The Bengals first offense tuned for the Sept. 8 opener in Seattle with a touchdown drive that sent quarterback Andy Dalton into the pre-season sunset on a 70 percent night (seven of 10) Thursday night at Paul Brown Stadium. Then they stepped aside and watched rookie quarterback Jake Dolegala almost engineer a fourth-quarter comeback, but the Giants forced an incompletion on a tying two-point play to seal a 25-23 win.

It took the Bengals’ first offense two series and a big play on a rookie’s first NFL touch to get revved up and into the end zone on quarterback Andy Dalton’s touch pass for a 26-yard touchdown pass to tight end C.J. Uzomah that gave them a 7-3 lead late in the first quarter. That set the stage for a battle of rookie backups with Bengals’ fourth-rounder Ryan Finley and Giants first-rounder Daniel Jones each leading scoring drives that produced 10-10 halftime tie.

View the best photos as the Bengals host the New York Giants from Paul Brown Stadium in week three of the preseason.

Bengals head coach Zac Taylor wasn’t fooling around when he said wanted to get a good long look at his young wide receivers. In Thursday’s final tune-up of the preseason for the No. 1 offense and defense, Taylor started two of them against the New York Giants at Paul Brown Stadium when he lined up undrafted rookie Damion Willis in place of A.J. Green and second-year man Auden Tate in place John Ross III.