Giants’ offensive ineptitude risks fracturing locker room as defense does its job

It is one of those themes that must be regurgitated at times like this.

Even though there are no signs of fracturing, the questions start cropping up, probing to determine if it might happen. Are the frustrations growing? Are there signs of a divide?

The offense is playing losing football. The defense is playing winning football. It is one team with two different identities.

This is not exactly new ground to cover with the Giants. A surging defense and a slacking offense has been standard operating procedure for this franchise more often than not over the years. This season, it is on display to such an extent that it feels almost impossible to prevent tension from building in the building. The way the Giants went out and lost, 17-7, to the Bengals Sunday night in yet another primetime setback was all the evidence needed to determine this is a split-personality operation.

That is why head coach Brian Daboll kept repeating some version of “that starts with me’’ immediately afterwards. He is the creator of this offense and this season he took over the play-calling on game days and nights. He has not yet figured out how to get his team in the end zone with any semblance of consistency.

In the first four games, Daboll had wide receiver Malik Nabers setting all sorts of rookie records and the offense scored six points on the Vikings, 18 points on the Commanders, 21 points on the Browns and 15 points (on five field goals) on the Cowboys. Take Nabers and starting running back Devin Singletary off the field with injuries the past two games and it has been 29 points (23 from the offense) on the Seahawks and the seven points on a Bengals defense that allowed 29 points a game in its first five games before coming to MetLife Stadium and looking like a dominant unit. Daniel Jones, after four straight solid — but hardly spectacular — outings was as unsatisfying as soggy oatmeal. He threw 41 passes, completed only 22 and his longest connections went for only 15 yards. Plus there was a bad old-days reminder interception late in the first quarter.

Meanwhile, the Giants on defense for new coordinator Shane Bowen have not allowed more than 21 points in any game — there was a Pick Six interception return by the Vikings in the opener. Loss No. 4 on the season was especially galling for a defense that held a Bengals attack averaging 28 points to only 17, never played with a lead and really gave up only two harmful plays — Joe Burrow’s 47-yard scoring run in the first quarter and Chase Brown’s 30-yard scoring run with 1:52 remaining.

The Giants, with Azeez Ojulari starting in place of Kayvon Thibodeaux (on injured reserve following wrist surgery) sacked Burrow four times to raise their NFL-leading sack production to 26. The Bengals came away impressed.

“They lead the league in sacks,’’ Burrow said. “They’re the real deal and they didn’t have one of their guys. They’ve got good games [up front]. They’ve got good players. They make it tough on us and their secondary was sticking coverage all day. It’s a good defense.

“Missing throws I normally make. I felt like I let the pressure get to me a little bit. I was able to settle down there in the second half and kind of find a rhythm, but the first half I didn’t feel like I was in rhythm at all. I was feeling like I was getting happy feet in the pocket. It just didn’t feel like anything was going the right way.’’

Bengals head coach Zac Taylor normally is able to run a far more efficient offense than the one he orchestrated Sunday night.

“They [Giants] did a good job up front,’’ Taylor said. “They bring pressure. They can win some one-on-ones. They’ve really invested in that front, and it shows. They did a good job on the back, just mixing it up.’’

Is this discrepancy going to split the room?

Members of the Giants defense did not say anything to indicate there is a problem brewing but human nature is what it is. The defense cannot be expected to be a top-five unit — the secondary is too young for such lofty status. It is difficult for players to discuss losses when they know they deserved better. With Thibodeaux missing his first game of the season, Brian Burns played his best game thus far for his new team, with one sack, eight tackles, two tackles for loss and two quarterback hits. He was a disruptive force. After so many losing years with the Panthers, Burns is getting more of the same with the Giants.

“Like I said, it’s frustrating and there are more plays to be made and more things that we can do to change the game,’’ Burns said. “If we want to be an elite defense and live up to who we say we are, then we have to make those plays.’’

