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A weekly examination of the New York Giants' ESPN.com Power Ranking:

Preseason: 12 | Last week: 29 | ESPN.com Power Ranking since 2002

I honestly do not know who would win a game between the Giants and the Jaguars on a neutral field right now, but that's the question at this point for me. I dropped the Giants to No. 31 on my own ballot, moving them behind Tampa Bay because at least the Bucs were in their game Sunday. The Giants are not competitive right now and fully deserving of their overall power ranking as one of the three worst teams in the NFL.

Kevin Seifert and John Clayton were the most generous to the 0-4 Giants this week, ranking them 29th. Jamison Hensley and I had them at No. 31. Jacksonville is the only team in the league with a worse scoring differential (minus-98) than the Giants' minus-85, and the next-worst team is St. Louis at minus-52. The Giants are bottom-of-the-barrel bad.

If you'd like to join us at 1:30 p.m. ET for our live Spreecast video chat about this week's Power Rankings, here's the link. Hope to see you there.

Your daily morning check-in on news and notes about and of interest to the New York Giants.

The news of the day: Almost everyone is a worthy target of blame and criticism around the 0-4 Giants, who open October as the most disappointing team in the NFL so far. Johnette Howard writes that Eli Manning's days of immunity from criticism may be coming to an end. That second Super Bowl MVP award bought Manning a lot of leeway, and the main problem this year is an offensive line that's not giving him a chance. But even Manning would admit he needs to be better than he's been this year.

Behind enemy lines: The Giants' next opponent is the Philadelphia Eagles, who haven't been any better than the Giants have since their season-opening victory over the Redskins and come in at 1-3. Phil Sheridan writes that a lack of good options in the passing game after top wideout DeSean Jackson is part of the problem.

Around the division: The Cowboys this week will be the latest team to try to at least compete with the red-hot Denver Broncos. If struggling cornerback Morris Claiborne can't play better, they're going to have a long day against Peyton Manning & Co.

Around the league: With Sean Payton returned from his suspension and the defense looking like part of the solution and not part of the problem anymore, the New Orleans Saints have returned to form as one of the best teams in the NFC.

New York Giants general manager Jerry Reese continues to decline interview requests through the team's media relations department. The Giants insist they are not the sort of franchise whose ownership and management-level leaders hold running commentary about the season, and their 0-4 start is not going to make them be who they are not. That's fine. I can respect that. I disagree, because I think it would constitute a public show of leadership and support if Reese and/or John Mara were to talk publicly at the end of this September. But that's their way of doing business, and you have to stay true to yourself. All good. Long as they don't mind if I keep asking.

This also allows us to write whatever we want to write about Reese and the way he assembled the 2013 Giants roster, because he's not taking the opportunity to present his side of any of it. So with that in mind, I hereby present my wholly objective opinions on five of the significant Giants roster decisions Reese made this offseason.

1. Releasing running back Ahmad Bradshaw

Why they did it: Cap room, and the belief that Bradshaw wouldn't be able to stay healthy enough to count on.

Were they wrong? No, not even in hindsight. Bradshaw's already hurt for the Colts, who have already spent their 2014 first-round pick on an upgrade. To look back now and call this a mistake would be an unjustified second-guess. It was time for the Giants and Bradshaw to part ways.

The impact: The problem is that Reese didn't work hard enough to replace Bradshaw (this is a recurring theme you'll see here). The thought was that second-year man David Wilson could be the primary ballcarrier and Andre Brown could handle pass-protection and goal-line duties. But Brown broke his leg in the preseason and Wilson fumbled twice in the opener, and the Giants were exposed as way too thin at running back with only Da'Rel Scott and Michael Cox on the bench. They had to go out and bring back Brandon Jacobs just to fill out the meeting room. Big mess. Where they really miss Bradshaw is in pass protection, where he's the best running back in the league at picking up the blitz. No matter who they brought in, it would have been tough for anyone to replace Bradshaw in that area. Brown was okay at it, but he has an extensive injury history that made him difficult to count on. Reese likely should have found a veteran pass-blocking back to fill out the roster in camp.

