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 Orleans Saints: 10.7 After a one week intermission, the Saints have reclaimed the top spot with their 38-7 (+16.4 Trench Counter) thrashing of the Buccaneers. The Saints rushed for 183 yards and two Mike Bell touchdowns while keeping rookie Josh Freeman to a 33.1 passer rating day. 2. Indianapolis Colts: 9.6 I love the balance of the Colts air game these days; Pierre Garcon, Reggie Wayne and Tom Santi each had 80 or more yards on Sunday. That trio of course doesn't include Dallas Clark, who was held by the Baltimore linebackers to his lowest reception output (one reception) since Opening Night of 2008 against Chicago. He did, however, score a touchdown with that lone reception. 3. New England Patriots: 9.0 The Jets neutralized Randy Moss again on Sunday, but having Wes Welker healthy in the rematch made all the difference, as he caught 15 balls for 192 yards. He is projected to finish the season with an astonishing 126 receptions. 4. Minnesota Vikings: 7.2 Brett Favre had a near perfect, 22-for-25, four TD, zero interception day, but somehow his 141.7 passer rating wasn't as good as Tavaris Jackson's 144.3 during his own eight attempts. While Adrian Peterson rushed for a pedestrian 82 yards on 24 carries, Minnesota's defense held Justin Forsett to nine yards on nine carries. 5. Green Bay Packers: 7.2 With Sunday's win, the Packers improved to 3-0 when Greg Jennings has over 100 yards receiving. 6. Pittsburgh Steelers: 6.8 Super Bowl teams don't lose to the Chiefs under any circumstances, but there were enough flukish occurrences to excuse the loss. Hines Ward finished with over 100 yards for the fourth time this season and 24th for his career; the veteran receiver has never had five 100 yard games in a single season. 7. New York Giants: 4.4 The difference between the 2009 Giants and the 2008 edition continues to be on the ground, where they averaged just 2.4 yards per rush on Sunday and were fortunately bailed out by Eli Manning's 384 yards. 8. San Diego Chargers: 4.4 The Chargers have now won five in a row since the 23-34 loss at home on Monday night to Denver in Week 6. They host Kansas City this week and then travel to Cleveland the next, which should assure them of traveling to Dallas in an attempt to extend the streak in Week 14 to eight games. 9. Cincinnati Bengals: 3.5 Bernard Scott filled in very well for the injured Cedric Benson, rushing for 119 yards on 21 carries (5.7 average), but the Bengals gave up 10 points in just a matter of seconds in the 4th quarter. Cincinnati is now 0-10 while playing in Oakland. 10. Philadelphia Eagles: 3.3 LeSean McCoy proved himself to be more than adequate in replacing Brian Westbrook, rushing for a career high 99 yards during his second 20 rushing attempt game. 11. Dallas Cowboys: 3.3 The Cowboys were just 3-for-11 on 3rd down, while allowing Washington to convert seven of their 15 opportunities. Dallas is ranked 17th in 3rd down percentage this season, down from their ninth rank showing in 2008. They are ranked 12th defensively in 3rd down situations, which isn't too significantly off of their eighth ranked finish a season ago. 12. Baltimore Ravens: 2.5 The Ravens returned the Colts ground game to the anemic 3.0 yards per rush version, but they gave up 9.6 yards per Peyton Manning pass (in spite of the two interceptions). Most importantly, the Ravens went 0-for-4 in the red zone. 13. Denver Broncos: 1.7 Denver is just barely hanging on the positive side of the Trench Counter. The Broncos rushed for 6.8 yards per carry against San Diego, but were 0-for-4 in the red zone and were -3 in turnover differential. 14. Arizona Cardinals: 1.6 The Cardinals suddenly have a potent running game, which will be an invaluable element they were missing in the playoffs last season. Tim Hightower and Benie Wells rushed for 110 yards and 74 yards respectively, while the team combined for a 6.1 yards per carry average. 15. Houston Texans: 1.6 The Texans desperately needed a win in their rare national television appearance on Monday, but were undone by LenDale White's second touchdown of the season and two 50-yarders from Rob Bironas. 