Giants beat 49ers; Bengals shake it up
Eli Manning threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Sterling Shepard with 53 seconds left and the New York Giants snapped a five-game losing streak by beating the San Francisco 49ers, 27-23, on Monday night.
Manning threw two TD passes to Odell Beckham Jr. and then engineered the late game-winning drive with help from a pair of third-down penalties against Malcolm Smith and Ahkello Witherspoon.
Saquon Barkley then had a 23-yard catch to get the ball into the red zone and Manning connected with Shepard on third down to give the Giants (2-7) the win.
Matt Breida ran for 101 yards and scored two touchdowns for the 49ers (2-8), who were unable to win consecutive games under third-string quarterback Nick Mullens. Breida's 23-yard run helped set up a 30-yard field goal by Robbie Gould that gave the Niners a 23-20 lead with 2:46 to play.
The Bengals fired defensive coordinator Teryl Austin on Monday, a day after a 51-14 loss to the Saints that ranks among the worst in franchise history. The Saints scored on every possession except the last one — when it took a knee while in field-goal range — during its rout at Paul Brown Stadium.
Lewis will bring in former Browns head coach Hue Jackson to serve in some capacity on the staff, according to multiple reports.
Jackson, 53, never has coached defense, but he spent two stints as a Bengals offensive and special teams assistant under Lewis.
The fading Bengals (5-4) fired a coordinator in midstream for the second season in a row.
It was business as usual Monday for Bowles, whose job status appeared extremely shaky after the Jets’ embarrassing 41-10 loss to the Bills on Sunday, their fourth consecutive defeat that dropped the team to 3-7.
“We picked a bad day to have a bad day,” Bowles said during a conference call.
Owner Christopher Johnson opted to not fire Bowles, who’s 23-35 with a .397 winning percentage.