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 2009 season, our weekly team rankings will be based solely off this formula. 1. New York Giants: 16.0 The Giants now have a narrow lead in our rankings thanks to their 44-7 win over Oakland, which produced a +36.2 in the Trench Counter column. I've knocked Eli Manning frequently in the past as being a quarterback who has relied on his running game and defense, but he is neck and neck with his brother Peyton in terms of passer rating (111.7 vs. 114.1) and he has thrown 10 touchdowns to just two interceptions. 2. New Orleans Saints: 15.8 With proof the Saints are more than just an air attack, Drew Brees ranks 10th in yards per game. They also have the ability to get right back into the top slot when they host the Giants. 3. Denver Broncos: 12.8 The Broncos have allowed just 8.6 points per game, which is a bigger difference from the second ranked Colts (14.2) than the 17th ranked Dolphins are going the other way. Elvis Dumervil's eight sacks already surpasses his 2008 total of five. Any chance the Broncos and Giants are both undefeated still when they meet in Week 12? 4. Indianapolis Colts: 11.4 Austin Collie leads all rookies in receptions and touchdowns. 5. Minnesota Vikings: 7.7 Brett Favre had a 101.4 rating in his 24 pass attempts while Tarvaris Jackson proved he still has a pulse with a 3-for-3 for 68 yards in garbage time. 6. Philadelphia Eagles: 7.4 Rookie LeSean McCoy has rushed for 162 yards on 40 carries to give Philadelphia a steady 4.1 yards per carry average. Fellow rookie Jeremy Maclin has caught 12 balls for 187 yards and two touchdowns. 7. Green Bay Packers: 5.6 The Packers hope the bye week will lead to a regeneration of their offensive line. 8. Baltimore Ravens: 5.1 The Ravens narrowly were defeated by Cincinnati, but were a disappointing -13.5 in the Trench Counter category due to being -10 in 1st downs and -2.8 in yards per pass attempt. 9. Seattle Seahawks: 3.3 The Seahawks are 2-0 in games finished by Matt Hasselbeck, who is one of eight quarterbacks with a passer rating over 100. Seattle has logged shutouts in two games already for the first time since 1986. 10. Pittsburgh Steelers: 2.7 Santonio Holmes has caught 23 passes and an amazing 22 of them have been for first downs 11. Dallas Cowboys: 2.4 Miles Austin logged over 36% of his career receiving yards in Sunday's overtime win at Kansas City. The Cowboys are also 3-0 when Tony Romo doesn't throw an interception this season and 12-2 for his career. 12. New England Patriots: 2.3 Randy Moss caught as many balls on offense (one for 36 yards) as he did on defense (intercepting the halftime Hail Mary). 13. New York Jets: 2.0 Mark Sanchez completed just 50% of his passes, frequently zeroing in on new weapon Braylon Edwards. 14. San Francisco 49ers: 1.9 Shaun Hill is a fine quarterback when games are close, but bad things will happen when the 49ers go into the locker room at halftime trailing 35-10. Hill had to air it out and he finished the game with a 45.7 passer rating, his worst mark since becoming San Francisco's starter. 15. Atlanta Falcons: 1.8 The bye week had to help Michael Turner, who busted out with three touchdowns and a 4.4 yards per carry average, his first game over 4.0 this season. Atlanta was 7-0 in 2008 when he averaged better than four yards per carry. 16. Cincinnati Bengals: 1.2 A big reason why the Bengals have been so successful is the shocking consistency of Cedric Benson, who leads the NFL in yards per game with 97.4, ahead of heavyweights like Adrian Peterson, Chris Johnson and Steven Jackson. What is interesting about the Bengals and potentially concerning down the road is how they have been winning despite pedestrian numbers from Carson Palmer, who is 24th in passer rating with a mark of 76.9 and has just seven touchdowns to six interceptions. I wish the Bengals could be higher than this, but they had negative Trench Counter's in their first two games (including the Green Bay win) and minuscule advantages in their wins against Pittsburgh and Cleveland. 17. Houston Texans: 1.0 Andre Johnson and Owen Daniels had 101 and 94 yards receiving respectively on Sunday despite another atrocious ground game for Houston. 18. Chicago Bears: -0.2 Lovie Smith and Jerry Angelo reclined and enjoyed their bye week trying to figure out why Cedric Benson was never able to run the ball for the Bears like that. 19. Washington Redskins: -0.2 The Redskins became the victim of Carolina's first 2009 win despite finishing with a +1.3 in the Trench Counter. 20. Arizona Cardinals: -2.8 The Cardinals are now 7-4 when Larry Fitzgerald catches at least two touchdown passes, snapping a one-game losing streak in such scenarios stemming from Super Bowl XLIII. 21. Buffalo Bills: -2.8 The Bills offensive line has been painfully porous, giving up 18 sacks for a total loss of 104 yards. 22. Jacksonville Jaguars: -3.0 The Jaguars were shutout on Sunday for the first time since the 2004 season. 23. Miami Dolphins: -3.1 Given the way Miami runs the ball, Chad Henne was hugely impressive in the 4th quarter, especially on the Ten Ginn 53-yard TD bomb and a couple key completions to Greg Camarillo. Henne finished the game with a 130.4 passer rating and going a long way to prove the Dolphins may not have erred in taking Jake Long over Matt Ryan. 24. San Diego Chargers: -3.4 The Chargers have had two weeks to let the A.J. Smith, Shawne Merriman feud fester. 25. Tennessee Titans: -4.3 The Titans have averaged an AFC best 5.3 yards per game and still are searching for their first win. 26. Carolina Panthers: -7.8 The Panthers have dropped from third in rushing yards per game to 23rd. 27. Kansas City Chiefs: -8.1 The Chiefs remain awful on 3rd down, with success in just 14 of their 68 attempts. 28. Detroit Lions: -8.3 Daunte Culpepper had a respectable 83.4 passer rating in Detroit's narrow loss to the Steelers, who were returning to the scene of their Super Bowl XL victory for the first time. 29. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: -10.1 Jimmy Wilkerson wasted a career game in Tampa Bay's loss at Philadelphia, logging three sacks and a forced fumble. 30. Cleveland Browns: -11.1 Mohamed Massaquoi's experiment as Braylon Edwards' official replacement got off to a slow start in Buffalo as he caught just one ball for 16 yards. 31. St. Louis Rams: -13.7 The Rams have scored just 6.8 points per game 32. Oakland Raiders: -18.2 Number one reason why I need to release my first season FIC for 2009? Passer rating doesn't include fumbles, which makes JaMarcus Russell's 85.4 passer rating look good as it doesn't count for his three lost fumbles.