bengals recovered and turned into a score.

Shurmur wasn’t happy with the sloppiness of the game, which in addition to the dropped passes and muffed punt, included five accepted penalties, two of which were called on left guard Will Hernandez.

“I think it was just a little bit sloppier than we all would have liked to have seen,” he said.

The Giants will close out their 2019 preseason slate next Thursday night against the Patriots.

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