So last week, I intimated that I might not keep doing Natural Power Rankings, as a few upsets would guarantee that it would get too convoluted and not be worth the trouble.  Many of you encouraged me to keep going, which I much appreciate, so I will.  But there's a new tweak to how I'm going to figure these out.

I'm only going to factor in only the three most recent weeks.  I'm going to say that a few more times so that I don't have a bunch of people saying "How can San Diego be below Chicago when they beat them?"

I'm only going to factor in only the three most recent weeks.

I'm only going to factor in only the three most recent weeks.

I'm only going to factor in only the three most recent weeks.

That was a favorite trick of one of my English professors - he'd always say the page number to turn to 3 times, so he didn't have a bunch of students saying "What page?"  Man, that guy was a character.  "Please open your texts to page nine-forty-one, page nine-forty-one, page nine-forty-one."

But I digress.  I have several reasons for making this change.  1) It's easier to chart out three games, instead of say 5, or eventually 15.  2) This way, recent changes like benchings, injuries, injury recoveries, etc. show up more in the rankings.  Cleveland, for example, is no longer held back by Charlie Frye's horrible game against Pittsburgh.  3) Recent momentum also plays a bigger role.  San Francisco started 2-0; but they've been putrid since.  4) An upset stays on the books less long.  If in a few weeks, Pittsburgh is 6-1, the loss to Arizona won't mean a thing in the rankings.  5) There won't be as many tangles, where A beat B, B beat C, and C beat A.  There aren't any this week.  6) They'll be a little more surprising, and way off of everyone else's rankings.  That's more fun for me, because then I'll get a bunch of FanNationers responding angrily.

So, refreshed by the change, here are the Natural Power Rankings.  Again, this is how they're determined.  I basically transform my mind into a computer without biases and rank the teams according to the following logical arguments:

1. If A beat B, A is higher than B.

2. If A beat C by more points than B beat C, A is higher than B.

3. If A beat C by the same margin as B beat D, and C is ranked higher than D, A is ranked higher than B.

4. If rank still cannot be determined, margin of victory is weighed against quality of opponent (by Natural Power Ranking), and whichever is more significant determines the higher ranked team. 

• 1) New England Patriots (3-0)
• 2) Indianapolis Colts (3-0)
• 3) New York Giants (3-0)
• 4) Oakland Raiders (2-0)
• 5) Cleveland Browns (1-2)
• 6) Washington Redskins (1-1)
• 7) Philadelphia Eagles (1-1)
• 8) Dallas Cowboys (3-0)
• 9) Buffalo Bills (1-2)
• 10) New York Jets (1-2)
• 11) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-1)
• 12) Tennessee Titans (2-0)
• 13) Carolina Panthers (2-1)
• 14) Atlanta Falcons (1-2)
• 15) New Orleans Saints (0-2)
• 16) Houston Texans (1-2)
• 17) Miami Dolphins (0-3)
• 18) Detroit Lions (1-2)
• 19) Baltimore Ravens (2-1)
• 20) Arizona Cardinals (2-1)
• 21) St. Louis Rams (0-3)
• 22) Pittsburgh Steelers (2-1)
• 23) Chicago Bears (1-2)
• 24) Jacksonville Jaguars (2-0)
• 25) Green Bay Packers (2-1)
• 26) Kansas City Chiefs (2-1)
• 27) Minnesota Vikings (0-2)
• 28) San Diego Chargers (1-2)
• 29) Seattle Seahawks (2-1)
• 30) Cincinnati Bengals (0-2)
• 31) San Francisco 49ers (0-3)
• 32) Denver Broncos (0-3)

I'm already relishing the nasty comments.  All right, just to add fuel to the fire, here's who the Natural Power Rankings say will win this week:

Kansas City beats Cincinnati

Houston beats Jacksonville

Cleveland beats Miami

Chicago beats Minnesota

Philadelphia beats NY Jets

Baltimore beats St. Louis

Tampa Bay beats Tennessee (interesting how this was resolved: Because Tennessee and Carolina both beat Atlanta by 7, they were placed consecutively, with Tennessee first because they beat New Orleans by more.  Tampa Bay beat Carolina, so it's assumed they'd beat Tennessee, who is expected to be only very slightly better than Carolina.)

Washington beats Green Bay

Carolina beats Arizona

New England beats Dallas (people also probably wonder why Dallas got beat out by 1-2 Cleveland.  Because Dallas only beat Buffalo by 1, they must be very close.  New England beat Buffalo by 31, so it's assumed they'd fare similarly against Dallas.  Cleveland only lost to New England by 17, therefore they are better than Dallas.)

Oakland beats San Diego

New Orleans beats Seattle (and how is Seattle so low with a 2-1? That's just how it worked out.  They ended up at the bottom of a very long chain, and they beat two winless teams who are below them.)

NY Giants beat Atlanta

We'll see how the Rankings do.