NFL Power Rankings by Cubicle GM: Week Three

Welcome to the Week Three edition of the Cubicle GM NFL Power Rankings. Every Tuesday you can look forward to our composite rankings, as well as a bit of brief insight and analysis about each of the 32 teams.

The rankings are determined by simply taking the average of each of the contributors here at The Cube. For Week Three, we have rankings from five members of the Cubicle GM team, including me, Gideon, Mickey, Joey, and Walker.

The top three teams in last week’s rankings each improved to 3-0 on the season, and as a result remained in the same spots as last week. The only team to move into the top 10 this week was the New England Patriots, who made their way back to No. 7 with their defeat of formerly 2-0 Atlanta.

The bottom of the ranks are littered with 0-3 teams, but the Redskins have found their way into the bottom five after their loss to the lowly Lions, who jumped all the way to No. 27 after their first victory in well over a year.

As it is still early in the 2009 season, the rankings are still volatile for the time being. This week, 24 teams changed spots in the rankings, but only two moved five or more spots.

There were four teams tied for the biggest upward movements, as the Patriots, Broncos, Bengals, and Lions all moved up four positions after their respective wins. Two teams suffering disappointing losses tied for the biggest move in the opposite direction, as Pittsburgh and Tennessee both dropped six spots in the ranks this week.

While there is still plenty of movement, the disagreements between the contributors in the ranks have dropped significantly. Just six of the teams saw a gap of seven or more in the rankings, with only three teams having a gap of double digits:

Denver Broncos (12) – Walker 11, Gideon 23

Miami Dolphins (11) – Gideon 17, Joey/Jacob/Mickey 28

Carolina Panthers (10) – Gideon 22, Joey 32

San Francisco 49ers (8) – Mickey 12, Joey 20

San Diego Chargers (7) – Gideon 6, Walker 13

Atlanta Falcons (7) – Walker 17, Everyone else 10

On the divisional side, the NFC East leads the way despite the drop from Washington with an average score of 10.15. Coming in second was its counterpart from the AFC, which scored a 14.20 thanks to jumps from the Pats and Jets. At the bottom sits the NFC West, checking in with a 21.30 average rank. Thanks to the Buccaneers, Falcons and Panthers losses, the NFC South is still second from the cellar with a 20.05 average.

As a reminder, you can check out all the backup data here. As always, last week’s ranks are in parentheses. Without further ado, on to the rankings.

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This article originally posted on Cubicle GM.