By Joe Kay

AP Sports Writer

CINCINNATI (AP) — Daniel Jones completed a difficult week with an upbeat performance that will shush the doubters for a while.

Jones completed a pair of long passes and led the New York Giants to a touchdown during a 25-23 victory over the Bengals on Thursday night in Zac Taylor’s first home game as Cincinnati’s head coach.

“I think it’s time to start asking some questions of the people that didn’t like him,” coach Pat Shurmur said.

In a GQ article published Tuesday , Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield said he was stunned that the Giants drafted the quarterback from Duke in the first round. Mayfield tried to tamp down the comment and texted Jones to explain his remarks.

“He just told me it was a miscommunication, a misinterpretation of what he said,” Jones said. “I appreciated him reaching out. I just told him no worries.”

Jones got into the game on the Giants’ second series and went 9 of 11 for 141 yards the rest of the half. He had completions of 35 yards to Brittan Golden and 27 yards to Darius Slayton on a seven-play touchdown drive, a solid all-around showing for Eli Manning’s eventual replacement.

Manning advised Jones about how to handle the flap with Mayfield.

“I thought he did great,” Manning said. “I told him what to say. He didn’t listen to me, though. He took the high road.”

Manning led an opening 15-play series that ended in a field goal and included five plays that gained at least 9 yards. Manning was 4 of 8 for 41 yards. In three preseason games, Manning is 9 of 13 for 86 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions.

Golden had a 63-yard punt return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter as the Giants pulled away.

The Bengals distributed 34,887 tickets for the game, fewer than for the first home preseason game last year. They had the second-lowest home attendance in the league last season, part of the impetus to fire Marvin Lewis and bring in Taylor to try to stir fan interest.

The Bengals’ new offense under Taylor has struggled to find consistency. Andy Dalton played three series that ended with a couple of punts and a touchdown.

Dalton found tight end C.J. Uzomah down the right sideline — he beat safety Jabrill Peppers — for a 26-yard touchdown on his third and final series. Dalton was 7 of 10 for 104 yards behind a mix-and-match line. Andre Smith started at left tackle for Cordy Glenn, who missed practice this week, and moved to right tackle in the second quarter.

“I thought we moved the ball well,” Dalton said. “On the first drive, we had some missed communications that we’ve got to get fixed.”

Rookie Ryan Finley finished the first half when Dalton left and was 14 of 20 for 155 yards with no interceptions and three sacks.

“Obviously there are some things we need to work on, but we showed flashes of the things we can do well,” Uzomah said.

REMEMBERING CED

The Bengals had a moment of silence pregame for former running back Cedric Benson, who died in a motorcycle accident in Texas over the weekend. Benson played for the Bengals from 2008-11.

GO FOR IT

The Giants went for it on fourth down twice in the first quarter. They converted a fourth-and-1 to keep Manning’s drive going, and failed on fourth-and-4 on Jones’ first drive.

TIGHT END RETURN

Giants tight end Evan Engram made his first preseason appearance and caught the one pass thrown his way for 9 yards.

ATTENDANCE NUMBERS

Last year, the Bengals distributed 35,633 tickets for their first preseason game last year and 39,520 for the second one.

LINE SHUFFLE

Taylor continues to try different combinations on the line, which lost left tackle Jonah Williams and left guard Clint Boling before the start of camp.

“We’re working through it,” Taylor said. “We need some guys to step up.”

INJURIES

Giants: WR Golden Tate III (concussion) was out, along with RB Saquon Barkley. RB Rod Smith scored on a 1-yard TD run in the second quarter and missed the rest of the game with a groin injury.

Bengals: WR John Ross missed his third preseason game with a hamstring injury. Cornerbacks Dre Kirkpatrick and Darqueze Dennard and running back Joe Mixon were held out. WR Auden Tate suffered a left knee injury in the first half and didn’t return.

UP NEXT

Giants: Play at New England next Thursday.

Bengals: Host the Colts next Thursday.

Trace McSorley impresses in Ravens’ 26-15 win over Eagles

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Trace McSorley will be too valuable for special teams with performances like this.

The rookie quarterback threw for 203 yards and two touchdowns and also ran for a score, helping the Baltimore Ravens beat the Philadelphia Eagles 26-15 Thursday night for their 16th straight preseason win.

The game was stopped by the NFL with 11:43 remaining in the fourth quarter because of lightning after a short delay.

Carson Wentz again sat out for the Eagles, but several starters saw their first action this summer and Josh McCown made his debut after ending his brief retirement to play his 18th season.

With Ravens starter Lamar Jackson watching from the sideline and Robert Griffin III still out with a thumb injury, McSorley solidified his roster spot. The sixth-round pick from Penn State has also been practicing on special teams throughout training camp.

McSorley threw TD passes of 28 yards to Michael Floyd and 7 yards to Jaleel Scott. He scored on a run from 4 yards out.

The teams held joint practices on Monday and Tuesday, giving both starting quarterbacks plenty of reps against the opposing defense in a controlled setting.

McCown tossed a 20-yard TD pass to J.J. Arcega-Whiteside and a 9-yarder to Alex Ellis in the third quarter.

McCown was signed after the Eagles lost backup Nate Sudfeld and No. 3 quarterback Cody Kessler in the first two games. Kessler returned from a concussion suffered last week and was 3 of 5 for 34 yards.

Newton injures foot, Brady solid in Patriots’ 10-3 win

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — This was not the return to the field that Cam Newton was hoping to make.

The Carolina Panthers quarterback left Thursday night’s 10-3 exhibition loss against New England in the first quarter with a foot injury that left him grimacing on the sideline.

The 2015 MVP was playing for the first time since Dec. 17, when the team shut him down for the last two games of the season because of shoulder fatigue that prevented him from throwing the ball downfield. He had arthroscopic surgery in January and did not play in the first two preseason games.

Newton appeared to be injured when he was sacked for a loss of 8 yards by Adam Butler on a third-and-10 from the Carolina 31. It was one of two Patriots sacks while Newton was in the game.

Newton was initially evaluated on the sideline and quickly accompanied to the locker room and did not return. He went 4 for 6 for 30 yards.

Kyle Allen took over at quarterback in the second quarter.

The Panthers were pretty pedestrian on offense and went three-and-out in each of their first two series.

Tom Brady finished his first exhibition game of 2019 by going 8 for 12 for 75 yards, including an 18-yard pass to tight end Ryan Izzo to set up the 1-yard touchdown plunge by James Develin in the second quarter. It was the starting offense’s final series.

Brady played with a skeleton crew at receiver. Julian Edelman, Josh Gordon, N’Keal Harry and Demaryius Thomas all sat out. But undrafted rookie Jakobi Meyers continued to help open the field, catching seven passes for 74 yards. Phillip Dorsett also had seven catches for 47 yards.

Patriots rookie quarterback Jarrett Stidham was 15 for 19 for 134 yards.

INJURIES

Panthers: OT Greg Little was evaluated for a concussion in the fourth quarter.

Patriots: Special teamer Brandon King was carted off the field with about a minute to go in the first half after helping block on a punt return…. RB Damien Harris left in the second quarter with an undisclosed injury.

UP NEXT

Panthers: Host Pittsburgh next Thursday.

Patriots: Host the New York Giants next Thursday.