NFL power rankings: National media doesn’t hold back after another Giants loss

It’s that time of the week: NFL Power Rankings. The (4-9) New York Giants lost for the ninth time this season on Sunday afternoon, this time to the Los Angeles Chargers. Things appear to have gone from bad to worse after starting quarterback Daniel Jones went down. In his place, backup Mike Glennon couldn’t crack 200 yards passing in either of his two starts.

No amount of good defense and special teams can make up for the cruel and unusual punishment that this offense is inflicting on Giants fans. That’s the general vibe coming from this week’s power rankings listed below.

Aggregating several rankings from around the Internet, the Giants come out to an average ranking of No. 27 (last week: No. 27) 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. 27 (was 24)

It’s hard to find something the Giants do well. The offense wasn’t very good with Daniel Jones at quarterback – it’s worse with career journeyman Mike Glennon at the controls. Then there’s the defense, the team strength of a year ago but very much an average unit in 2021. Justin Herbert and the Chargers rolled up 289 yards, 18 first downs and 24 points in the first half alone on Sunday at SoFi Stadium. How much of this mess should be put at the feet of Joe Judge? The second-year coach isn’t getting results, but he hasn’t exactly been set up for success, either.

NBC Sports: No. 28 (was 28)

Joe Judge might be the most rotten fruit to fall off the Bill Belichick coaching tree.

CBS Sports: No. 27 (was 27)

This season is done. It’s time to start thinking about the future and what changes are coming. Will Joe Judge survive?

ESPN: No. 27 (was 27)

Offense: 25

Defense: 22

Special teams: 15

Yep, looks about right. The Giants aren’t really good at anything, but at least it will net them a top-10 draft pick. They are scoring 17.8 points per game, they can’t run consistently and their passing game hasn’t been good with everybody (including quarterback Daniel Jones and wide receivers Kenny Golladay, Sterling Shepard and Kadarius Toney) in and out of the lineup. The defense can’t handle good quarterbacks without a real pass rush. It’s hardly a surprise that their best unit is their special teams. Joe Judge was, after all, a special teams coach. This is how you end up with a losing record for the fifth consecutive season. — Jordan Raanan

ESPN Football Power Index: No. 26 (-3.0) (was 26)

Sporting News: No. 28 (was 27)

The Giants also should have more thoughts on the future of Joe Judge as their injury-riddled mess had no shot of upsetting the Chargers on the road with Mike Glennon starting again. The defense is something, but it means nothing with no real offense.

Pro Football Network: No. 27 (was 26)

Not having Daniel Jones is tough, but he wasn’t going to be the difference in this one. I find it hard to even attempt to place blame on the Giants’ defense because this game felt more like it was Justin Herbert pulling strings on unbelievable downfield throws. Coverage becomes increasingly more difficult the farther downfield a route goes, and Herbert’s arm makes some throws nearly impossible to defend.

New York can’t run the ball, and Mike Glennon was never going to take this passing attack anywhere, even after the team let go of offensive coordinator Jason Garrett. They couldn’t even run the ball against the Chargers, who have struggled to stop the run all season.

The Giants haven’t won more than six games since 2016. If Dave Gettleman is around in 2022, it’ll say a lot about how unserious the team’s ownership group is about putting a winning product on the field.

Car crashes are terrible, but there is a reason why “rubbernecking” is somehow a word. People can’t look away from a possible tragedy. The teams in Tier 5 are those catastrophes.

Yahoo! Sports: No. 28 (was 28)

Kenny Golladay has 24 catches for 424 yards and no touchdowns with three missed games due to injury. That’s after a 20-338-2 line last season when he dealt with injuries. Over the last two seasons, that’s 44-762-2 over 15 games. The Giants paid him $72 million for four years this past offseason.

New York Post: No. 26 (was 25)

The Giants are 22-55 over the last five seasons, 19-42 in general manager Dave Gettleman’s four seasons and 10-19 in coach Joe Judge’s two seasons. The formula for staying competitive – relying on defense and special teams to overcome a woeful offense – broke down against the Chargers, who haven’t lost to the Giants since 1998.

Sports Illustrated: No. 27 (was 29)

With the swath of uncorrected reports out there that Joe Judge is safe for another year, one can probably take that to the bank with some degree of certainty. We’ll see how the Giants perform now that they know what the next year is going to look like. The only question now: What can the Giants put out there to inspire confidence in 2022? This offense is talent rich. The defense is ... well coached but severely undermanned. Putting the pieces together and spoiling a season for a division rival would be a nice head start.

DraftKings: No. 17 (was 14)

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.