The Cincinnati Bengals aren’t asking for style points. None were given on Sunday night.

The jokes about the Bengals never showing up in September aren’t all that funny anymore, because it’s mid-October and they still seem stuck in the mud. At least they got an ugly win. The defense made enough plays to support an offense that got surprisingly little going, and they managed a 17-7 victory over the New York Giants.

If you want to be optimistic, it was a good sign for the Bengals that their struggling defense played by far its best game of the season and led a win. Assuming the offense plays much better than it did on Sunday night, maybe that’s a sign the Bengals can still be a factor in the AFC playoff picture. They just haven’t looked like that team very often this season.

The Bengals got a big touchdown run from Joe Burrow and not much else on Sunday night. The Giants didn’t get much at all though. The Bengals, who were 1-4 coming into Week 6, are desperate for wins and Sunday night’s victory gets them back to 2-4 for the season. But anyone who watched knows the Bengals don’t seem any closer to getting out of their early-season slump.

Slow start for both teams

There have been some exciting games in prime time this NFL season. Sunday night wasn’t one of them.

Both teams had a tough time executing anything. Daniel Jones threw a horrible interception as he was getting pressured, and missed on several other throws. The Bengals’ offense wasn’t much better but at least Cincinnati found one unexpected highlight. Burrow, who never had a run longer than 23 yards in his first 57 NFL games, took off on a third-and-18 and just kept running because there were no Giants defenders around him. He scored on a stunning 47-yard touchdown. It was a nice play for Burrow, but also a red flag that the Giants allowed Burrow to break a run like that.

One sequence summed up the game pretty well. The Giants gained 8 yards on a third-and-10, but had an illegal formation penalty. The Bengals probably made a mistake declining the penalty because the Giants went for it on fourth-and-2 instead of having a third-and-15. But the Giants were so bad on offense they couldn’t convert, as Jones’ pass was broken up and incomplete.

Finally, the Giants broke through. The Bengals fumbled after that failed fourth down, and the Giants hit a few plays including a defensive pass interference down to the 1-yard line. Tyrone Tracy Jr. scored on a run and the game was tied.

The Giants had played quite poorly to that point. Yet, they were tied deep into the third quarter.

Bengals take back the lead

The Bengals looked like they took a lead on a Chase Brown touchdown run, but it was called back due to a holding penalty. Of course. The Bengals did take a 10-7 lead on a field goal after that. The Giants tried to answer back, but missed a field goal. Of course.

Both teams needed a win. The Giants were 2-3 coming into the game and the Bengals were 1-4. And it was there for the taking, but neither team seemed too excited to grab it.

The Giants had another shot late in the fourth quarter to tie it again. They got into Bengals territory. But the Giants didn’t trust the special teams to try a field goal of about 54 yards after the miss before, so they went for it on fourth-and-3. Jones’ pass was knocked down and incomplete, as it had been on the fourth down back in the third quarter.

The Bengals needed one big play to put the Giants away, and Burrow got it. On third-and-12, rolling left, he hit Andrei Iosivas for 29 yards. One more moment after that was fitting, given how each team played. Brown broke a nice run on first down but fumbled. The Giants had a chance to recover and have one more shot at a win. But the ball squirted through them and went out of bounds. You can’t keep giving an opponent that many opportunities, and finally Brown broke a 30-yard touchdown run with 1:58 left to end any drama. The Giants got into position for a field goal after that, hoping to recover an onside kick afterward, but again they missed the field goal wide left.

It was sloppy on both sides. At least the Bengals waded through the slop to get a win on the other side. Perhaps at some point soon they look more like the Super Bowl contender we expected this season. It hasn’t happened yet.