As the preseason winds down, NFL power rankings are just beginning, detailing which teams analysts believe are the best and worst after each week of play. The Giants, who have missed the playoffs every year since they last won the Super Bowl in 2011, are in an unfavorable position in most rankings with the regular season just 10 days away. Here is a roundup of online power rankings, from sites that are opinion-based as well as some that are statistics-based.
Opinion-Based Rankings
CBS Sports: 20th. "Tom Coughlin has done some of his best coaching when nobody expected his team to do well. Can this be one of those seasons?"
Fox Sports: 19th. "Losing their top two trench players - Will Beatty on offense and Jason Pierre-Paul on defense - has led to a rough start to the preseason for Big Blue. With Eli Manning entering his second year in an offensive scheme that arguably revived his career, it's not unwise to expect the offense to join the NFL's elite in 2015 if the skill positions stay healthy. The defense has dealt with too many injuries already, and it could hold the Giants back from reaching their full potential."
NFL.com: 21st. "It's always nice to have your GM pressing the pressure button while you're still practicing in shorts in early August. Twenty-eight points per game -- the bar Jerry Reese set for his team earlier this month -- might seem like a tall order for this offense, what with New York's weight-room-depleted offensive line, an oft-injured starting tailback and a key wideout coming off major knee surgery. Then you look around at the other defenses in the NFC East. "Make that 35, guys. I think we should score 35 points per game."
Associated Press: 22nd. The AP writers who vote on the poll did not provide any commentary.
Newsday: 21st. "They're still missing their best defensive player, and you can't diminish the importance of no Jason Pierre-Paul. Eli Manning can go a long way toward masking issues on defense by lighting up the scoreboard with his excellent cast of receivers."
SBNation: 24th. The author did not provide any commentary about the Giants.
Stats-Based Rankings
Please take note that these rankings are based on statistics from the previous season, since no games have yet to be played in the 2015-16 season.
TeamRankings: 26th. This site measures the relative strength of all teams using team performance, home/away status, margin of victory and other factors.
ESPN Football Power Index: 19th. The Giants' offense is projected to rank high in the NFL, but their defense and special teams projections are what the FPI believes will hold them back. For explanation about how the FPI system works, click here.
NumberFire: 20th. These rankings are based on expected point differential against a league average team. If the team's rating is 10, they would be expected to win by 10 points against a league-average opponent. The Giants' rating is 0.2, so that means they are expected to win by 0.2 points against a league-average team. Essentially, the Giants are a league-average team.
Oddsshark: 19th. This site uses a number of stats from the last 10 games of the 2014 season to establish an offensive and defensive power ranking, which they then adjust for the strength of schedule.
Adding up all ten of these rankings, the Giants finish with a 21.1 ranking, putting them in the lower third of NFL teams as we get ready for the final week of the preseason.