NFL power rankings: Giants slip even further after loss to Falcons

NFL media showing no mercy on winless Giants

It’s officially that time of the week: NFL Power Rankings. The New York Giants dropped to 0-3 after a time-expiring field goal by the Atlanta Falcons at MetLife Stadium Sunday. It’s not a fun time to be a Giants fan and patience seems to wearing thin for some of the decision-making by head coach Joe Judge.

To make matter worse, the Giants head to the Bayou on Sunday to take on the New Orleans Saints at the Superdome. The Giants earn over 100 more yards per game than the Saints, but the Saints allow about 70 less yards on defense. The teams aren’t that far apart from each other, but the Saints are at least capable of tossing four touchdowns if quarterback Jameis Winston plays well.

Aggregating several rankings from around the Internet, the Giants come out to an average ranking of No. 29 (last week: No. 28) in the 32-team NFL. As expected, the team fell in most Power Rankings by one to three spots. That’s also because there’s not much more room to get worse.

Let’s check out what outlets around the league are saying about the Giants after week 3:

NFL.com: No. 30 (was 27)

You cannot let the Falcons come into your building and beat you on Eli Manning Day. It just can’t happen — and Joe Judge is going to start feeling some heat if he can’t start producing some better results. New York is all sorts of beat up right now — Sterling Shepherd and Darius Slayton both exited with hamstring injuries on Sunday, while linebacker Blake Martinez tore his ACL — but the Giants let a deeply flawed Falcons team steal a road win by failing to make the big play in the fourth quarter. (I’m looking at you, Adoree’ Jackson.) An 0-3 start doesn’t spell certain doom in the middling NFC East, but the Giants are a team trending in the wrong direction.

NBC Sports: No. 29 (was 28)

Owner John Mara was booed during the Eli Manning ceremony Sunday and then the Giants preceded to gag one away against the hapless Falcons. There is no happiness in East Rutherford. Only darkness.

CBS Sports: No. 28 (was 27)

At 0-3, the heat is on this group. Daniel Jones has to start winning games – or there will be changes coming.

ESPN: No. 29 (was 28)

Maybe, just maybe, the Giants have their answer with Daniel Jones. The biggest problem early in his career has been the turnovers. Well, he has one in three games this season. And Jones has competed pretty well early this year despite playing behind a rough offensive line that has contributed to him being pressured on 38.4% of his dropbacks, the fourth most in the league, per NFL Next Gen Stats. Jones might have only three touchdown passes, but he also has run for two others and had a third called back. It has been a promising start to the season for the third-year quarterback. — Jordan Raanan

Sporting News: No. 30 (was 29)

The Giants thought Daniel Jones and the offense had turned the corner in the first two games with the defense being the bigger letdown. Then came the low-scoring disappointment against the Falcons’ defense. It’s been total bust over boom for Joe Judge’s team where it counts.

Pro Football Network: No. 27 (was 28)

New York’s offensive issues are their own doing. Dave Gettleman chose the wrong offensive tackle in the 2020 NFL Draft, and whoever hired Jason Garrett to run the offense should have to fire Garrett and then themselves. The result is a truly bad offense and the 27th spot in the NFL Power Rankings.

After only fumbling once in the first two weeks of the season, Daniel Jones had trouble on Sunday. He fumbled twice, but the Giants were able to recover both. Aside from that, Jones has performed admirably despite a poor offensive game plan.

With the Saints, Cowboys, and Rams coming up on the schedule, there’s a chance this team is winless heading into Week 7.

Yahoo! Sports: No. 29 (was 27)

The Giants lost Blake Martinez, Sterling Shepard and Darius Slayton to injury in the first half. They might have won with those players all game. But the reality is they didn’t win, they’re 0-3, and it’s going to be a rough few months in that market if the record keeps slipping further under .500. At least the Giants have the horrid Jets to share those headlines.

New York Post: No. 30 (was 28)

Still the toast of New York! OK, that’s the end of the glass-half-full view. The Giants are a mess. The offense can’t finish drives despite Daniel Jones and the offensive line — two major preseason concerns — playing better than expected. The defense can’t get a two-minute drill stop. And coach Joe Judge is conservative despite vowing not to be.

Sports Illustrated: No. 29 (was 29)

DraftKings: No. 21 (was 25)

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. Through three weeks, things are still moving a lot, but some teams are settling in up top and toward the bottom.