After their dominating 42-14 win over the Houston Texans on Monday night, most experts, analysts and fans are calling the New England Patriots the best team in football. Osi Umenyiora agrees that no team is playing better than the Patriots right now, but he still feels as though the New York Giants are the team to beat.
“When the Giants are playing our best, there’s no question we’re the best team in football,” Umenyiora told ESPN 98.7 on Tuesday, via the Star-Ledger. “We’ve just been inconsistent. So if we can play the way we’re capable of playing – the way we played against San Francisco, the way we played against Green Bay, the way we played against the Saints for the majority of the game – I don’t think there’s a team that’s better than us at all.”
The Giants are the reining Super Bowl champions, so technically they are still the team to beat until the trophy changes hands. In terms of going head-to-head with New England, history certainly tells us New York has the edge. That being said, consistent play is one of the factors that determines who the best team in football is. The Giants have been able to get hot at the right time in past seasons, and they’ll have to do it again this year as they have just a one-game lead over the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins in the NFC East.
We know the Giants hardly lack confidence and love to let everyone know about it. They have proven they can beat the NFL’s best teams when they play their best football, but that can be said about a lot of teams. If the G-Men don’t find that consistency of which Umenyiora speaks over the last three games of the season, they may not have a chance to defend their title in January and February.
H/T Pro Football Talk
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