2. Signing Will Beatty to a five-year, $38.75 million contract.

Why they did it: The Giants gave Beatty his big deal right before free agency because they feared left tackles like Jake Long, Sebastian Vollmer and Andre Smith would push the tackle market through they roof. They had a 28-year-old who'd played well for them in 2012 and knew their system, and they got him on a cap-friendly deal before the market could act on him.

Were they wrong? Yes. The market for free-agent tackles didn't go where Reese expected it to go. Long broke the bank with the Rams, but Vollmer and Smith re-signed with their own teams for less than half of what Beatty got. And while those guys play right tackle and Beatty plays left, the difference is not what the contracts indicate. Had they waited, it turns out they likely could have had Beatty for less than they spent.

The impact: If Beatty plays like a franchise left tackle, as he did in 2012, the Giants won't regret the cost. But if he plays the way he's played so far this year -- overmatched physically and employing sloppy, inconsistent technique that's impossible for him to overcome -- then they have a long-term problem that would require him to be replaced and them to be overpaying a right tackle. Four games in, there's a question mark at a position that was supposed to be solved. And with the rest of the line looking like it needs to be addressed in the short- and long-term, that's no good. The issue on both lines is that there's too little in the pipeline -- that they haven't developed players to replace the ones they've lost. They paid Beatty as though he was the exception, and to this point he hasn't looked it.

3. Signing Victor Cruz to a five-year, $43 million contract.

Why they did it: They view Cruz as a special talent and a long-term piece of their puzzle -- a slot receiver capable of catching the ball anywhere on the field and going all the way with it. Eli Manning trusts him completely, and he's a huge part of why their passing game works.

Were they wrong? No. They stayed patient and waited while Cruz sat out offseason practices in the hope that they'd raise their offer. Ultimately, he came to them and accepted the deal at the team's preferred price. They got the player at the cost they wanted, and it helps them as they deal with wide receiver Hakeem Nicks' free agency this coming offseason. They'd have been in a tough spot if they'd had to make decisions on both of them in 2014.

The impact: Cruz was the best Giants player on the field Sunday in Kansas City. He has scored four of their seven touchdowns so far this year. The answer to the question "Where would they be without him?" is obviously exactly where they are right now at 0-4. But they'd be there with one less bright spot to offer any hope for improvement. Cruz is a keeper.

4. Replacing TE Martellus Bennett with Brandon Myers.

Why they did it: Bennett got a four-year, $20.4 million contract from the Bears. The Giants, who have started four different tight ends the last four years, view the position as replaceable. As soon as he was getting multi-year offers elsewhere, Bennett was a goner. Myers, who caught 79 passes for the Raiders a year ago, was the most enticing of the veteran options remaining on the market.

Were they wrong? Absolutely. Not in declining to outbid the Bears for Bennett but in the steps they took to replace him. Rather than bring in Myers, who's a receiving tight end who can't block, they should have focused on replacing some of the blocking ability of Bennett, who (like Bradshaw) grades out as one of the best blockers at his position in the NFL.

The impact: It's being felt most in the run game, where the Giants are getting no effective blocking whatsoever at the point of attack. The glaring example Sunday was the third-and-1 David Wilson run to the right side where he was behind three tight ends and all three of them got smoked and Wilson couldn't get the yard. Myers is what he is, and it's not a blocking tight end. The Giants need one, and especially with Bear Pascoe having to play fullback in place of the injured Henry Hynoski, they really don't have one.

