• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Giants seek 3-0 start against Bengals

Sep 16, 2008 - 3:45 PM Cincinnati (0-2) at NY Giants (2-0), 1:00pm, EDT

EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Ticker) -- Even New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin - a man who is seldom happy - would be hard-pressed to complain about his team's performance last week.

Fresh off their most decisive win in nearly three years, the defending Super Bowl champions seek their first 3-0 start since 2000 on Sunday when they host the Cincinnati Bengals in a battle of former top draft picks.

"We challenged our team (last) week, we put the term 'Road Warriors' on the board and we talked about the values and virtues that we compiled and the success of last season," Coughlin said following the Giants' 41-13 rout of the St. Louis Rams - their most lopsided triumph since a 36-0 victory over Washington on October 30, 2005.

While the Giants posted their 12th straight win away from the Meadowlands, they have not enjoyed as much success at home. They were were just 3-5 at home last season, although they did open this season with a 16-7 victory over the Washington Redskins at Giants Stadium.

Eli Manning - the top pick in the 2004 draft - is facing Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer - who went No. 1 in the 2003 draft - for the first time. Cincinnati did beat Manning and the Giants, 23-22, in his rookie season, but Jon Kitna started for the Bengals.

While the Bengals are looking to avoid an 0-3 start, a win for the Giants will send them into the bye week undefeated.

Cincinnati will need to slow down the Giants' newly named "Earth, Wind and Fire" backfield trio of Brandon Jacobs ("Earth"), Derrick Ward ("Wind") and Ahmad Bradshaw ("Fire"). The threesome rushed for a combined 203 yards last week.

Manning threw three touchdowns as the Giants pulled away in the fourth quarter after the Rams had pulled within 20-13. New York opened the second half with a 97-yard drive.

"For St. Louis, we wanted to finish drives," Manning said. "We wanted to finish everything, get some more touchdowns. And that is what we did. We got the game in the fourth quarter and we played the way we have always played. When things got tight where we needed to make a play, we were able to make the plays. "

That is not the case for the Bengals, who have scored just 17 points in their first two games. Palmer passed for 134 yards in last week's 24-7 loss to the Tennessee Titans. The week before, he managed just 99 yards in a 17-10 defeat to the Baltimore Ravens.

A Pro Bowler in 2005 and 2006, Palmer has opened the season with the two worst performances of his career.

"He's the same guy we've had," Bengals quarterbacks coach Ken Zampese said.