The New York Giants were in a barnburner this past Sunday against their most-hated rivals, the Dallas Cowboys. A back-and-forth affair ended in the G-Men coming up short in the final seconds of overtime, courtesy of a 46-yard field goal from Dallas' Kicker Brandon Aubrey.
Courtesy of the fantastic blog over at NFL Spin Zone, Sayre Bedinger breaks down the entirety of the NFL and ranks them from 1st through 32nd. After the disappointing and frankly, embarrassing performance against Washington in Week 1, the G-Men moved up from 29th to 23rd despite the overtime loss.
Did Bedinger get it right, even though the end result shouldn't have warranted a positive placement?
Did the New York Giants really play that much better in Week 2?
Putting up 37 points in any kind of facet should be considered a good thing. Russell Wilson throwing for a career-high 450 yards and three touchdowns should also be viewed as a massive positive. But did Big Blue play any better than they did in week one, giving them a six-spot jump?
The big spotlight on New York's misfortune in this one is the lack of discipline. 14 penalties for a total of 160 yards is an abysmal statistic, and should be the main focus for this upcoming Week 3 match-up against the 0-2 Kansas City Chiefs. The Cowboys were able to capitalize on those mishaps, but imagine what Patrick Mahomes and company could do with the free yardage.
The aforementioned performance of Wilson, as well as the combined performances from both Malik Nabers and Wan'Dale Robinson was a sight to behold against Big D. Additionally, the arrival of Cam Skatteboo was a nice sight, as it seems like offensive coordinator Mike Kafka has figured out the best scheme for him... just run him straight north and let him mow everyone over.
Did they do enough this week to show that they are worth a higher ranking than the first loss of the season? Yes. But it is important to remember that they are still winless, with a gauntlet of Super Bowl contenders ahead of them. Through two weeks, things are not going according to plan, but it is trending in the right direction.