NFL power rankings, Week 5: Giants up to 18 in aggregated rankings

Week 5 has officially come to a close with your New York Giants coming away with a victory over the Chicago Bears. The Giants are now officially at the highest ranking they have been this season, coming in at 18 in these rankings. With a matchup this week against the Green Bay Packers in London, this will be a key opportunity to show that the Giants can beat a quality opponent and climb the rankings further.

This week, we have aggregated 10 power rankings across the Internet.

NFL.com (19)

Where would the Giants be without Saquon Barkley this season? The veteran running back is healthy and back to full-dynamo status, the driving reason behind Big Blue’s surprising 3-1 start. Barkley’s value reached unforeseen new levels on Sunday when New York lost both of its quarterbacks to injury, and Brian Daboll turned to his star to take direct snaps out of the Wildcat to seal a win over the Bears. The early schedule has been extremely favorable, but give the Giants credit. In an NFC defined by parity, the G-Men are stacking wins with an eye on an improbable playoff return.

USA Today (16)

How little are they getting from the passing game? RB Saquon Barkley and QB Daniel Jones account for 54% of the team’s yards from scrimmage – yes, that means Jones’ output (193 yards) as a runner.

Sporting News (13)

The Giants are still not impressing anyone offensively with victories over limited opponents, but their defense has been solid and they are getting timely big rushes from Saquon Barkley and Daniel Jones.

ESPN (14)

The biggest issue on defense is ... effectively rushing the passer.

The Giants have a top-10 pass defense at the moment. But they’re going to have to rush the passer more effectively if that is going to continue. The Giants are 19th in the NFL with a pass rush win rate of 41.2%. They don’t have an edge rusher with more than one sack and have called the third-most blitzes (57) so far this season. It might work against the quarterbacks they faced, but life is about to get much more difficult with Aaron Rodgers, Lamar Jackson, Trevor Lawrence and Geno Smith on deck.

The Athletic (22)

What they are: Good enough to beat bad teams.

The Giants’ 71 passing yards Sunday were the fewest for any team in a win this season and the fewest in the league since the Vikings also beat the Bears on a Monday night game last December. The players in the postgame locker room gave the credit to the coaching staff for figuring things out in the middle of the game after Daniel Jones and Tyrod Taylor were both injured. Those poor players are all so pleasantly surprised by coaching competency.

Meanwhile, the Giants’ defense, which was considered talent-poor heading into the season, ranks 13th in defensive EPA per drive while playing Wink Martindale’s characteristic style. The Giants rank second in the percentage of time they play man coverage (41.3 percent, per TruMedia) and first in blitz rate (43.4 percent of dropbacks).

Up next: vs. Green Bay (in London), Sunday 9:30 a.m. ET

CBS Sports (16)

At 3-1, they are one of the early surprises of this season. They don’t win pretty, but they find a way. The quarterback injuries are concerning.

YAHOO! Sports (22)

Kenny Golladay has two catches for 22 yards this season, and that all came in the opener. The last two games he has played 51 snaps without a catch. Golladay’s $21.15 million cap hit this season is No. 1 among all wide receivers according to Spotrac. That signing is historically bad already.

NBC Sports Chicago (18)

The Giants have so many holes on their roster. But 3-1 is 3-1.

Pro Football Talk (15)

This won’t last if they don’t have a healthy quarterback.

The Ringer (22)

Saquon Barkley leads the NFL in rushing yards (463) and looks reborn while playing for new head coach Brian Daboll — and he admirably filled in as a wildcat QB Sunday against the Bears after both of the Giants’ quarterbacks suffered injuries. Daniel Jones’s health will be the Giants’ most important story line heading into Week 5 against Green Bay in London; if he can’t play, Daboll will have to turn to Davis Webb and lean even more heavily on Barkley, who for now seems up for the challenge.