NFL Power Rankings 2017, Week 1: Where Do New York Giants Rank?

What are, or will be the 2017 New York Giants? Chris believes they are a team that could match last season’s 11-5 mark. Week 1 NFL Power Rankings reveal that there is a wide variety of opinion about the answer to that question.

Our aggregated rankings, this week using nine sites, have the Giants placing No. 9 overall. That’s including a high ranking of No. 3 (Bleacher Report/Chris Simms) and a low of No. 15 (Walter Football). Let’s look at some of the explanations below.

SB Nation (No. 16)

Bleacher Report/Simms (No. 3)

Nothing has really changed since last year with the New York Giants defense. It's still awesome. The Giants still possess one of the league's best secondaries and one of the league's best front fours.

The fate of New York is going to come down to two things—the play of the offensive line and the play of quarterback Eli Manning. Yes, we're talking about a two-time Super Bowl winner, but Manning played more poorly than people realized last year.

The Giants really need to get Odell Beckham Jr. back in the lineup, because this is a below-average offense without him. Still, the Giants match up well with the Cowboys because New York has the defense to slow Dallas' offense and enough offensive talent to hit a big play or two on the Dallas secondary.

USA Today (No. 10)

All three starting receivers had an injury scare in August, though none greater than Odell Beckham's sprained ankle. The offense still depends on the him, but the attack's new diversity could be a key for playoff aspirations.

Sports On Earth (No. 6)

That's right, I think the Giants, not the Cowboys, clearly have the best shot of coming out of the NFC East to win the Super Bowl. Unlike Dallas, New York has a great defense -- it finished second in DVOA last season, and players like Eli Apple, Landon Collins and Janoris Jenkins could be getting better. The offense is a concern, but I'd always rather have a stout defense than a potent offense. And yet, Eli Manning has somehow managed to win two Super Bowls, Odell Beckham is one of the top five young receivers we've ever seen and Brandon Marshall is now in the fold. The Giants would be the most surprising team in this tier to win the Super Bowl, but it would not be all that surprising. Not when you consider how good the defense could be.

NJ.com (No. 11)

Is the self-imposed hype justified? The Giants have enough talent to make another run at a Lombardi Trophy, but enough question marks (offensive line, age, Eli Manning's inevitable decline, unsustainable success in close games) to give pause.

Washington Post (No. 8)

The ankle injury suffered by WR Odell Beckham Jr. during a preseason game complicates things. The Giants must have Beckham in the lineup and at something close to full speed for this offense, which was underwhelming last season, to function at a level high enough for this team to be a top contender. The defense must maintain last season’s level while Coach Ben McAdoo and QB Eli Manning find a way to make the offense more productive. That is unlikely to happen if Beckham is slowed for any significant portion of the season. Will the Cowboys-Giants opener be played without both Elliott and Beckham?

Walter Football (No. 15)

I've been calling the Giants overrated, but I may have been overrating them myself. In my NFL Positional Ratings, they had one of the worst overall scores for any team in the NFL. This is not surprising, as they have a regressing quarterback playing with only one viable receiver and no running game behind a horrible offensive line. The defense is mostly great, but that won't save the Giants, who were very fortunate not to go 7-9ish last year. I still stand by the Giants being overrated

ESPN (No. 9)

CBS Sports (No. 6)

The thing that concerns me most is their offensive line. Can it show enough improvement? We know the defense will be good.

What do you think, Giants fans? Is No. 10 to open the season about right?