By Christopher Reina The scoreboard is where games are officially won and lost, but they are largely decided by the team that wins the battles of yards per pass, yards per carry, penalty yards lost, first downs, and turnovers. For this reason, I created the following formula called the ?Trench Counter? to look at which team truly controls the game: (2x Yards per pass) + (2x Yards per carry) + (.5 First downs) - (Penalty yards/10) - (2.5 Turnovers) - (Opposing Team's Trench Counter) Click here for more information on the Trench Counter For the 2008 season, our weekly team rankings will be based solely off of this formula. The sample size is small, so if this were a subjective rankings, I (along with everyone else who watches football for a living or not) would have the Cowboys atop this list. They have clearly been the NFL's most explosive and well-balanced team and have knocked off two very good football teams in the Eagles and Packers. I would also not have the Ravens, 49ers, and Falcons ranked so highly. But for teams with poor records (Minnesota and San Diego), their rankings in the top half are a good indicator of the quality of their teams. As each week goes by, I guarantee this purely objective ranking system will prove to be more and more true. 1. Baltimore Ravens: 12.4 The Ravens are allowing 72.5 fewer yards per game than the next best defense in the NFL but still haven't scored a TD in the air. 2. Philadelphia Eagles: 10.7 The Eagles are extremely high on this list despite their loss at Dallas and just 3.2 yards per carry as a team. 3. San Francisco 49ers: 9.6 With J.T. O'Sullivan at quarterback, the 49ers are averaging 9.4 yards per pass attempt, just behind Dallas among NFC leaders. Frank Gore has caught all 13 balls thrown his way. 4. New York Giants: 8.8 Even without Osi Umenyiora and Michael Strahan, the Giants are averaging better than four sacks per game. 5. Pittsburgh Steelers: 8.3 The Steelers are +5 on takeaways, which is tied with the Redskins for the NFL lead. 6. Tennessee Titans 8.3 The Titans have allowed just 29 points all season (best point differential in the NFL), and Cortland Finnegan has three interceptions while Michael Griffin has three of his own. 7. Atlanta Falcons 7.8 John Abraham leads the NFL with six sacks. 8. Denver Broncos: 7.7 The Broncos haven't had a 100-yard rusher in any game, but Selvin Young is averaging 6.9 YPC while Andre Hall is averaging 5.1. 9. Buffalo Bills: 6.6 Perry Fewell's defense has allowed a first down on third down just 17.9% of the time, the best in the NFL. They've tackled better than a year ago, and Marcus Stroud has made a big difference on their front four. 10. Washington Redskins: 6.4 Santana Moss is one pace for 1,433 yards, just shy of the 1,483 he posted during his first season in Washington back in 2005, the last time he had a 1,000-yard season. 11. Arizona Cardinals: 6.3 The Cardinals have remained in Virginia this week ahead of their Week 4 matchup against the Jets. With 4.0 yards per carry, Edgerrin James is trying to keep out of the 3's for the first time in Arizona. 12. Dallas Cowboys 6.2 This should be the week Dallas moves up significantly against a Redskins' team that will have difficulty stopping the run tandem of Marion Barber and Felix Jones. 13. Minnesota Vikings: 6.0 The Vikings are clearly better than what their 1-2 record indicates, but the Titans are an extremely difficult match-up for their offense, especially if they continue to not use Adrian Peterson at all as a receiver.. 14. San Diego Chargers: 4.4 Darren Sproles is averaging twice as many yards per carry as LaDainian Tomlinson. 15. Chicago Bears: 1.6 Danieal Manning has been the better kickoff return man for the Bears, averaging 27 yards to Devin Hester's 120, including a long of 46. 16. Miami Dolphins: -0.1 Ronnie Brown has a 158.3 passer rating with his 19-yard TD pass to Anthony Fasano. 17. Green Bay Packers -0.2 A.J. Hawk has 26 tackles and two sacks while Charles Woodson and Al Harris have combined for 11 pass deflections. 18. Carolina Panthers: -0.8 Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams should have an easier time against Atlanta's run defense than they did in Minnesota (2.4 yards per carry). 19. Seattle Seahawks: -1.4 The best thing to happen to Seattle this week - Plaxico Burress' suspension for their Week 5 game. 20. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: -1.9 Forty-six of the Buccaneers' first downs have come by way of the pass. 21. New York Jets: -4.5 The Jets are -4 on giveaway/takeaways, the worst in the AFC. 22. New Orleans Saints: -4.8 The speed of Patrick Willis will be the biggest obstacle standing in the way of another big day for Reggie Bush on Sunday. 23. New England Patriots: -5.2 Matt Cassel is clearly not Tom Brady, that much is clear already, but the offensive line of 2008 is also a long way off from how it protected their quarterback in 2007. 24. Indianapolis Colts: -5.3 Picking up the slack for Bob Sanders, Freddie Keiaho, the SDSU product, leads the NFL with 23 solo tackles. But the 236 yards allowed by the Colts against Jacksonville is inexcusable even without Sanders. 25. Houston Texans: -5.8 The Texans were 1-for-6 in the red zone while the Titans went a perfect 4-for-4, both numbers make winning football games extremely difficult, if not impossible. 26. Jacksonville Jaguars: -6.1 In order for the Jaguars to go to 2-2, they must get a good game out of David Garrard because Houston will try to take away the run, something they're skilled at. 27. Oakland Raiders: -7.1 Raiders' receivers have already lost four fumbles, something nobody can blame on Lane Kiffin. 28. Cincinnati Bengals: -8.2 Ohio will finally get a win on Sunday, unless there is a tie. 29. Kansas City Chiefs: -8.3 Larry Johnson averaged 5.0 yards per carry against the Falcons in Week 3, something he didn't do at all in 2007 and something he hasn't done in back-to-back games since 2005 against Dallas and the Giants. In order for the Chiefs to keep up with the Broncos' offense, he'll need that kind of day again. 30. Detroit Lions: -13.8 When I was walking to the elevator up to the press box its doors were about to close, and I saw Matt Millen standing right in the middle of it. I could have sped up my walk to catch that elevator, but I saw William Clay Ford Jr. 31. Cleveland Browns: -15.0 Derek Anderson threw for five touchdowns against the Bengals in September and four interceptions against them again in December. If the latter Anderson shows up in Cincinnati against a pass rush that gives quarterbacks a ton of time to throw the ball, then it could be the end of Anderson and the beginning of Quinn. 32. St. Louis Rams: -20.4 The Rams are 87 points in the whole through just three games in 2008.