EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. _ The Bengals conjured up Sunday night's 17-7 victory over the Giants with a gritty brew of perseverance and poise giving them that elusive piece of complementary football they need for a playoff run when defense and special teams double-teamed the Giants in a 17-7 victory at MetLife Stadium.
"Fortunately, we were able to lean on the defense today," said quarterback Joe Burrow, who came into the game generating 35 points per their last three games. "It was great to see them step up like that. They needed that one, we needed that one."
With the sureness of a Mike Hilton defensive players-only meeting (which he held a few days ago), the defense rebounded from its month of missed tackles and gave them enough stops to allow their fewest points in five years.
Bengals punter Ryan Rehkow bounced back from last week's bobbled snap to drop the Giants four times inside their 20.
Cornerback D.J. Turner got back up from getting a game-changing flag to preserving the lead when he flagged a fourth-down pass in the final moments.
And there was Crazy Legs Burrow.
He spent the night staving off New York's league-leading sack attack. But just before the two-minute bell, he finally landed a third-down 29-yard haymaker thrown against a body that had been in the medical tent moments before to remind everyone before they went to sleep he is one of the most dangerous quarterbacks alive.
Maybe Burrow couldn't beat them with a glittering triple-digit passer rating, or a passel of touchdown passes Sunday night. But he found a way to run in a 47-yard touchdown that was the longest scoring run ever by a Bengals quarterback.
Three-time Bengals Pro Bowl receiver Ja’Marr Chase saw flickers of a run.
"Cincinnati football is technique sound. You have to know your job. Defense is usually our backbone. Like today," said Chase, who found 72 yards in cloud coverage. "The offense is usually executing. That's Cincinnati football."
With Chase double-teamed and the Giants not giving Burrow time to find anybody else, the defense carried the offense for the first time this season. For linebacker Germaine Pratt, who had an interception inside the Bengals 5 on a tipped pass from his best friend, tackle B.J. Hill, it was simply about having all four top defensive tackles available for the first time this year.
"It's like I was telling people earlier this week," Pratt said. "If our D-linemen show up, and now that they're healthy, today they showcased. It starts with the D-line. What defense is good without key defensive linemen on the field?"
As one of those linemen, Hill turned out to be beast against the team that drafted him in 2018 and traded him to the Bengals before the 2021 season. Try seven tackles, two deflected passes that stopped drives and led to no points, and two hits on old friend Daniel Jones, the Giants quarterback the Bengals D-line sacked twice and hit three other times.
Hill could be seen saying a few words to him after a few plays.
"That's my guy. We were good friends," Hill said. "I was just talking to him a little bit. See how he's doing. How his family was doing. That was it."
Pratt, Hill's old North Carolina State roomie who is like family, saw that it was a lot more than that.
"This guy is a pass rusher," Pratt said. "When he doesn't get there, he gets hands on the ball."
Left edge Sam Hubbard, who watched Bash Brother Trey Hendrickson rack up two more sacks, feels like Pratt. The D-line room is full again.
"It went a long way," Hubbard said. "I was really happy to see (Hill) make those plays. He does things the right way. So reliable. Works so hard. He deserves a night like this. The performance we put on tonight shows we have the right guys. Just a great unit finally united … You don't realize how many bodies we were down until everybody back. But we were really thin there for a while."
They supplied enough pressure to force Jones into a 57.2 passer rating, his lowest since the unbeaten Vikings got him in the opener.
"You just see everyone behind them step up as well. I thought they did a great job getting pressure on the quarterback," said head coach Zac Taylor of his D-line. "And so, I'm just really proud of the way the defense played. The players, the coaches, the way that they fought all week, and put on a performance like this was special."
Taylor saw the game and that's how he doled out the game balls. He started with his defensive coordinator, Staten Island's own Lou Anarumo. The lifelong Giants fan who went to the games with Lou Sr., and coached here for a year, had to not only hear all week his family plan for the 100-person tailgate in the parking lot, but the media give it to him daily.
But on Sunday he was waving a ball with Hill, who also got one. And Pratt. And Hendrickson. And safety Tycen Anderson, coming off an ACL and picking up where he left off last year with two tackles on special teams as their prized gunner on punt returns.
It was just the kind of complementary outing they needed. And they're still looking for more.
"It's team football. We haven't played a complete game yet," Pratt said. "Not one with all three phases with offense, defense, and special teams. Once we play that, we'll be good."
Hendrickson, their Pro Bowl sacker and best player on defense, thought it was a culture win. After pointing skyward to celebrate his sacks Sunday, he pointed to Hilton and Anarumo.
"It's one of those things we need(ed) a wake-up call, but I think everybody knew at that point, Mike's been a leader in this defense over the last four years, so when he speaks, people listen," said Hendrickson, who now has five sacks. "But credit to Lou, credit to the execution of this defense, and playing like a family."
