Bengals Expose Giants “Soft” Defense for Second Straight Defeat

Added by Vin D'Anton on November 12, 2012.

Is collapse in full swing and has mass hysteria begun in East Rutherford? Most will feel that way and the immature fandom inside me wants to scream that at the top of my lungs.

Tom Coughlin, who labeled his defense “soft” this past week, did something an old fashioned fan would love: choose to differ. That decision alone made it seem that the Giants were ready to come out and smack the Cincinnati Bengals in the mouth.

Five minutes later, all hell broke loose as Andy Dalton connected with a wide-open A.J. Green for a 56-yard touch down. That play had shades of a wide-open Dez Bryant last year in Dallas and other busted coverage’s under the Perry Fewell defensive regime.

The cornerback on the busted coverage was the same a year ago: Corey Webster. Not only did he point to Stevie Brown to call him out for the mistake, but even when the ball was flying in the air, Webster didn’t even speed up to tackle Green. Pure laziness from a veteran corner who has showed his age all season.

That was a sign of things to come defensively as Dalton had a career day throwing for four touchdowns, tying Carson Palmer for most in team history. Coming in to the game, he had thrown an interception in every game and the Giants couldn’t even do that.

Prince Amukamara for some Godforsaken reason was being praised by FOX’s Thom Brennaman and Brian Billick for having a good day defensively saying he was in perfect coverage on some Bengal catches.

A good corner does not allow touchdowns on perfect coverage, he needs to complete the play, and Amukamara is far from being the defensive force that Jerry Reese and Coughlin want him to be.

Two plays define this game and the Green TD is not one of them. First was the penalty on Justin Tryon for stepping out of bounds and coming back in after a nice punt by Steve Weatherford to pin Cincy deep. Then, in typical Giants fashion, a penalty led to disaster. Adam “Pacman” Jones ran 68 yards to the Giants 11, which led to Dalton’s second touchdown.

How Special Teams Coordinator Tom Quinn still has a job has baffled Giants fans for a while now.

Second: As Eli Manning and Co. were driving wonderfully on their second possession of the third quarter in a 17-6 game, Ahmad Bradshaw fumbled on a second effort (shocker) and Cincy recovered.

From there on the offense was a disaster. Eli was awful throwing two interceptions that had stupidity written all over it. One thing that was troublesome to see with Manning was looking at one target on a few plays.

Even on the fourth down conversion before halftime to Hakeem Nicks, Martellus Bennett was open near Nicks and Manning didn’t even look his way.

This offense is at a crossroads entering the bye. After 10 straight weeks of football and a whacky schedule to say the least, the Champs have some time to rest and get some key players healthy again.

Offensive Coordinator Kevin Gilbride has two weeks to conjure up something new…something fresh to get the explosive Giants offense back on track and even start scoring in the redzone for once.

Your quarterback who has been called a future Hall of Famer has thrown no touchdowns in three weeks. That’s something Hall of Fame quarterbacks don’t do.

Things can get turbulent as Dallas beat Philly yesterday, then the Cowboys have Cleveland and Washington the next two weeks.

Maybe we should look at this game as a wake up call for the G-Men: a deserved beat down against a lesser opponent heading into a bye. Maybe they need to know that they are not that good. Maybe this can be a positive turning point for the 2012 Giants.

It better be, because the Green Bay Packers come to town after the bye.