Three things we learned from the Giants’ victory over the Bengals

Joseph Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports The New York Giants have won their third straight game on Sunday, outlasting the Cincinnati Bengals to climb to 4-7 on the season and take over first place in the NFC East.

This was an ugly game in which the Giants dominated in almost every statistical category, but penalties and mistakes (most notably special teams, but we’ll get to that in a bit) kept Cincinnati around to the very end.

So what did we learn about the Giants in their fourth win of the season?

Special teams matter

We tend to overlook special teams, with TV broadcasts treating them as a “gimmie” play and fans using them for bathroom breaks. After all, kickoffs usually go for touchbacks, punts are…