New York Giants Rise in New NFL Power Ranking Despite Being on Bye

The Giants didn't have to do anything to move up one spot in the weekly MMQB power rankings.

power rankings.jpg / Patricia Traina | New York Giants on SI

Who said you cannot win during a bye week?

The New York Giants, who put an end to the Daniel Jones era on Monday, actually gained ground in the latest MMQB NFL Power Rankings, moving up one spot to No. 29 from No. 30 despite not playing a game.

According to Conor Orr, the rankings compiler, the Giants, despite having not played in Week 11, have improved this week compared to the three teams below them (Titans, Raiders, and Jaguars). 

Could the decision to bench Jones, who went 3-13 as a starter dating back to last season, have had anything to do with the jump? 

Orr didn’t say in his rankings justification, but the threshold question Giants fans want to have answered is whether benching Jones will solve the lack of offensive punch the Giants, who have the league’s worst scoring offense, have had this season.

Under Jones, the Giants have two wins this season, both of those (Week 3 vs. Cleveland and Week 5 vs. Seattle) by two or more scores.

Jones has thrown for 2,070 yards, but he has eight touchdowns to seven interruptions, and just five games where he threw for over 200 yards, with most of those instances occurring in garbage time.

In switching to Tommy DeVito over Drew Lock, Giants head coach Brian Daboll said he’s looking for a spark. DeVito, the emergency quarterback this season, won three games last season as a starter, two of those coming against the Commanders and the Patriots, two teams that were arguably worse than the Giants last season, and one game against the Packers in primetime, arguably DeVito’s best game of his rookie season.   

DeVito, an undrafted rookie free agent last year who wasn’t even supposed to be on the 53-man roster, let alone start, finished his abbreviated rookie campaign 114-for-178 for 1,101 yards, eight touchdowns, and three interceptions.

One of the biggest issues with DeVito’s game last year was his tendency to hold the ball too long, a problem that Jones was often guilty of. But when DeVito did finally make a decision, oftentimes it was the right one for the offense.

That said, it appears that the announcement of DeVito as the starter has somewhat re-energized the Giants' fan base. DeVito has a golden opportunity to convince Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen that he can be a legitimate No. 2 moving forward.

This would allow Daboll (assuming he’s retained after this season) to have a quarterback in the room with experience in this offense to help any newcomers.

Brian Daboll Seeks Spark from Tommy DeVito for Giants' Lethargic Offense. dark. Next. 11/18: Daboll Seeks Spark from DeVito

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