NFL power rankings: Giants stay put after narrow victory over Eagles

It’s that time of the week: NFL Power Rankings. The (4-7) New York Giants took care of business on Sunday when they beat the visiting (5-7) Philadelphia Eagles, 13-7. It wasn’t pretty and if not for a late-game Jalen Reagor drop things could have turned out differently. But the Giants got the job done and have now won three of their last five games.

Unfortunately, national media didn’t reward the Giants for winning. Several of our outlets below kept the Giants at the same position while a few improved their position and a few even bumped them down a few notches. Overall, the Giants stayed put at an average ranking of 26th.

Aggregating several rankings from around the Internet, the Giants come out to an average ranking of No. 26 (last week: No. 26) in the 32-team NFL. Our figure averages all the rankings below except for DraftKings, which bases its ranking on point spread differential.

Let’s check out what outlets around the league are saying about the Giants after Week 10:

NFL.com: No. 23 (was 25)

The dismissal of Jason Garrett did little to help the Giants’ offense, which remained abysmal Sunday against the Eagles. Luckily, the defense had a better time of it against Philly, forcing four turnovers and (with some Jalen Reagor-related luck) getting the final stop in a 13-7 win at the Meadowlands. Hard as it may be to believe, the Giants remain on the periphery of the NFC wild-card race, though it would take a miraculous turnaround from the offense to end the team’s five-year playoff drought. One player who benefitted from Freddie Kitchens’ ascension to play-caller was Kenny Golladay, who garnered two end-zone targets (both unsuccessful) and converted a pair of 18-yard completions on New York’s final field-goal drive. It’s a start.

NBC Sports: No. 28 (was 28)

General manager Dave Gettleman reportedly is unlikely to return in 2022, which doesn’t bode well for every man Joe Judge’s future at the helm of the G-Men.

CBS Sports: No. 27 (was 27)

Firing Jason Garrett jump-started the defense, which played well against the Eagles. The offense still isn’t doing much.

ESPN: No. 26 (was 26)

Week 6 confidence rating: 1.8

How it’s going now: 4.0

Hey, the Giants have won three of five games, with victories over the Panthers, Raiders and Eagles. That’s not bad, even if it hasn’t been pretty. The Giants’ only two losses since Week 6 have come on Monday nights in Tampa Bay and Kansas City. How? They have the second-highest defensive EPA, at 36.96, during that time. — Jordan Raanan

ESPN Football Power Index: No. 26 (-2.9) (was 26)

Sporting News: No. 25 (was 26)

The Giants cooled off the red-hot Eagles relying a lot more in their strong situational defense, even though there was little buzzy offense with new coordinator Freddie Kitchens calling the plays for Daniel Jones. At the very least, the team will need big changes there for 2022.

Pro Football Network: No. 26 (was 26)

Saquon Barkley had a 32-yard run today for the New York Giants! That is awesome. Nevertheless, he had 40 total rushing yards on 13 carries, which is less than ideal.

This is a horrific offense. We know the Giants are poorly coached. The mesh video that surfaced last week was the icing on the cake for this passing attack. Daniel Jones isn’t the answer currently. New York is a schematic liability, and their offensive line is a disaster. The saddest part is, there is talent on the edge. There’s a lot of it, even!

Patrick Graham received a lot of credit on Twitter for his defense holding Philadelphia to 6 points, but those seemed like self-inflicted wounds more than anything the Giants defense did. Jalen Hurts and the Eagles still ran the ball effectively — they just couldn’t throw to save their lives.

Yahoo! Sports: No. 28 (was 27)

Saquon Barkley has 260 yards on 73 carries (3.6-yard average) and is averaging just 7.3 yards on 24 receptions. He has been banged up but that’s life as an NFL running back. He simply doesn’t look explosive, and especially after seeing what Christian McCaffrey is going through with the Panthers, I’m not sure how the Giants can offer Barkley a big extension.

New York Post: No. 23 (was 26)

The Giants have won three straight at home (Panthers, Raiders and Eagles) despite not gaining 300 yards of total offense in two of those games under two different coordinators (Freddie Kitchens replaced Jason Garrett). It’s all about red-zone defense, turnover margin and field position for the Giants. Is it a sustainable formula? The schedule is very friendly over the final six games.

Sports Illustrated: No. 27 (was 24)

Give them this: The loss to the Bucs, added to the staff changes last week, could’ve made for a no-show against the Eagles. And that didn’t happen.

DraftKings: No. 14 (was 16)

DraftKings has moved from subjective assessments to using spread differential. Point differential is a helpful tool for figuring out the best and worst teams. However, point spread can offer a little more context to how good or bad teams might be.

You can see all of the lines on upcoming Giants games at DraftKings Sportsbook.