The Giants had more than enough chances to truly inject some traction into their season.
They had plenty of opportunities to finally win a game in prime time.
It was all out there for the Giants, and they could not grasp it.
Once again, they were unable to generate enough points to carve out a victory.
One touchdown is not going to cut it in the NFL, not even when their defense was making all sorts of plays and harassing quarterback Joe Burrow for long stretches of the action Sunday night.
In the end, the Giants ran out of time and found a way to lose, going down, 17-7, to the Bengals to continue their ineptitude at MetLife Stadium.
Daniel Jones — now 1-15 under the lights in his career — threw a brutal first-quarter interception and kicker Greg Joseph missed a potential game-tying 47-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter.
The Giants were ultimately not able to overcome these lapses.
Trailing 10-7, they had the ball and were driving, but Jones’ fourth-down pass to Darius Slayton was broken up by DJ Turner with 3:01 left to play.
The Giants had a chance to get the ball back, but Burrow on third-and-12 hit Andrei Iosivas for 29 yards.
The Giants had another chance to get the ball back when Micah McFadden reached in and forced a fumble by Chase Brown, but Jason Pinnock was not able to pounce on the loose ball.
There are only so many chances a team gets.
Brown raced 30 yards with 1:52 remaining for a game-sealing touchdown.
The Bengals (2-4) saved their season with the victory.
Once again, the Giants are doing the one-step-forward, one-step-back dance that ends up not getting them anywhere.
This was the third time this season they had a chance to stack back-to-back wins and failed to do so.
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The Giants have not won consecutive games since they won three straight in Weeks 11, 12 and 14 last season.
Instead of moving into their much-anticipated clash with Saquon Barkley and the Eagles (3-2) in Week 7 riding high, the Giants (2-4) remain entrenched in last place in the NFC East.
The division is wide open, with the Commanders (4-2) and Cowboys (3-3) losing this weekend, but for now, the Giants are looking up at everyone else.
The Giants managed just 119 total yards of offense and no points in the first half and they trailed 7-0 and were looking dead in the water, as far as their ability to get in the vicinity of the end zone.
Their first series of the third quarter ended with a three-and-out and they were desperate for something to happen when they took over on their 21-yard line early in the third quarter, getting the ball back after Bobby Okereke forced a fumble on Zack Moss that was recovered by McFadden.
What followed was a grinding 16-play drive that featured two fourth-down pickups — both by rookie running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. — and an 18-yard pass interference penalty in the end zone on Turner against Slayton.
Tracy took it in from a yard out and with 5:48 left in the third quarter and the Giants finally had their first points.
Burrow hit Ja’Marr Chase for 33 yards, beating Cor’Dale Flott, on a Bengals drive that got to the Giants’ 1-yard line.
A holding penalty and sack by Dexter Lawrence forced the Bengals to settle for an Evan McPherson field goal for a 10-7 Giants deficit.
The Giants had a chance to tie it up, but Joseph was wide left on a 47-yard field goal try with 10:27 remaining.
He missed another 47-yarder wide left with 51 seconds remaining.
The Bengals won the coin toss and, unlike most teams nowadays, took the ball rather than defer until the second half.
Clearly, head coach Zac Taylor wanted to set a tone early by putting Burrow on the field first.
It turned out to be a prescient move.
Burrow killed the Giants not with his arm but with his legs. He picked up a first down with an 11-yard scramble and then really made the Giants pay.
A sack by Brian Burns put the Bengals in a third-and-18 situation but Burrow got out of it. Did he ever. Burrow spotted nothing but green on the right side of the field and took off.
There was no one to stop him and he motored 47 yards, diving to the pylon for a touchdown to make it 7-0. Burrow is not known for his legs — he matched his career high in rushing in a game with the one run.
The Giants tried to respond. They picked up four first downs and Jones was getting into a passing rhythm — until the bad DJ surfaced.
He was pressured by former Giants defensive lineman B.J. Hill and foolishly chucked the ball while backpedaling, with Hill in his face.
The ball floated over the middle and never got close to the intended target, rookie tight end Theo Johnson. Linebacker Germaine Pratt made the easy interception.
It was the sort of unwise play Jones had mostly purged from his game this season but it reared up at a bad time.
