NFL Power Rankings, Big Brother Style: Who Gets Voted Off First?

It will work just like Big Brother with nominations. I will serve as the HOH (Head of Household) each week and the bottom five teams in the Big Brother rankings are on the block. I’ll then post a poll and you, the reader, will have an opportunity to vote for the team you want evicted. Just like Big Brother, though, there is Power of Veto. In this case, teams win the Veto if they actually win the following week, and they come off the block. The team with the highest vote total (or sometimes the top two teams) who then loses the following week is evicted. Teams can also gain immunity from the bottom five by beating a team ranked higher than them who is still alive in the Big Brother rankings the week before.

Other than that little twist, I’ll do the power rankings like normal. Once a team is evicted, though, they will be separately ranked in the Little Brother rankings. I will hope to avoid knee jerk reactions with teams, but also want the nominations to generally involve teams not playing well. By midseason, though, this could get interesting. Let’s hope you don’t vote out anyone that goes on to win the Super Bowl. We will try to have 12 survivors after week 17, and hopefully they will match the playoff teams.

We will start week one with just one removal at the end of next week’s games. Feel free to complain about anything in addition to my HOH nominations for the bottom five teams. My rankings are designed to be both predictive yet acknowledging past results. Think of it like where I think teams will end up by season’s end.

New England Patriots
Houston Texans
San Francisco 49ers
Baltimore Ravens
Green Bay Packers
Atlanta Falcons
Chicago Bears
Philadelphia Eagles
New Orleans Saints
Denver Broncos
Dallas Cowboys
New York Jets
Detroit Lions
New York Giants
Pittsburgh Steelers
San Diego Chargers
Washington Redskins
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Carolina Panthers
Cincinnati Bengals
Seattle Seahawks
Minnesota Vikings
Buffalo Bills
Kansas City Chiefs
Tennessee Titans
Arizona Cardinals
Jacksonville Jaguars
Indianapolis Colts
St. Louis Rams
Cleveland Browns
Oakland Raiders
Miami Dolphins

If I were to put these teams in tiers, I would right now have about seven teams at the top, then a large group extending from #8 to #17 that are interchangeable. I know Pittsburgh is probably low at #15, and the same with the Giants at #14, and that both will get healthier. I played with a bunch of permutations, though, and none of them are satisfactory in this group, so we’ll just go with this. Don’t be surprised if there is a bunch of movement in this tier next week.

After that, I still believe in Carolina and that the offense will play better, and that Tampa will at least be competitive. I know that there will be an outcry for the Bills after the egg they laid last week. I don’t want to vote them out yet. I think they should be better than a lot of teams once the defense meshes. That Bills vs. Chiefs game Sunday could be to stay off the block in a week, though.

As for the nominations, Jacksonville survives as they almost won at Minnesota. Arizona stays off with their close win at home over Seattle. So the nominees are:

St. Louis Rams – They have the worst record over the last five years, and have been historically bad, so including them here isn’t a stretch. Has Jeff Fisher turned things around? Well, they just lost in a close game at Detroit, but it took a pick six and two other interceptions in the red zone to keep it close.

Oakland Raiders – New coach, new GM, and an owner with the best hair this side of Tim Ryan. They couldn’t snap the ball last night, which kind of sums up their chances.

Cleveland Browns – This was an auto pick. The website software automatically inserted the Browns. Sorry, Cleveland fans.

Miami Dolphins – From Hard Knocks to out of the Big Brother house? Well, they aren’t exactly playing for now, the team lacks weapons at receiver for Ryan Tannehill, and it could be a long season for the triumvirate of Joe Philbin, Jeff Ireland, and Stephen Ross.

And now, it’s up to you (voting closes Thursday at first game time):

[poll id=”336″]

[photos via bigbrothernetwork.com, US Presswire]