CINCINNATI -- After the New York Giants lost their starting quarterback, they held off a late rally by Brandon Allen (Fayetteville, Arkansas Razorbacks) and the Joe Burrow-less Cincinnati Bengals.
Daniel Jones went out with a hamstring injury in the second half of New York's 19-17 win on Sunday. The Giants' third consecutive victory put them at 4-7 after they lost the first five under new Coach Joe Judge. New York moved into a first-place tie with Washington in the NFC East.
When or if they'll have Jones back is the looming question. He's scheduled to have an MRI on Monday.
"I won't say I'm optimistic at this point right now," Judge said. "No, I don't want to go ahead and say yea or nay because I don't have the medical information. You know, I'm sure he's going to try everything he can."
Jones left after completing a short pass in the third quarter with the game tied at 10-10. He returned for two plays on the next series but then was relieved by backup Colt McCoy, who played the rest of the game.
"I'm certainly not discouraged," Jones said. "You know, I think it's tough to tell exactly what it is right now."
Wayne Gallman ran for a 2-yard touchdown on fourth and goal in the first quarter, and Graham Gano returned from the covid-19 list to kick four field goals for the Giants.
Allen, who was promoted from the practice squad, started at quarterback for the Bengals (2-8-1) in place of Burrow, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in last week's loss to Washington.
Allen couldn't keep the Bengals moving. He was 17-of-29 passing for 136 yards, and Cincinnati mustered just 155 total yards of offense.
It wasn't all Allen's fault: Passes were dropped, and with Joe Mixon on injured reserve, the Giants didn't have to worry about a Cincinnati running game. The Bengals went three and out four times and killed drives by fumbling twice.
Nonetheless, the Bengals had a chance late. A 1-yard touchdown pass from Allen to Tee Higgins -- set up by a pass-interference penalty in the end zone -- got them within two points with 2:33 remaining.
"Throughout practice the whole week, he was putting them where they needed to be, and I feel like he played good today," Higgins said of Allen. "There were some mistakes made, but that happens in football."
Cincinnati got the ball back, but Allen fumbled while being sacked with 57 seconds left to seal it for the Giants.
"We never got our rhythm, our first-down efficiency is really where it got us," Cincinnati Coach Zac Taylor said. "We were in a lot of second-and-8s, second-and-9s, second-and-10 it felt like, and that's not a great recipe against that defense."
Despite the offensive struggles, Taylor said he'll stick with Allen as the Bengals' starter. He had started three previous NFL games, all last season at Denver, winning one of them. He leapt into the starting role over Ryan Finley, who had been Burrow's backup.
"I've been around Brandon -- I thought he gave us a chance," Taylor said. "He's a good decision-maker. Not everything was perfect, we knew there was going to be some challenges. We needed the guys around him to lift him up and help him through this week, and we didn't get enough of that to be quite honest."
One of the few Bengals' highlights came in the first quarter after Gallman scored, set up by a 53-yard pass from Jones to Evan Engram.
On the ensuing kickoff, Brandon Wilson took the ball 3 yards deep in the end zone, found a seam in the middle and sprinted for a 103-yard touchdown, the longest in franchise history.
Before he departed with the injury, Jones was 16 for 27 for 213 yards for the Giants. Engram caught six passes for 129 yards.
"I don't think you can compare this year to any other year," Judge said. "However, I am proud of our players, of the way our players are working. I'm proud of the improvement they've made. I'm proud of how they come to work every day."