5. Drafting Justin Pugh, Johnathan Hankins and Damontre Moore in the first three rounds.

Why they did it: Pugh was the Giants' first first-round offensive lineman since 1999, and they picked him not with the idea that he'd start at right tackle this year but because they knew they had long-term offensive line needs at multiple positions and they saw him as a guy who could play tackle or guard. Hankins is a defensive tackle, and at the time of the draft they didn't realize they had two veterans in Shaun Rogers and Mike Patterson who would make their team at that position. They felt they were getting thin there, and that Hankins could help as a rotational player in his first year and a long-term piece. Moore was a pass-rusher they felt dropped too far, given his talent and his college sack numbers. They believed he could infuse the pass rush immediately, helping replace what was lost with the free-agent departure of Osi Umenyiora.

Were they wrong? Well, it hasn't worked out as anticipated. Pugh is the starting right tackle because David Diehl got hurt. Hankins has been inactive for all four games because he's fifth on the depth chart at defensive tackle. And Moore, who missed most of August with a shoulder injury, has had an impact on special teams but not yet on the defense.

The impact: Pugh is learning on the job, and it's costing the Giants in pass protection. He shows some good and some bad, as all rookies do, and at this point it looks as though he might be better off moving inside to guard. But they're right to try him at tackle to find out. He's surely not their only problem right now on the line. Hankins is developing in practice, and there's no way to know what kind of pick he'll turn out to be. But with 2011 second-rounder Marvin Austin having flopped and with Linval Joseph eligible for free agency after this year, they need Hankins to be a hit. Moore looks fast and athletic and could be a bolt of energy to the flagging pass rush, but as is the case with Wilson at running back, the coaches are hesitant to play him. The 2013 draft hasn't helped very much, which it's not necessarily supposed to in 2013. But the way the picks were made indicated that the Giants expected at least some help from the early-round guys this year, and it's possible they won't get much of it.

Former Super Bowl-winning quarterback Joe Theismann is not that surprised that the Giants are 0-4.

Appearing on "The Mike Lupica Show" on ESPN NY 98.7 FM on Monday, Theismann said the team hasn't been that good in recent years, despite winning two Super Bowls.

"To be honest with you Mike, if you look at this football team over the three years you’re talking about, really the three years, even though they’ve won championships, they’re not that good a football team," Theismann said. "They’ve been inconsistent at the wide receiver position, whether it be by play or injury. The running back position has been suspect for quite a while, now you got guys putting the ball on the ground. Their defensive line has been hurt at times, and there’s been a great change there. And we know that their linebacking corps has been in flux, and their secondary has been average."

"Truthfully, Eli Manning has basically taken this football team on his shoulders over the last couple of years, and the success that they’ve been able to enjoy is because of the incredible way that he has played," Theismann added. "All of a sudden we see Eli struggling -- now you have to ask yourself if you’re a Giants fan, is this the real Giants football team, and I think the answer to that question is probably yes. Unless Eli plays at an incredible level, and protects the ball, then I think you’re basically stuck with what you see."

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- New York Giants safety Will Hill can return this week from his four-game suspension for violating the NFL Policy and Program for Substances of Abuse.

Hill told reporters back in July that he was suspended for repeatedly failing drug tests for marijuana.

The Giants have depth issues at safety. Starter Stevie Brown was lost for the season to a torn ACL in the preseason. The only other safety on the roster besides current starters Antrel Rolle and Ryan Mundy is rookie Cooper Taylor.

"He’s lifted (weights), he’s conditioned, he’s done all of that, so I really expect him to just be ready to practice," head coach Tom Coughlin said, regarding Hill.

MORE FOR MOORE? You can probably expect to see more of rookie defensive end Damontre Moore next Sunday against the Eagles.

In his opening remarks to the media Monday, Coughlin specifically lauded Moore for his contributions on special teams. When asked how close Moore is to becoming part of the Giants' pass-rusher rotation on defense, Coughlin replied, "Close."

In four games this season, the Giants have just four sacks, tied for the fewest in the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

VOTE OF CONFIDENCE: The Giants' offense is ranked just 22nd in total yards this season (1,302), and third-to-last in points per game (15.3). But Coughlin expressed confidence in his coaching staff on Monday.

