NFL Power Rankings, Week 6

Last week's rankings generated much passionate contempt, which resulted in a delightfully high number of page views for my account. Despite this, I yielded to the trolls because sadly, they were right. My previous formula took into account the entire previous season (meaning data from week five, 2008 up until week four, 2009), which resulted in a set of rankings that no one really seemed to appreciate, myself included. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but obviously, any formula that ranks a winless team in the top ten is ill conceived.

These rankings no longer care about last season. It was also particularly clear that no one was reading my analysis, which was much more accurate than the actual rankings, so I decided merely to give everyone what they wanted and post the rankings uncommented. I will include Tuesday Morning Quarterback's (Gregg Easterbrook) stats of the week, because I find them very interesting.

1. New Orleans Saints (4-0)

2. New York Giants (5-0)

"Oakland at Jersey/A pitted the last-ranked offense against the first-ranked defence; the Raiders were held to 124 total yards." (TMQ)

3. Denver Broncos (5-0)

4. Indianapolis Colts (5-0)

"Indianapolis is on a 14-1 run, with its sole loss an overtime defeat in which it never got the ball in the extra session." (TMQ)

5. Minnesota Vikings (5-0)

"Minnesota has won six consecutive road games." (TMQ)

6. Philadelphia Eagles (3-1)

7. New England Patriots (3-2)

"Tom Brady is 1-5 in regular-season games against Denver; he has a winning regular-season record against every other team." (TMQ)

8. Baltimore Ravens (3-2)

9. Pittsburgh Steelers (3-2)

10. Cincinnati Bengals (4-1)

"Cedric Benson became the first running back in 39 games to rush for at least 100 yards against Baltimore... Cincinnati went 14 quarters without scoring an offensive touchdown -- then scored two in the second half against Baltimore." (TMQ)

11. Dallas Cowboys (3-2)

"Miles Austin, undrafted out of Monmouth, not only had 250 yards receiving, he did so in his first NFL start." (TMQ)

12. New York Jets (3-2)

13. Atlanta Falcons (3-1)

14. Chicago Bears (3-1)

15. San Francisco 49ers (3-2)

16. Miami Dolphins (2-3)

"A total of 29 players handled the ball -- running, passing or receiving -- on offensive snaps in the Jets-Dolphins game Monday." (TMQ)

17. Seattle Seahawks (2-3)

18. San Diego Chargers (2-2)

19. Arizona Cardinals (2-2)

20. Green Bay Packers (2-2)

21. Houston Texans (2-3)

22. Washington Redskins (2-3)

23. Jacksonville Jaguars (2-3)

24. Buffalo Bills (1-4)

"Buffalo held Cleveland to nine first downs, 22 yards passing and a quarterback passer rating of 15.1 -- and lost." (TMQ)

25. Detroit Lions (1-4)

26. Carolina Panthers (1-3)

27. Tennessee Titans (0-5)

28. Cleveland Browns (1-4)

29. Oakland Raiders (1-4)

30. Kansas City Chiefs (0-5)

31. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-5)

32. St. Louis Rams (0-5)

"St. Louis staged three drives that reached inside the Minnesota 10-yard line yet resulted in no points." (TMQ)

Source: TMQ at espn.com