East Rutherford, NJ – The New York Giants defense played worthy of a primetime spot, holding a stellar Cincinnati BEngals offense to just 17 points, their second-lowest total of the season.

The Giants offense? That was a whole different story, as New York couldn’t get anything going all night for a variety of reasons, from several out-of-control third down situations to a terrible red zone turnover by quarterback Daniel Jones, pass drops and missed passes . connections.

After the game, head coach Brian Daboll tried to find answers to the Giants’ latest clunker.

“I thought our defense played really good football. I missed the quarterback run early on a rush lane. But they played winning football, to hold those receivers to what we held them in the passing game,” he said.

“I think (Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe) Burrow rushed for about 50 yards. But hats off to the way the defense played. Missed two chances in the kicking game. And then didn’t score enough points offensively. That starts with me. It’s hard to win games when you score seven points. That is the reality.”

The reality is that Jones, who is now 1-15 in primetime games, hasn’t thrown a touchdown pass at MetLife Stadium in 21 months. The reality is that the Giants have one touchdown in twelve minutes of play on their home field.

And the reality is that the Giants’ offense remains too inconsistent, sometimes looking like it’s turned the corner while others (like on Sunday) looking like it’s in shambles.

“I thought we had some chances throughout the game,” Daboll said, still searching for answers as to why the offense he’s running now has been struggling.

“We turned the ball over there on that drive, which was a good drive, to come away with no points. I think we were somewhere around 5 out of 15 (in third place).

“Now we were aggressive on fourth down because I thought we had to be against this defense. We just couldn’t generate explosive play. We were punished. Other than that, we didn’t take many explosive actions. That’s in a nutshell, before you look at it.

When Daboll was asked about Jones’ backbreaking interception on a play in which he missed a wide-open Tyrone Tracy in the flat, he didn’t mince words about that momentum-killing blunder.

“Daniel (Jones) got pressure and tried to throw the ball out of the back of the end zone,” he said. “Not what we want to do. So that was a tough one. I’m sure he’d like to have that back. I would definitely like to have the play call back if you get a result like that.

As for Daboll, the bottom line was that while there were some good things that came from showing the offense, the execution was lacking.

“It starts with implementation. So seven points is not enough,” he said.

“Again, the ultimate deal is scoring points. Be it running, passing or whatever it may be. If you are not consistent with the things we do not agree with now, the result is seven points. That all starts with me.”