"I’m very confident in our offensive coaches. They’ve proven that over the years. We’re all going like this," Coughlin said, scratching his head. "'Why aren’t our results better than they are,' and we’ll spend a solid week trying to figure that out again, and as much as I can be involved, I will, but I do have some other issues as well."

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- New York Giants starting defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins was wearing a protective walking boot on his lower right leg Monday in the Giants locker room, a day after the team's 31-7 loss to the Chiefs.

When asked to describe the injury, Jenkins said, "I think just a little tendon something, knee and Achilles. ... Hopefully like I said, just a couple days, get this thing treated, and get back going."

Head coach Tom Coughlin did not have further updates yet on the other players injured against the Chiefs. Defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul (knee) and cornerbacks Aaron Ross (back) and Jayron Hosley (hamstring) all left the game early and did not return, plus linebacker Mark Herzlich was wearing a walking boot after the game due to a toe injury.

The same goes for starting center David Baas (neck) and right guard Chris Snee (hip), who sat out Sunday's game. "I’m waiting to hear on those kinds of things," Coughlin said. "The treatment is being conducted today as usual. We’ll see."

Jim Cordle and James Brewer started for Snee and Baas, respectively. Cordle was making his first NFL regular-season start, while Brewer was making his second.

"They played against a very good front and, for the most part, they did a good job," Coughlin said. "We did have a holding penalty up there and there were some occasions where we could have obviously done a better job or finished a block better than we did. They scrapped and I was pleased with what they accomplished. I wish obviously, it would have been perfect, but they did OK."

An examination of four hot issues from the New York Giants' 31-7 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs:

The fourth-down call: The initial call was first down -- that the Giants had converted a third-and-17 with a pass from Eli Manning to Victor Cruz over the middle. But the Chiefs challenged the call and won, which brought up fourth down and less than a yard to go for the Giants on their own 30-yard line. With 1:55 left in the third quarter and the Giants trailing just 10-7, Giants coach Tom Coughlin decided to punt instead of going for it. "If I would have gone for it on fourth down and didn't make it at that point in the game, it would have been a foolish error," Coughlin said, and he was right. He'd effectively have been handing the Chiefs at least three points. But it says a lot about where the Giants are with their offense, making Coughlin's call the obvious and easy decision. Coughlin talked about the offense being unable to get into a rhythm, and perhaps if he felt it was, he'd make a different call there. But given how tough it's been for the Giants to gain yards, this was an easy decision. It just looked really bad when Dexter McCluster ran the punt back 89 yards for a touchdown.

On a related note: Earlier in the third quarter, the Giants had a third-and-1 at their own 45 and called a play on which running back David Wilson bounced out to the right behind three tight ends. But none of the tight ends could make a single block to free Wilson, who was tackled for no gain, and the Giants had to punt then too. Just another example of an offense that has no reason to feel it can get a yard when it needs to get one. The Giants were 1-for-14 on third downs.

Looks like a misprint, but isn't: The official stat sheet shows the Giants 0-for-0 on red zone attempts, and it's true. They didn't run a single play that began inside the Chiefs' 20-yard line. Other than Cruz's 69-yard touchdown catch, the closest they got to the end zone all day was the 26, from which Josh Brown missed a field goal at the end of the first half. Only eight of the Giants' 61 offensive snaps came in Kansas City territory.

How about the defense? The Giants did force three turnovers from a Chiefs team that had none in the first three weeks. But where's the pressure? Their one "sack" was a Spencer Paysinger tackle of Alex Smith at the line of scrimmage on a Smith scramble. They hit Smith just three times all game. Jason Pierre-Paul has one sack in his last 11 games. When the Giants don't pressure the quarterback -- and it's been quite some time -- they have a poor defense.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The New York Giants trailed the Kansas City Chiefs by just three points when they decided not to go for it on fourth-and-inches on their own 30-yard line, and Dexter McCluster made them pay with an 89-yard punt-return touchdown. That put the Chiefs up 17-7, and there's little doubt that it shook the Giants. But more than one Giants player in the postgame locker room said it was the next Chiefs drive that really felt like a gut punch. That came after a Steve Weatherford punt into the end zone at the very end of the third quarter.

