The New York Giants put a whipping on the New Orleans Saints on Sunday and now the defending Super Bowl champions have their swagger back.

We’re not sure if knocking out the downtrodden Saints should make you all puffy-chested right now, but the Giants are walking tall.

To wit, defensive end Osi Umenyiora, in an interview on ESPN 98.7, said “when the Giants are playing our best, there's no question we're the best team in football.”

In fairness, Umenyiora had been asked if the New England Patriots, after their dismantling of the Houston Texans on Monday night, are the NFL’s best team at this point, according to Jorge Castillo of the Newark Star-Ledger.

“We've just been inconsistent,” Umenyiora said. “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."

We’ll see where this ends up. The Giants, at 8-5, have a one-game lead in the NFC East on the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins. New York was 7-6 a year ago when it went on a run that carried through the Super Bowl.

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Brad Biggs covers the Bears for the Chicago Tribune