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 this formula. 1. New York Giants: 8.8 Last season every team wanted to copy the Patriots' passing attack, will the trend of copying the best continue (as it always does) with New York's 164.9 yard per game, 5.1 yards per carry, 15 touchdown running game? 2. Pittsburgh Steelers: 6.3 The Steelers are averaging 3.6 yards per game, good for 29th in the NFL. They were 7th, 11th and 12th dating back to their Super Bowl win. Fortunately for Mike Tomlin, he has Dick LeBeau's defense, which is first against the run and the pass. 3. Washington Redskins: 5.8 Jason Campbell is 12th in the NFL in passer rating (90.2), which puts him ahead of Matt Ryan, Peyton Manning, Jay Cutler and Kerry Collins. He also has the lowest interception percentage with under 1% of his passes being taken away. 4. Baltimore Ravens: 5.0 The Ravens have given up just 160 first downs all season, which is second in the NFL. Opposing offenses have converted on 3rd down in 32.1% of their opportunities, best in the NFL. 5. Arizona Cardinals: 4.6 Tim Hightower has nine rushing touchdowns, which is fifth, but his 3.0 yards per carry average puts him 44th amongst 45 running backs who has scored at least two. 6. Atlanta Falcons: 4.5 Michael Turner is leading all running backs with 13 touchdowns and is making the ultimate revisionist historians in San Diego say they should have kept the Burner and dealt Tomlinson. 7. Miami Dolphins: 4.1 With a 93.7 passer rating, Chad Pennington is having his finest season since 2002 when he had a 104.2 passer rating and completed 68.9% of his attempts. 8. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 4.1 The glaring hole in Monte Kiffin's defense is against the rush, but they have been brilliant against the pass all season long. The lone exception to that is when it comes to actually reaching the end zone; the Bucs have given up just one TD on the ground all season. 9. New York Jets: 4.1 Leon Washington has five touchdowns in New York's wins and just one in their losses. 10. Carolina Panthers: 4.1 Julius Peppers has nine sacks almost getting back to double-digits where he has been in four of his six seasons. 11. Tennessee Titans: 4.0 The Titans' defense has been far better against the pass than they have been the run this season. The 49ers and Cardinals have better marks per carry against the run than Jim Schwartz's unit. 12. Philadelphia Eagles: 3.7 The Eagles are 20th in yards per carry with 4.0; last season they were 2nd with a mark of 4.7. 13. Minnesota Vikings: 3.5 The Vikings have been first or second against the run in each season dating back to 2006. 14. New England Patriots: 2.8 What do Jerod Mayo's three double-digit tackle games have in common with each other? They were three of New England's four losses (12 against Miami, 11 against Indy, 20 against the Jets). Those games help pad his stat total and make him a frontrunner for defensive rookie of the year, but the Patriots are a far better club when Richard Seymour and Vince Wilfork are more active. 15. Chicago Bears: 2.5 The Bears don't have a single wide receiver in the top 50 in receiving yards, but Rashied Davis and Devin Hester are 52nd and 53rd respectively. Fortunately for Chicago, Matt Forte has been every bit as good receiving out of the backfield (45 catches for 336 yards and three TDs) as he was at Tulane. 16. New Orleans Saints: 1.3 I'm a through and through believer in Reggie Bush, but the Saints are 3-1 without him and 3-4 with him this season. He had punt returns for a touchdown in two of those four losses (Washington and Minnesota). 17. San Diego Chargers: 0.5 The Chargers are 26th in total yards allowed per game with 369.4. Last season they were 14th and in 2006 they were 10th. 18. Dallas Cowboys: 0.3 In the midst of controversy and inconsistency, DeMarcus Ware has a sack in 10 of the Cowboys' 11 games. 19. Houston Texans: -0.6 The Texans are 14th in rushing with 114.1 yards per game. They were 22nd in 2007, 21st in 2006 and 15th in 2005. 20. Green Bay Packers: -0.8 The Packers are 6th in passing yards per game allowed with 189.2, but 22nd in points allowed with 23.6. 21. Indianapolis Colts: -1.7 The Colts have given up just four touchdowns in the air this season, first in the NFL. 22. Buffalo Bills: -1.9 While the Cowboys are preparing to get ride of Wade Phillips, the previous glory days of the Bills when they were in the playoffs was of course during the brief Phillips era. 23. San Francisco 49ers: -2.2 The Niners haven't finished a season ranked in the top-10 in offense and defense since 2001 and haven't had a top-10 finish in either since 2003. 24. Denver Broncos: -2.9 The Broncos are 28th in points allowed per game, as they continue to walk a very thin rope and are benefiting from a horribly down AFC West. 25. Jacksonville Jaguars: -3.4 The Jaguars are averaging just 110.2 yards per game on the ground, not the kind out of output they were expecting. 26. Cleveland Browns: -4.4 The Browns are 3-5 with Derek Anderson and 1-2 with Brady Quinn, either way they need a lot of help. 27. Kansas City Chiefs: -5.7 Missing Jared Allen? The Cheifs have compiled just six sacks all season long, easily the worst in the NFL. 28. Seattle Seahawks: -6.8 Bobby Engram leads Seahawks' receivers in yards and is 74th overall. 29. Cincinnati Bengals: -7.6 Bengals' quarterbacks are 29th in passer rating with a mark of 69.8; they have been 11th, 4th and 2nd in each of the previous three seasons. 30. Oakland Raiders: -8.0 Darren McFadden is averaging 6.2 yards per carry in each of Oakland's wins. 31. Detroit Lions: -10.4 From J.T. O'Sullivan to Kyle Orton and Rex Grossman the Lions have a way of making other teams quarterbacks look like stars; their defense has allowed opposing QBs to have a 111.2 passer rating. 32. St. Louis Rams: -13.8 Torry Holt has led the Rams' in receiving in just two games this season. He was their leader 11 times in 2007 and nine times in 2006.