The Chiefs got the ball on their own 20-yard line and drove 80 yards in 14 plays that stretched over 9 minutes, 17 seconds and effectively ended the game by building a 17-point lead over a punchless Giants offense. Alex Smith converted a third-and-5 with a pass to McCluster at the Kansas City 30. Later in the drive, the Giants appeared to have held the Chiefs to a 53-yard field goal, only to be called for an illegal-formation penalty that resulted in a drive-saving first down. Rookie Damontre Moore appeared to be the Giant responsible, as special-teams coordinator Tom Quinn chewed him out on the sideline. The drive culminated in a 2-yard touchdown pass from Smith to Jamaal Charles on third-and-goal, and when it ended the Giants had less than six minutes to make up 17 points with an offense that couldn't make anything happen all day.

After the game, the Giants felt decent about their defensive performance, but the Chiefs drive that opened and consumed the bulk of the fourth quarter epitomized a Giants team that can't make anything positive happen so far this season. They can't keep asking the defense to hold, especially if it refuses to pressure quarterbacks.

Your daily morning check-in on news and notes about and of interest to the New York Giants

The news of the day: The Giants were horrible, again, in a 31-7 loss to the Chiefs in Kansas City. They are 0-4 for the first time in 26 years and the first time in the Tom Coughlin/Eli Manning era, and quite frankly they haven't even seriously threatened to win any of their four games. The only positive thing you can say about the Giants right now is that they might have a chance to beat the Jaguars on a neutral field, but I honestly don't know how confident you can be about that. The glass-half-full view is that the division-leading Cowboys are only 2-2, and that the division remains within reach if the Giants ever start winning games. But they're so far from winning any games at all right now, I don't even know how you give them the 7-5 finish they would need to get into the 2010 NFC West tiebreaker. I think this is a complete flatline, and that it's time for the Giants to start thinking about who can and can't help them in 2014 and beyond.

Behind enemy lines: The game-changing play was a brilliant, multiple-ankle-breaking punt return touchdown by Kansas City's Dexter McCluster, a speedy waterbug of a player for whom the Chiefs seem to have been waiting for a while. With victories already over the Cowboys, Eagles and Giants, new Chiefs coach Andy Reid is 3-0 against the NFC East this year after going just 1-5 against the NFC East last year in his final season as coach of the Eagles.

Around the division: The Cowboys gave one away on the road in San Diego and whiffed on a chance to grab control of the division race. The Eagles became the latest team to be completely humiliated by Peyton Manning and the Broncos. The only team in the division that won Sunday was the Redskins, who picked up their first win of the season by beating the Raiders with a little help from the pass rush. The NFC East has a combined record of 4-12 and no team with a winning record, but only one of the four teams in the division is still winless.

Around the league: I will be looking at my Power Rankings ballot later on Monday, and I have to say, it's a tough call at the top. I've voted for Seattle the past two weeks, and they remain 4-0 and haven't done anything to cost themselves the spot. Coming back from 20-3 down at halftime to win on the road in Houston seems like a best-team-in-the-league thing to do. Do you like the Seahawks at No. 1? Or the Broncos, who have outscored their opponents by a combined total of 88 points in four games? Denver has just one road win to Seattle's two, and Denver's opponents are a combined 4-12 while Seattle's are 5-10, so that's not much help... tough call.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Had he been in a joking mood, New York Giants wide receiver Hakeem Nicks might have explained his own disappointing performance in Sunday's 31-7 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs by pointing out that Eli Manning can't catch the passes himself. After being targeted only once last week, Nicks dropped a couple of catchable balls this week and took ownership of his own role in the loss that dropped the Giants to 0-4 for the season.