16. Jacksonville Jaguars: 0.7 With three consecutive victories, the Jaguars now are in second place all by themselves behind the Colts in the AFC South despite a -36 season point differential. 17. San Francisco 49ers: 0.0 I don't believe it is necessarily a coincidence as much as a symptom of playing behind, but Veron Davis has scored seven of his eight touchdowns and 470 of his 601 yards during San Francisco losses. 18. Miami Dolphins: -0.1 This third act of Ricky Williams' career has been nothing short of extraordinary. He is rushing for a 5.3 yards per carry average, which beats out his 4.8 per carry average when he led the NFL in yards with 1,853 during the 2002 season. 19. Atlanta Falcons: -0.3 With Michael Turner shelved, Matt Ryan kept Atlanta in the game and took care of the ball for the first time since Week 3 by not throwing a single interception. 20. Washington Redskins: -0.5 The Redskins will limp out the rest of the season, or at least the next week or so with Rock Cartwight getting carries at running back. He averaged a respectable 5.2 yards per carry and also caught seven balls for 73 yards in Washington's loss at Dallas on Sunday. 21. New York Jets: -1.5 Thomas Jones rushed for 421 yards and five TDs on 74 attempts in October, while behind held to 282 yards and one TD on 69 November attempts. 22. Seattle Seahawks: -1.9 I have continuously liked Seattle as a sleeper, but they realistically needed to get a win either at Arizona or Minnesota (more importantly Arizona because of the potential NFC West tiebreaker) to have a realistic playoff shot. They could very conceivably run the table over their final six (at St. Louis, 49ers, at Houston, Buccaneers, at Green Bay, Titans) and finish 9-7, but they would need a ton of help from the teams who play Arizona including Detroit in Week 15 and St. Louis in Week 16. 23: Carolina Panthers: -2.4 DeAngelo Williams continued another late season surge by rushing for a season-best 9.4 yards per carry, but the Panthers still lost 17-24 to Miami at home. 24. Buffalo Bills: -2.4 The Bills had to travel to a sparse Jacksonville Stadium to get their first legitimate Terrell Owens spotting, as the receiver caught nine balls for 197 yards including a 98-yard TD. 25. Chicago Bears: -2.7 Matt Forte's sophomore struggles remain ubiquitous, particularly in light of Kahlil Bell's 81 yards on four carries. 26. Tennessee Titans: -4.9 Vince Young now has a 95.5 passer rating during the month of November, all wins for Tennessee. 27. Kansas City Chiefs: -5.1 Despite the Dwayne Bowe suspension, Matt Cassel had his best game in a Kansas City uniform in Sunday's overtime win over Pittsburgh, finishing with a 100.4 passer rating. 28. Detroit Lions: -8.6 Matthew Stafford had his first 100+ passer rating game in Sunday's thrilling victory against Cleveland. He is now 2-6 as a starting quarterback in the NFL. 29. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: -8.8 With Tampa Bay's decision to fire defensive coordinator Jim Bates, they have hired and fired coordinators on both sides of the ball since September. Raheem Morris and Mark Dominik will need to begin making lasting decisions if they want to stick around long term. 30. St. Louis Rams: -9.8 Steven Jackson continues to perform admirably for a Rams team going nowhere fast; he extended his 100-yard game streak to four in Sunday's 21-13 loss to Arizona. Jackson must feel a lot like Russell Hammond when he looks around that St. Louis locker room. 31. Oakland Raiders: -13.4 Bruce Gradkowski won't win any style points, but his 73.5 passer rating kept the Raiders in the game to setup their miraculous comeback victory over the Bengals. Two of Oakland's three victories have come against likely playoff teams. 32. Cleveland Browns: -15.1 Whether Brady Quinn is dating Alica Sacramone or can take a punch better than Jimmy Clausen, I'm not entirely sure, but he did have an excellent 21-for-33, 304 yards, four TD, zero interception game on Sunday, albeit against a porous Detroit defense.