NFL Power Rankings: How high do NY Giants rise after Week 6?
By Ryan Messick
The NY Giants picked up their first win of the season on Sunday, and are somehow in the mix in the woebegone NFC East.
Joe Judge‘s NY Giants, now 1-5, finally rose from the ranks of the winless, but still have lots of ground to make up in the NFL Power rankings.
Here’s where things stand after the first six weeks of the season:
They lost a game last week, so what? You could perhaps make a case for one of the three remaining undefeated teams, but ask yourself this: with your season on the line, would you really rather face Patrick Mahomes’ Chiefs than the Steelers, Seahawks or Titans? Didn’t think so.
They’re undefeated, and they have the second largest point differential in the league. They smoked the Browns this week, and they do three things that make them very hard to beat. They play great defense (2nd best in the league), they take care of the football (only three teams have fewer turnovers), and they’ve got a top 10 rushing attack.
Their defense leaves something to be desired, but Russell Wilson and a high-powered offense fill the void. They’re leading the league in yards per offensive play, and Wilson has been spectacular.
They needed overtime to beat the Texans, but they have scored 31 or more points in four straight games. Next week’s showdown with the Steelers figures to be a heavyweight slugfest.
They didn’t look sharp for long stretches against the brittle and broken Eagles, but Lamar Jackson was electifying when needed. They get a bye week before we’re all treated to one of the great divisional rivalry games: Ravens-Steelers.
Nick Foles just wins football games. It’s often ugly, it’s occasionally beautiful, but put him at the helm with a decent surrounding cast and he’ll deliver victories. Until he proves otherwise, the Bears are a contender.
The Bucs look really good, and I’m willing to excuse a one-point loss to the aforementioned Nick Foles as well as a season opening loss coming off of a COVID-impacted offseason as Tom Brady got acclimated to his new surroundings. Part of me wanted to move them up a spot, but it hasn’t been that long since the Bears beat them head-to-head, and that has to be respected.
Their 4-0 start was about as unimpressive as a 4-0 start can be. The Vikings and Falcons are terrible, the Lions are mediocre, and the Saints aren’t quite what they used to be. Their schedule won’t be too challenging until Week 12, though, so expect them to stay in the top 10 without having to answer many tough questions.
They’ve managed to stay above .500 with a pretty tough schedule.
They sure looked good last night, didn’t they? Or perhaps the Cowboys are exactly that bad.
I’m still not sold on the Bills. They hung in there better against the Chiefs than they did against the Titans, but I think their spot in the top-10 might be tenuous.
I’d put them in the same category as the Bills. I need to see more, and I need to see it against a good team.
Drew Brees is still putting up strong numbers, and that’s enough to avoid letting the Saints slip any farther than 12th.
They struggled without a healthy Jimmy Garoppolo, but they’ve looked like a tough out with the quarterback healthy.
They got smoked by the Steelers and Ravens, but they did beat the Colts. Is this the year the Browns finally turn that franchise around, or is the bottom about to fall out? They play the Titans, Ravens, and Steelers in December – until then I’d expect them to keep rolling.
Three of their wins came against the Bengals, Vikings and Jets. You can only play the teams on your schedule, but that isn’t going to prove they belong in the top tier of teams either.