Giants Officially Hit Rock Bottom in Latest MMQB Power Rankings

The New York Giants have finally secured the bottom spot in the MMQB NFL Power Rankings after their 27-20 loss at Dallas on Thanksgiving Day.

Nov 28, 2024; Arlington, Texas, USA; New York Giants quarterback Drew Lock (2) rushes for a touchdown during the fourth quarter against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium. / Andrew Dieb-Imagn Images

The New York Giants’ 100th season continues to take one shameful turn after another. And in light of its most recent loss, a 27-20 decision to the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving, the Giants have officially hit rock bottom in the latest MMQB power ranking poll. 

The Giants’ fall from grace has been both stunning and sad. Much was expected of this team under head coach Brian Daboll, the 2022 “Coach of the Year” who helped to guide the team to a 9-7-1 season and its first playoff berth since 2016. 

While injuries galore that saw three different quarterbacks, four different kickers, and a million different offensive line combinations (we kid, but there were a lot) could be to blame for 2023 season woes, Daboll still managed to keep the locker room together, steering it to six wins.

This year, the team’s centennial anniversary, has been another story. The Giants were supposedly improved on the offensive line, and they added a legitimate No. 1 receiver in Malik Nabers via the draft. 

They also beefed up their pass rush by adding outside linebacker Brian Burns. Yet despite all of that, plus the decision for Daboll to take on the play calling, the results have been worse–far worse, in fact, than anyone probably expected. 

The Giants have only two wins, and if they don’t win another game this season–and that’s a very real possibility given the remaining teams on their schedule–they will finish with their worst season since they went 3-13 in 2017 in the old 16-game season format.

Unlike that 2017 season when then head coach Ben McAdoo benched Eli Manning for a game for Geno Smith, the final straw in his year-plus tenure as Giants head coach, this year the Giants quarterback situation has been a mess.

It was hoped that Daboll's taking over the plays and the additions made on offense would help Daniel Jones regain his form from 2022, when he had his best career season leading the team to its first postseason berth since 2011.

That was not the case, as loss after loss kept piling up, and Jones looked very uncertain about what he was seeing out there. With a $23 million injury guarantee in his contract, Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen made the painful decision to bench Jones for Tommy DeVito.

Six days after that benching, Jones was waived at his request, and he later signed with the Vikings' practice squad.

With the Giants season pretty much done–they became the first team to be eliminated from the playoff race this year–many are hoping for a franchise quarterback to pull the Giants out of their misery.

However, Conor Orr, the MMQB rankings compiler, is less optimistic about that happening.

 "This is a tough year in which the blow of the season cannot necessarily be softened by an elite quarterback class atop the draft," Orr said. "Let’s be honest, we’re not really thinking about Drew Lock, are we?"

Orr maintains it will take much more than a good quarterback to lead the Giants to more victories in 2025. He does not appear to believe the addition of Miami's Cam Ward or Colorado's Shedeur Sanders will fix all that ails the Giants.

"As a kind of secondary question, for a team that isn’t willing to get up and tackle against the Cowboys on Thanksgiving, is any quarterback really going to fix the situation all that fast?" Orr said.

He then pointed to another area of the team that has been just as disastrous as the quarterback play: the run defense. 

"There were so many yards after first contact in this one surrendered by a defense that feels like it is more of a name-recognition entity than a serious unit right now," he said.

The Giants appear to be going through the motions at this point rather than consistently playing inspired ball in what has become an uninspiring season that should have otherwise been a tribute to the legends of the past who gave fans much more to cheer about.  

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