Big Brother Power Rankings, Week 3: Saints Are in Danger of Getting the Boot

The Big Brother Power Rankings have clearly caught on and are a great motivator for teams at the bottom. For those new to these rankings, every week, we’ll kick out a team or two from the power rankings who get voted out by you the fan. Of course, if that team wins on Sunday, they earn a veto and stay alive. If teams win against a team higher than them, they gain immunity.

Last week, all five nominees for eviction from the power rankings won, most of them as sizable underdogs (Kansas City, Oakland, Tennessee, Minnesota and Jacksonville). I literally had a couple of you get so concerned about that outcome that you asked what happens next. Here’s what we are going to do. No one gets kicked out, we kick out two this week if they lose, and continue forward. We will also change the immunity rules going forward so only the three best wins (by previous week’s power rankings) get immunity the following week.

As for the rest of the power rankings, I looked at a combination of things, including last year’s ratings, this year’s ratings through three games, and a little exercise where I treated each quarter of action as a separate game and assigned 12 wins and losses to evaluate teams. I also took some injuries into account. There’s always a debate about the purpose of power rankings. My goal is to project how teams will finish, using some predictive stuff along with past results. After three weeks, we are starting to get some interconnectivity. If a team fell, it may not just be because of their result this week, but also how their previous opponent’s have looked through three weeks with more information.

Houston Texans (3-0). The title of most complete team has been bestowed upon the Texans.
Atlanta Falcons (3-0). A very impressive road performance means the Falcons own the AFC West.
Baltimore Ravens (2-1). Pass rush a concern, but the offense is getting it done.
New England Patriots (1-2). Two close losses that could have gone the other way. Pats are fine.
San Francisco 49ers (2-1). Dropped after loss at Minnesota, but also Packers and Lions wins taking a hit with Detroit’s play through three games.
Green Bay Packers (1-2). Since I look at overall outcomes and try to be predictive as well, that one play doesn’t affect my view. Green Bay will have better days on offense starting this week.
Arizona Cardinals (3-0). Great defense so far, but will offense be consistent enough? Two plays from 1-2.
Pittsburgh Steelers (1-2). They’ll get healthier on defense and start to climb.
Seattle Seahawks (2-1). Seattle’s secondary and defensive pressure means the NFC West is the new king of defense.
New York Giants (2-1). Getting healthier in secondary, offense exploded without Nicks.
Dallas Cowboys (2-1). Secondary looks much better, but that line . . . woof.
Chicago Bears (2-1). The Monday Night matchup will not be a clinic in offensive line play.
Denver Broncos (1-2). The losses are to Houston and Atlanta, so this might be too low when we look back.
New York Jets (2-1). Darrelle Revis injury knocks them down, we’ll see how far.
San Diego Chargers (2-1). That was the kind of performance we’ve come to expect from the Chargers just at a time we come to expect better things.
Philadelphia Eagles (2-1). The Eagles need to clean up errors. The defensive personnel is better, but little things costly right now.
Cincinnati Bengals (2-1). Mohamed Sanu has a better deep ball than a lot of quarterbacks.
Detroit Lions (1-2). I didn’t intend to rank the Lions this low, but accidentally put them here. Honest.
Buffalo Bills (2-1). My strategy of having both Fred Jackson and C.J. Spiller has resulted in two incomplete games so far.
Miami Dolphins (1-2). Since getting blasted by the Texans, the Dolphins have played respectably.
Minnesota Vikings (2-1)*. The upset of the 49ers means this is a team to watch as the season progresses.
Indianapolis Colts (1-2). The Colts are on a bye this week, giving coach Pagano a chance to study up on fourth down decisions.
Oakland Raiders (1-2)*. The Raiders showed some offense with Denarius Moore back, taking advantage of the Steelers defense playing with key players out.
Kansas City Chiefs (1-2)*. Jamaal Charles is good, and Justin Houston is a bright spot.
Jacksonville Jaguars (1-2)*. Gabbert had almost half his passing yards on the game winning touchdown to Shorts.
Tennessee Titans (1-2)*. The Titans won the craziest game of the weekend. Can’t rely on that formula too often.

And the nominees for Eviction this week (reminder, you can vote for two this week):

Washington Redskins (1-2). Sorry, but the worst defense in the league with these injuries. They can’t win enough shoot outs to reach the postseason.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1-2). They play hard, but I’m not sure they are at a spot to be more than an occasional nuisance to coaches like Coughlin.
Carolina Panthers (1-2). A dog of a game on Thursday has people clowning the Panthers and Cam Newton. I think that’s an overreaction, but they have to go on the block.
St. Louis Rams (1-2). Other than a stretch against Washington once Orakpo was out, the offense still looks limited.
New Orleans Saints (0-3). The Saints have to go on the block as the only eligible winless team. Green Bay awaits.

ELIMINATED

Cleveland Browns (0-3)

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[photos via US Presswire]