NFL Power Rankings, Week 16: Giants drop one spot following loss to Browns - Big Blue View

For the second straight week, the New York Giants were held to seven points or less. After a 26-7 loss to the Arizona Cardinals in Week 15, the Giants lost, 20-6, to Baker Mayfield and the Cleveland Browns.

Aggregating seven rankings from around the Internet, the Giants come out to an average ranking of No. 21 in the 32-team NFL entering Week 16. New York slipped one spot from its ranking of No. 20 last week.

With a loss to the Browns, the Giants dropped to 5-9 overall and missed an opportunity to take over first place in the NFC East after the Washington Football Team also lost Sunday. They will have another tough test this upcoming week against the 9-5 Baltimore Ravens.

Let’s check out what outlets around the league are saying about the Giants heading into Week 16 of the season:

CBS Sports (Prisco): No. 23

They are still alive in the NFC East, but they need to win this week at Baltimore and get help. That won’t be easy.

NFL.com: No. 19

Joe Judge coached on Sunday night with an almost admirable level of desperation. Injuries took away his quarterback (Daniel Jones), while COVID-19 designations sidelined his top cover man (James Bradberry) and offensive coordinator (Jason Garrett). So Judge opted for fourth-down gambles in two first-half red-zone trips against the Browns, hoping to steal points and put New York in position for the upset. Sadly, these cowboy maneuvers only make a coach look good when they work. Both plays ended in failure (the first on a fake-field-goal throw by punter/holder Riley Dixon that went incomplete, the second with Wayne Gallman being stuffed at the Cleveland 5), and Big Blue never really threatened after that in a 20-6 loss. New York hasn’t scored 20 points in a game in over a month. That’s not going to cut it, even in the NFC East.

ESPN: No. 22

Blake Martinez’s impact can’t be measured by statistics, even though those are pretty good. He’s tied for fourth in the NFL with 128 tackles to go with eight tackles for loss, five QB hits, an interception and two forced fumbles. Martinez is an extension of defensive coordinator Patrick Graham on the field. He gets the Giants lined up in the right defense and is the centerpiece of it all. It’s no coincidence that the Giants’ defense has gone from being ranked 25th to being 12th in the span of a year. Their middle linebacker, though not a star, has been integral to their success.

Bleacher Report: No. 19

At this point, it’s legitimately difficult to decide whether the New York Giants should be happy or dismayed about how the past several weeks have played out. On one hand, the NFL is a results-driven business. And the first season of the Joe Judge era is going to end exactly the way as the three that came before it: with a losing record. However, there are some positive signs in Judge’s first season. The New York defense has improved as the year wore on, in no small part because defensive end Leonard Williams has finally started to play like a first-round pick.If the Giants can get healthy offensively, they appear to be capable of contending in the league’s weakest division in 2021. But in 2020, it’s likely game over.

Sports Illustrated: No. 23

The offense showed its warts Sunday night against Cleveland. The Giants have some roster-building to do on that side of the ball, and the existing problems will probably be enough to keep them from truly contending in 2021.

Sporting News: No. 23

The Giants’ offensive woes have dragged down their good work on defense. Colt McCoy or Daniel Jones, they just don’t have enough pop as a run-based team.

New York Post: No. 20

Whether Daniel Jones or Colt McCoy starts this week, the Giants face an almost impossible task to win the NFC East without an upset win against a talented team that is starting to find itself. Next: Sunday at Baltimore

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