Giants Win In O.T.

The Giants improve to 3-0 heading into their bye week after edging out the Bengals in overtime.  It was an exciting game, with Eli Manning marching down the field and connecting with Kevin Boss on a T.D. pass with under two minutes to play to take a three point lead. I thought the Giants defense would be able to stop whatever Cincinnati had left in the tank.  Unfortunately Carson Palmer showed they had plenty left in the tank.  The Bengals’ two minute offense stunned the N.Y fans when Carson and Co. connected on pass after pass, getting the ball all the way into Giants territory and almost scoring a touchdown.  Luckily for the G-men, they had to settle for a field goal, sending the game into overtime.  

In overtime the Giants won the coin toss and got the ball first.  After failing to get a first down on their own 44, Tom Coughlin took no chances and punted on a 4th and 1.  When the defense took the field they stopped the Bengals’ first three plays which gave the ball right back to Eli and the offense.  Eli was then able to connect with Burress for a 28-yard gain on the first series of downs.  Then, on the next series it looked grim for N.Y as Cincy forced them into a 3rd and 10 situation.   Eli showed his cool once again and connected with Amani Toomer on a 31-yard pass, which was the play of the game and set up Jon Carneys’ game winning field goal.

I didn’t think the Bengals were going to put up such a fight but maybe being 13.5 point underdogs gave them a little motivation.  The Giants appeared to be out of sync early on as Plaxico had only caught 1 of the 7 passes thrown to him early in the game.  As usual the Giants’ running game whose new nickname is Earth, Wind and Fire helped the offense, as together they rushed for over 100 yards again.  Kevin Boss who hadn’t been heard of much lately also stepped up by catching three passes for 51 yards and a touchdown.

Cincinnati showed they were not a total pushover team and put together 347 yards of offense.  Even with Carson getting sacked 6 times, the Bengals appeared to be relentless in going after their first win.  After Carson took the lead with a T.D pass to T.J. Houshmanzadeh with under 5 minutes to play, it looked like they had a chance if they could have only stopped the Giants’ following drive.  In the end I think it was a tough loss for the Bengals and the win gives Tom Coughlin and the Giants all the confidence they need going into the bye week to get ready for their week 5 battle with Seattle. 

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