State of Giants: The good, the bad and the ugly post-Seattle win, now on to Cincinnati

EAST RUTHERFORD - Brian Daboll walked into the locker room and he was nowhere near satisfied.

Maybe his New York Giants expected a soft touch from their players' coach, who watched his team dominate the first half of Sunday's game against legitimate playoff contenders in the Seahawks on the road in Seattle.

Daboll usually keeps things as calm as possible at halftime, making sure the focus stays on what needs to change, what needs to continue and allowing the team itself to settle into the game and find its own way.

Not this time.

“Honestly, [Daboll] came in here yelling at us, saying we can’t be doing the [expletive] that we were doing," Giants star defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence recalled after the eventual 29-20 victory over the Seahawks . “It wasn’t a lot of praise, it was more, 'Let’s dig in and finish this game.' He was a little more fired up than normal. That was good, we fed off it and kept balling."

There were too many drops in the first half. The defense allowed Geno Smith and the Seahawks to drive the length of the field in the waning seconds of the second quarter for a field goal that knotted the score at halftime.

And Daboll brought the fire. If the Giants just played the game out as is, maybe they'd come up short like they did in near misses against Washington and Dallas. The entire organization looks back at those games last month with regret.

Not this time.

Daboll called a masterpiece offensively without his best player, Malik Nabers, and leading rusher, Devin Singletary. The defensive front dominated behind Lawrence's three sacks, and the secondary - ridiculed for its effort and execution for weeks - stepped up when things mattered most.

And then there was the special teams home run that put the game away: Isaiah Simmons' blocked field goal and Bryce Ford-Wheaton's 60-yard return of that block for a touchdown that sealed the win.

"You can't follow the storyline of the week," Daniel Jones said, adding: "It's our job to know what's real and fix the problems that are real, and also to ignore the things that aren't."

Here's a look at the good, the bad and the ugly for the Giants (2-3) as they get ready for Sunday night's game at MetLife Stadium against the 1-4 Cincinnati Bengals :

THE GOOD

The Giants have a competent offensive line ... really!

In Seattle, with the 12s roaring from the outset, the Giants' offensive line committed zero - say it again, ZERO! - pre-snap penalties. There were no holding penalties, either. Rookie Tyrone Tracy rushed for 129 yards in his first start, and Jones - after being sacked 11 times by the Seahawks last year - was hit just five times with three sacks.

The best part about the performance: this line has not reached its ceiling yet, and second-year center John Michael Schmitz is raising the level of his game every week.

Daniel Jones has answered the bell

This is not a referendum on Daniel Jones' future. Let's get that out of the way - again. If you want to criticize the Giants' quarterback for what he is not, go ahead. But right now, as long as the Giants continue to improve - which they've done every week - Jones' job is to play the position as well as he can.

It's unfair to look at Jones and insist he isn't. The victory over Seattle was by far his best, and he did so without Malik Nabers, who should return this week, and leading rusher Devin Singletary (groin).

Of course, what's coming next is Jones' greatest adversary - no, not the Bengals, but the prime time spotlight.

Nothing better than when a plan comes together

Deconstructing the Isaiah Simmons blocked field goal:

Dexter Lawrence was the key - surprise - forcing Seahawks lineman Laken Tomlinson to try to cut him. The Giants knew Tomlinson would block down, so Simmons timed his leap counting on that.

Another key aspect: Bryce Ford-Wheaton and Nick McCloud did not charge the kicker - that was Simmons' job. They didn't get in the way. Their job: wait for the bounce.

That's why Ford-Wheaton and McCloud were free and clear to scoop and score on whichever side the ball bounced, with Ford-Wheaton doing the honors and racing 60 yards to put the game away with his first career touchdown.

THE BAD

An angry Dexter Lawrence is a good thing

Don’t let the smile fool you: Dexter Lawrence is a bad, bad man on the football field. And make no mistake: that's under normal circumstances.

Make him angry, like Pro Football Focus did by insinuating that Cowboys rookie center Cooper Beebe outplayed Lawrence in their Thursday Night Football encounter without mentioning the Giants' star was doubled and tripled all night, and well, the Seahawks paid for it.

Lawrence had three sacks against Seattle, and Giants defensive line coach Andre Patterson did a good job in moving the Pro Bowler up and down the line, using him at 3-technique and at the nose. That gives him six sacks in five games, and as an interior lineman, there's no overstating his importance to the Giants' success right now.

THE UGLY

Here comes Joe Burrow

There is an intimidation factor that comes with the challenge of having to slow down Joe Burrow. Sure, the Bengals are 1-4, but there is a reason why the Giants are 3.5-point underdogs - and more than anything else, he's it.

The Bengals lost 41-38 to the Baltimore Ravens in overtime on Sunday, yet through no fault of Burrow. He has completed 125 of 173 passes (72.3%) for 1,370 yards, 12 touchdowns and two interceptions over five games.

The Giants need to come with an even better defensive effort to slow down Burrow and his weapons, including Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Princeton's Andrei Iosivas.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: State of Giants: The good, the bad and the ugly post-Seattle win, now on to Cincinnati