The Giants defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 25-23 Thursday night. Here are the Studs & Duds from Thursday’s game.
Studs:
QB Daniel Jones
Jones had another strong preseason game, finishing 9/11, 141 yards. Although he threw 0 touchdowns, he displayed his skills on the field tonight. Jones showed great ball placement, with a great pass to Britton Golden over the middle for a large gain, and a great ball down the sideline to Darius Slayton. The one thing Jones has to clean up is his ball security, as he almost lost a fumble tonight. Also, his vision in the pocket, making sure he can sense pressure, especially on his blindside.
WR Brittan Golden
Golden had a break-out game tonight on all phases of the ball. As previously mentioned, he had a great catch over the middle of the field from Jones. He also had a great sliding catch just before halftime from Jones as well on the sideline. Golden then displayed his abilities in the return game after a punt return touchdown. Golden finished the night with 2 catches for 59 yards, 3 punt returns for 73 yards, and 2 kick returns for 42 yards. Golden also recovered Daniel Jones’ fumble early on to keep the drive alive. Golden did have one costly fumble on the punt return after his touchdown, but he showed flashes to make the WR spot a very competitive one.
LB Josiah Tauaefa
To make it easier, I’ll call him JT. JT demonstrated great tackling skills, finishing with 5 solo tackles and 2 assisted, including a sack. There were many plays with missed tackles, and JT would clean it up and finish the play. JT had a great tackle on a scrambling QB to force the Bengals into a fourth down and short. He showed some speed and strength tonight, and grabbed my attention as a player to keep an eye on going into the last week of preseason.
Duds:
OG Will Hernandez
Hernandez is a beast, and is going to develop into a great guard in this league, but tonight he struggled big time. He drew 3-4 penalties tonight and was beat inside on many plays. Not to mention, he was plating against a 7-time pro-bowler in Geno Atkins, but it is no excuse if you want to become a great player in this league, you’ve got to beat the best.
DB Ronald Zamort/Terrell Sinkfield
Zamort had many missed tackles and some blown coverage in tonight’s game. One play in particular was the last TD play, he was beat on the fade route and never turned his head around. Another player that struggled with the was Terrell Sinkfield. The same thing happened to him on another fade route. It is important as a DB to get their head around to locate the ball and make a play on it. Sinkfield has never played in an NFL game as has been bounced around not only the NFL, but the CFL and the short-lived AAF.
Tackling
The Giants struggled in tackling tonight. Stupar had about 4 missed tackles to himself while Toliver had a couple as well. Missed tackles were a theme in tonight’s game. Many could have ended a drive, but ended up extending them due to missed tackles. We saw this these last year, and are hoping for a clean up, as this cannot afford to happen in the regular season.
Other Points:
- Eli Manning still has some wheels, and will even lay down a block if needed.
- Darius Slayton saw his first love action and had a great 27-yard catch on the sideline.
- Alonzo Russell continues to demonstrate his hustle as he made 2 great blocks on Golden’s punt return touchdown, and made the clutch catch for the successful 2-point conversion.
- Oshane Ximines recorded 2 sacks tonight, giving him 3 in the last two games.
- Ballentine improved his tackling this game.
- TE Garrett Dickerson may jump Scott Simonson in the final roster after a great game catching and blocking, while Simonson dropped a wide open catch.
The Giants are now 3-0 this preseason and will play their final preseason game next Thursday against the Patriots.