As we wrap up the preseason power rankings with only 15 hours or so left in the preseason (excluding the fact that, you know, one game already has been played), it’s down to the last two.

And at No. 2 are the defending Super Bowl champs, the New York Giants.

We initially were going to rank them lower, but then we remembered that this is a starting point, not a predicted finish.  They aren’t No. 1 under that same reasoning, however, because even though they scored more points than the Patriots in the Super Bowl the Giants were the better team, and the Giants in their hearts likely know it.

Their season was so-so.  They started 0-2, giving up 80 points.  They next won six in a row, but they fattened up on teams like the Falcons, 49ers, and Dolphins, whom the Giants beat by only three points. 

The Giants went 4-4 over the second half of the season, including three home losses by more than ten points each.

In all, the Giants were 3-5 at Giants Stadium last year — surely one of the rare times (if not the only time) that a Super Bowl champion lost more games in its home venue than it won.

But they got hot at the right time, and they deserve to be No. 2 heading into the 2008 season.  Making their story even more compelling is the simple fact that they weren’t the best team in the NFL last year — and almost definitely won’t be the best team this year, either.