CINCINNATI — It is impossible to muster up the hate, the way they do for the Eagles, or for Jerry Jones and the Cowboys, because the Bengals toil in the AFC, they have never won a Super Bowl, and, once again, they are pussycats, whose bark is far worse than their bite.
But if you lose to an inferior team like this, you will hate yourself from here to your next game after the bye.
If you let Andy Dalton, who is not Boomer Esiason, exploit the holes in your secondary … if you let Benjarvus Green-Ellis, who is not Ickey Woods, gash your soft run defense … if Eli Manning cannot shake his slump against an underachieving defense after getting pointers from big brother Peyton, then you will have no choice but to answer questions about another second-half swoon and cast doubt among yourselves whether the dreaded November Curse could sabotage defense of your Super Bowl crown.
Dateline: Sincinnati.
Because it would be a sin to lose this game.
A game at which you show up with the eye of the tiger and show these pussycats how the king of the jungle goes about its predatory business.
All season long, you have been the hunted, but today you should be the hunter, letting these pussycats know right from the start they are in the wrong place at the wrong time against the wrong foe.
“This whole week has just been, ‘Get to 7-3,’ ” linebacker Spencer Paysinger said of coach Tom Coughlin’s message. “ ‘Do whatever you have to do to get to 7-3 — whether that’s watching extra film, meeting with the coaches a little bit after practice, after film session … getting together with some of the players … just whatever you can to help this team get to 7-3, get to 7-3.’ ”
And Coughlin’s lieutenants have helped ratchet up the urgency.
“Guys like [Justin] Tuck, Chase [Blackburn], special teams, [Zak] DeOssie, guys like that,” Paysinger said. “There hasn’t been somebody stand up in front of the room speech like that, like rah-rah speech, but just guys taking that extra effort to coach up the players that are behind them just till everybody’s on the same page.”
If Hakeem Nicks still cannot find his explosiveness, let’s see Manning and Victor Cruz get their timing back against the 19th-ranked pass defense. If Cruz is mashed and mauled by double coverage, let’s see Manning target Martellus Bennett and Domenik Hixon. Or Ahmad Bradshaw out of the backfield. Or let’s see Bradshaw, or Andre Brown, just run the damn ball against the 17th-ranked run defense
With the unsung hero Blackburn back at middle linebacker, let’s see a run defense that won’t shame Harry Carson.
With Tuck coming off a two-sack game, and Chris Canty getting healthier, let’s see that pass rush rattle the second-year quarterback.
And let’s see someone, anyone, cover kickoffs. Because there ought to be a slew of them to Brandon Tate.
“Really good returner — fast, shifty … similar to [Pittsburgh’s Chris] Rainey, the way he can make that 3-yard side-cut and make people miss,” Paysinger said. “So this week we’ve really been focusing on getting everybody to the ball, everybody tagging off on the returner. … When you’re running down there, make sure everybody touches the returner.”
So this isn’t a must-win as much as it is a must-not lose.
You must not return from the bye, to face Aaron Rodgers and the Packers, stripped of your swag. You must not open the door for the Cowboys-Eagles winner to climb back in the division race. You must not spend December with your back against the wall fighting for your playoff life. This is about a commitment to excellence more than it should be about a commitment to resilience.
You’ve done a gallant job of extolling the virtues of the 3-5 Bengals. But the tape doesn’t lie. Green-Ellis averages 3.4 yards per carry. During the Bengals’ four-game losing streak, he has 60 runs totaling 201 yards. Dalton has thrown six TD passes with seven interceptions over that span. The Broncos sacked him five times last week.
Jump on them early, and squeeze the hope out of them. If you give them a reason to quit, they will take it. You didn’t make excuses after Hurricane Sandy, and you sure could have. If you can’t whip these pussycats, there are no excuses.
steve.serby@nypost.com