Joe Burrow at least gave the Bengals a puncher’s chance. Shame on the Giants if they allow Allen or Ryan Finley to beat them. That should not happen. It will not happen, unless Daniel Jones plays fast and loose with the football, and the cohesion this team has shown on defense unravels. The playoff chase should begin here.

Giants 24, Bengals 13

Bengals WRs Tyler Boyd, Tee Higgins and A.J. Green vs. Giants CBs James Bradberry, Isaac Yiadom and Darnay Holmes

Boyd is 12th in the NFL in targets with 87. The Bengals will not be able to throw it all over the field with Brandon Allen stepping in, but it remains to be seen if Yiadom and Holmes can deal with these solid receivers.

Boyd has 69 receptions for 710 yards and three touchdowns. Bradberry is playing at an elite level and regularly locks up the best the other team has to offer. Higgins is a 6-foot-4 rookie who can run and can find his way into the end zone — he has four TDs. He is averaging 14.6 yards per catch. Green is not the monster threat he used to be — he is averaging just 10.2 yards on his 35 receptions — but he will be able to exploit bad play in the secondary.

Lack of insurance proves costly: A promising young quarterback operating behind a porous offensive line? Not ideal. The Giants are trying to get out from under that scenario. The Bengals got burned by this. Scalded, actually, as rookie phenom Joe Burrow went down last week to a season-ending knee injury that once again lowlighted the plight of the Cincinnati offensive line.

Other than getting 2019 first-round pick Jonah Williams back from injury, the Bengals did not do much to upgrade their line. Burrow was on pace to get sacked 51 times and entered last week tied with Daniel Jones for most hits taken by a quarterback, with 72.

“People keep talking about the offensive line without seemingly watching the film for the last four weeks,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said. “We felt like we were making a lot of progress over the last five weeks, and we are not going to apologize for any of that.”

Road worriers: The state of Ohio approved a variance that allows up to 12,000 fans at Paul Brown Stadium, though with social-distancing guidelines in place, the actual capacity is smaller. The Bengals played at home in front of 9,712 fans in their 31-20 victory over the Titans in Week 8. How important is this? Well, where the game is played in this infrequent series makes all the difference. The home team has won every time in the 10 Giants-Bengals games, dating back to 1972. The Giants are 0-6 in Cincinnati.

Line dance: It is well-established Giants coach Joe Judge wants a rotation on his offensive line. This remains highly unusual and suggests Judge does not view any of the starters as irreplaceable. Now that Will Hernandez is ready to roll after missing two games on the reserve/COVID-19 list, having him share time at left guard with rookie Shane Lemieux is a bad sign for Hernandez, who never missed a snap before this. Also, rookie Matt Peart is on the COVID list and is not available. Is Judge (and new offensive line coach Dave DeGuglielmo) really going to force someone like Chad Slade onto the field and sit Andrew Thomas at left tackle or Cam Fleming at right tackle?

Inside info: Yes, indeed, 28-year-old Brandon Allen can be viewed as a mystery quarterback. He was a 2016 sixth-round pick of the Jaguars and is 1-2 in three career starts, all in 2019 with the Broncos. The Giants do have some inside information on him, though. Outside linebackers coach Bret Bielema was his head coach at Arkansas and cornerback Isaac Yiadom was his teammate in Denver.

“He’s a good dude,’’ Yiadom said. “He’s a good player. He can make all the throws. We’re preparing like he’s the starter.’’