"Definitely, on my end, I felt like I could have come down with two or three that I didn't come down with," Nicks said. "That's on me, and I know I have to play better. As an offense, I know we can play better. It wasn't that long ago we were all out there making big plays. I still believe we will bounce back."

And the truth is they probably will. The Giants' skill-position players on offense are very talented. The line is awful right now, but offensive lines have a way of improving as the season goes along. And next week's opponent is the Philadelphia Eagles, whose defense is far more vulnerable than those against which the Giants have played their first four games. Nicks and the Giants are justified in thinking things will get better for the offense, if for no other reason than they can't get worse.

Where Nicks is wrong, though, is in his expectation of what "bounce back" means. Inside the Giants' locker room, as there should be, remains hope that something can still be made of this season. They are professionals, still getting paid, and they will continue to work and believe until the math tells them to stop.

But the long view says it's over, before October has even hit. Only one team ever has made the playoffs after an 0-4 start. The Giants right now have so many problems at so many positions that it's impossible to imagine them replicating the 1992 Chargers' 11-1 finish. And even if the NFC East persists in its top-end mediocrity of the past three seasons and can be won with eight or nine wins, and even if the Giants could go 8-4 the rest of the way and pull off something like that, it only would obscure their larger problems. This is a team in need of major work. And with this season lost, it's time for the Giants to start thinking about 2014 and beyond.

So, yeah, Nicks might "bounce back" and post big numbers the rest of the way. He's a talented-enough player to do it, and if he did, it wouldn't be a surprise. But the Giants are going to be watching very closely to see whether he can, or whether the leg injuries of the past few seasons have diminished him as a player. The Giants are going to have a decision to make on Nicks, who's a pending free agent. The final 12 games of this season are a chance for him to show he's healthy enough to deserve the big-money deal he wants.

And he's not the only one. The Giants are going to have offseason decisions to make on decorated veterans such as Justin Tuck, Chris Snee, Corey Webster and Antrel Rolle. And while some of those decisions seem obvious from here, it's not crazy to think they could be affected one way or the other by what those players show in terms of health and productivity over the final 12 games of this season.

They have a decision looming not long from now on Jason Pierre-Paul, who has one sack in his past 11 games. The Giants still believe Pierre-Paul is a special-enough talent to be a foundation piece for their defense. But if he continues to languish through the final three-quarters of this season the way he has since the midpoint of last season, they may find themselves re-evaluating that assessment.

They are stuck with Victor Cruz (who's playing great) and Will Beatty, but the performances of those players in the next 12 games could help them determine how much and what sort of help the team needs to find at their positions next spring. If Beatty, for example, doesn't play like a franchise left tackle (and to this point, he certainly has not), do they think about drafting one next year and using Beatty on the right side (and Justin Pugh at guard) long-term? Personally, I think they need to give David Wilson the ball as their feature back the rest of the season and find out whether he's a keeper or whether they need to find someone there, too.

And, yes, of course, there are coaches to evaluate. Tom Coughlin gets to coach the team as long as he wants, and he's earned that right. But it's entirely possible the performance of the team over the final 12 games could cause Coughlin and/or Giants management to re-evaluate the coordinators and other assistants. The Giants prefer to wait until the end of the season to make those decisions, and with no obvious replacements on staff, one has to believe offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride and defensive coordinator Perry Fewell get these final three months to keep the team convinced they're the right men for their respective jobs.

Manning is 32 years old, so there's plenty of window left for him. Heck, his brother is 37 and making a mockery of the league. The questions are about what kind of team the Giants can put around him, and how quickly they can retool at the most important spots. The issues on the offensive and defensive lines are the result of a failure to develop replacements for aging veterans, and now general manager Jerry Reese and the front office have two things to do: figure out which current members of the team look like important parts of its future, and then go out and find replacements for the ones who don't. That's a bitter realization for a team on Sept. 29, but that's where the Giants are, and that's what they have to do.