NFL: Power Rankings at the quarter-mark of the 2018 NFL season

26. New York Giants (1-3)

I look at the Texans and Giants in a very similar way. In Odell Beckham Jr., Sterling Shepard, Saquon Barkley and (even though he’s out right now) Evan Engram the G-Men have one of the most potent assemblances of skill-position players, but the offensive line is holding them back and in contrast to Houston, their quarterback hasn’t shown anything that would make me believe in him.

Of course he has been under pressure on plenty of snaps, but the guy who I always gave credit to for standing in that pocket and taking shots, has now started to take his eyes down to see the rush and finding his checkdown underneath. When you have this kind of talent around you, you have to create plays down the field and while I understand that the time hasn’t always been there for them to develop I think it is time to give some of the blame to Eli as well.

Defensively, I think they have been decent. I like their secondary, Alec Ogletree has been a nice addition in coverage and all their draft picks seem to pay off. However, Big Blue now has failed to score 30 points on offense for 36 straight games in a high-scoring NFL.

27. Indianapolis Colts (1-3)

Andrew Luck is back. We almost got one of those vintage Luck moments, as he led his team from being down 28-10 to take them to overtime and they were a fourth-down conversion and another quick ten yards or so away from attempting a game-winning field goal. What do I think about Frank Reich’s decision to go for it on fourth down from their own 43? I loved it.

Let’s be real – the Colts probably won’t make the playoffs this year and they should not have even been in that game. He is trying to build a culture and instill a form of confidence into his guys. That tie wouldn’t have brought them anything and I expect these coaches to stay aggressive over the course of the year.

A healthy Andrew Luck can carry a franchise and the front office has started to put pieces around him. The offensive line is starting to take shape, their front-seven has been balling out and they have put together the draft capital to really make some noise next year. I thought this was one of the worst rosters in the league two years ago and Luck’s future was in the balance, but now I look at them much differently.