New York Giants defeat Cincinnati Bengals, 25-22: 6 takeaways

The New York Giants rallied late to defeat the Cincinnati Bengals, 25-22, in Week 2 of the preseason on Sunday night. It improved their exhibition record to 2-0.

Here are six notable takeaways from Big Blue’s latest victory.

Injury issues persist

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The Giants had seen as many as 26 players miss practice due to injury or illness last week. They went into Sunday’s game against the Bengals 18 short and weren’t able to make it more than a quarter without adding to that tally.

Rookie edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux (knee), rookie linebacker Darrian Beavers (knee), kicker Graham Gano (concussion) and wide receiver C.J. Board (ribs) all left the game hurt.

Thibodeaux insists he’s fine and received “good news” based on initial testing but will undergo more on Monday.

Does anyone out there have answers to this persistent injury problem? The Giants led the NFL in man games missed a season ago and lead the league in injuries since 2009. Some blame it on the MetLife Stadium turf, but the Jets don’t seem to have these same problems — at least not to this degree.

Offensive functionality

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The Giants have a long way to go on offense. The coaches will tell you that, the players will tell you that and your eyes will say the same.

However… In comparison to the previous two seasons, the current unit (and their depth) are leaps and bounds better than what we’ve seen. Gone are the vanilla JV days where back-to-back quarterback sneaks are run to create room for the punter.

An additional reason for optimism? The Giants have yet to gameplan and aren’t using nearly as much motion as we expect to see come the regular season.

All quarterbacks are functional

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Calling a quarterback “functional” is a low bar to set but for the Giants, it’s a drastic improvement over the previous two seasons.

As we noted earlier, the offense looks light years ahead of where it was. That has manifested itself in the form of quality play from Daniel Jones, Tyrod Taylor and Davis Webb.

Taylor had a more forgettable game than the other two on Sunday night, but over two preseason games, the Giants have to be confident and comfortable with what they’ve seen.

Jones is clearly the starter and Taylor clearly the backup, but Webb looks like he made a smart decision by returning to the field this…