One of those plays that got away came with 1:58 remaining. The Giants trailed 10-7 when linebacker Micah McFadden reached in and forced a fumble on Brown. The ball was right there on the right sideline but safety Jason Pinnock could not secure it. The ball rolled out of bounds and the Giants’ last-best chance was gone. On the next play, Brown ripped through a gaping hole in the defense for a 30-yard touchdown.

“That is a ball that we have to get,’’ Burns said. “It’s as simple as that. We had the opportunity. It was on the ground.’’

Opportunity lost but the contribution cannot be dismissed. The defense did enough to win. How long before the players on that side of the ball continue to be let down by their teammates on offense?

Here is some more that came out of loss No. 4 for the Giants:

— It is uncanny how Jones presents himself to the NFL viewing community. Not only is he now 1-15 in primetime games in his career, he has not thrown a touchdown pass in his last seven nationally televised night starts. He has 12 touchdown passes and 20 interceptions in primetime. Co-owner John Mara needs to petition the league to keep his team off the field after dark.

— A decision has to be made when facing not one, but two elite wide receivers and that is what the Bengals have in Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. Playing both of those players straight up is not going to cut it, unless a team has two elite cornerbacks and that is not commonplace. What Bowen put in place was a design to prevent big plays whenever possible. Deonte Banks, the No. 1 cornerback, traveled all game with Higgins. Cor’Dale Flott stuck with Chase, with help from another cornerback or a safety.

“They clouded me,’’ Chase said, “So, it was a different type of cloud. I don’t really know what kind of cloud it was. I was looking at it on the iPad a little bit, but it was cloud though.’’

It worked. Higgins caught seven passes for 77 yards. Chase caught five passes for 72 yards. Neither receiver got a touchdown. They were not shut down completely but they did not wreck the game.

— Someone is going to pay Ojulari. It most likely will not be the Giants, who have invested heavily in Burns and will have to figure out if they want to make a long-term investment on Thibodeaux. Ojulari could not stay healthy in 2022 or 2023 and the 2021 second-round pick is coming off the bench this season. He made his first start against the Bengals and came away with two sacks, four tackles, two tackles for loss and two quarterback hits. This is the final year of his contract and he is only 24 years old. He has 19 career sacks in 41 games (26 starts). He is a more skillful pure pass rusher than Thibodeaux. Guys who can get after the opposing quarterback always get their money.

— It is time to stop trying to figure out why the Giants are messing up Jalin Hyatt. For now, he should be looked at as a flawed wide receiver who has not been able, thus far, to make the necessary adjustments to make it big on the next level. He was a prolific college player at Tennessee but the knock on him entering the NFL draft was that he was a one-trick pony — all he could do quite well was run fast and straight. That is why he dropped into the third round and that knock is showing up on the field. With Nabers sidelined again in concussion protocol, Hyatt got his most extensive playing time of the season — 84 percent of the snaps on offense (64 of 79). He ran and ran and did not do much. He was targeted for passes only four times and caught one of them, for 6 yards. It was his first reception of the season. Hyatt is 23 years old and there is talent to work with, but he is not helping the Giants at all right now.

— Trailing 17-7, the Giants got the ball back with 1:52 remaining, needing two scores to pull even or take the lead. That is why Daboll, on second down with 55 seconds left, decided to send Greg Joseph out to attempt a 45-yard field goal, rather than take two shots into the end zone from the Cincinnati 27-yard line.

“We have a situation there that we’ve practiced,’’ Daboll said. “Go ahead and kick that field goal. Get it back with a little bit more time. We needed two scores. So, field goal and touchdown. We didn’t want to waste any more time. We felt we were going to go ahead and kick the field goal right there. Unfortunately, didn’t make it.’’

Yeah. Joseph sent the kick hooking wide left, just as he did earlier in the fourth quarter on a 47-yard attempt. If Joseph had made the second kick, the Giants still would have needed to recover an onside kick to get the ball back.