At around the time that Peyton Manning broke the N.F.L. single season touchdown record, his younger brother Eli threw an interception that gave the Giants their eighth straight loss, this one by 23-22 to the Cincinnati Bengals. Eli Manning is now 0-6 as the Giants starting quarterback.
On the previous drive the Giants allowed Bengal quarterback Jon Kitna to complete a 19-yard pass to receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh on fourth-down and 10 to set up the winning score. Houshmandzadeh, whose name is so long they have to use a smaller font on his jersey, was double covered, but managed to make the play anyway. Two plays later, Kitna found a wide open Chad Johnson in the end zone for the winning margin. It was a mystery that Johnson, who has a mouth full of gold teeth, could be so wide open.
The Giants got the ball back in Cincinnati territory after yet another solid Willie Ponder kick return. Unfortunately that was soon followed by the Manning pick and the game was over. A couple of positives were the continued improvement of Manning and another good game from Tiki Barber who ran for 109 yards and a score. The biggest positive for Giants fans had to be that the game was watchable in comparison to some of the eggs that they’ve laid over this eight-game slide. There are some, however, who think this game was worse than the blowouts.
