CINCINNATI -- Cincinnati Bengals offensive lineman Andrew Whitworth has seen the screen shot from Monday night's loss to the New York Giants circulating on social media.

It isn't pretty.

The Bengals' pocket collapsed as the Giants swarmed Andy Dalton late in Monday night's game. NFL

The picture depicts Andy Dalton being sacked on third-and-17 with 3:41 remaining in an eventual 21-20 loss. As four Giants defenders surround Dalton, the five Bengals offensive lineman are in various states of duress.

Right guard Kevin Zeitler is on the ground watching what's happening. Right tackle Cedric Ogbuehi is almost face-first in the turf. Left guard Clint Boling is falling to the ground as center Russell Bodine is trying to pull a Giants defender away from Dalton. Whitworth has risen after being briefly knocked down on one knee.

"I don't like it," Whitworth said. "I don't like that that's the portrayal of our team, but the reality is it's a team game but it's also an individual game. Each of us individually has to keep our guy away from the quarterback. And that will help us have the opportunity to have more success. We've also got to get ourselves out of third-and-longs. Backed up, third-and-longs, down a score -- I feel like we're Philip Rivers for some reason. That's kind of been the M.O. of our season so far. We've had a lot of situations where we're behind and trying to find a way to score."

Still shots don't always tell the whole story, but this one certainly painted an ugly picture for the offensive line, which has struggled all season. Dalton has been sacked 28 times (second-most in the league) and hit 50 times (seventh-most among all qualified quarterbacks).

Why is this happening? It's difficult to pin down a particular reason. The offensive line will usually receive the brunt of the blame, but Dalton has admitted there are times he could have gotten rid of the ball faster. Sometimes a hit or sack falls on a tight end or running back lined up for additional protection. Other times Dalton simply can't find an open receiver or is swallowed up by defenders when trying to extend plays with his feet.

Just two plays prior to the screen shot in question, tight end Tyler Eifert allowed Dalton to be hit just after he threw the ball away. Dalton got up slowly and limped back to the line of scrimmage.

For whatever reason, the blocking has been worse than last season. The problems can't be pinned simply on Ogbuehi, who has struggled to the point that the team has rotated him with veteran Eric Winston.

"It just has to be done better," Whitworth said. "Guys just have to lock in and put their best foot forward technique-wise and everything else. As you've been in this league longer, I think more of our guys are going to find that out -- guys start to figure you out, how you block and how you do things, and you'd better have an answer for it. And some of that's been a problem, and then there's been a lot of other things too. So it's a mixture, and it always is. The reality is we just have to do better as a group and that's on all of us."