What They Say: Week 1

With the official start of the season only two days away, our friends at foxsports.com have put together their power rankings. It is no surprise that the Giants have been ranked fairly low, given their questionable preseason performance and mounting injuries.

NY Giants – 16

"For a 10-6 team, the Giants have pretty much flown under the radar. The defense should see improvement in the second year under defensive coordinator Perry Fewell. Injuries in the preseason and the emotional health of the team could be a distraction and an eventual concern."

Fairly accurate summary of the last few weeks for the Giants. They have received a lot of slack for choosing to be pretty inactive in signing their own free agents, as well as failing to seek out any other big names, especially as compared to all the Eagles’ offseason moves. This criticism, of course, would be a distant memory with a victory in Philadelphia week 3. But what will not go away is the sheer fact that injuries have plagued this team, especially the defense. The latest loss is Jonathan Goff with a torn acl, definitely a major blow to an already down locker room.

Below are a few more relevant rankings with my comments.

Washington Redskins – 25 (week 1)
The ‘Skins have named Rex Grossman as their starter for week 1 against the Giants. Given their options this is probably the right way to go, but that’s not saying much. This team is in rebuilding mode, and they made good strides during preseason, but it will be awhile before they are as competitive as the rest of the NFC East.

St. Louis Rams – 24 (week 2)
I think we are far enough removed from the Steve Spagnuolo era to worry that he will have too much inside information on the defense and their style. Bradford has an excellent career ahead of him, but he is young enough early pressure should force mistakes.

Philadelphia Eagles – 7 (week 3)
The first real challenge of the season will come week 3. The Giants wrote the blueprint for how to fluster Vick into scrambling and making bad decisions. Hopefully the injury curse will have ended by then, and Osi may be back by then to help put pressure on the quarterback. There is no reason the Giants can’t beat this team, but then again that has been the case for most of the last 6 games they dropped to their rivals.

Arizona Cardinals – 19 (week 4)
We should have a good idea of just what Kevin Kolb is capable of by the time the Giants arrive in Arizona. This team has not yet recovered from losing both Super Bowl XLIII and Kurt Warner, and that’s not likely to change this season.

Dallas Cowboys – 14 (week 14)
Tough to talk about a game that is three months away, so I won’t. They have a light schedule leading into their week 5 bye, with only the Jets likely to give them much difficulty this Sunday. Then again, the division rival Redskins is always a draining game, and the Lions week 4 could surprise them, and any other team for that matter. After last year’s collapse and Tony Romo’s return from an injury, it’s tough to predict what this team will do.