Saints Pull Away From Colts in Weekly Power Poll

Convincing victories over Tampa Bay and New England the last two weeks have enabled New Orleans to open a little breathing room over Indianapolis in my weekly NFL Power Poll.

This Power Poll combines three statistics. The first is a team's adjusted win-loss record, which is computed by adding the number of wins of each opponent a team has beaten and the number of losses of each opponent that a team has lost to. To achieve the adjusted winning percentage, I divide the number of wins by the numbers of wins plus losses.

The second statistic compares a team's scoring against the average points allowed by the teams it has played. This is an attempt to measure whether a team is posting a better offensive performance than you would expect from an average team.

The third stat compares a team's defensive points allowed versus the average points scored by the teams it has played. Again, this is an attempt to determine whether the defense is faring better or worse than an average team against the schedule.

To achieve the final calculation, I multiply the adjusted winning percentage by three, then subtract a team's defensive effectiveness from its offensive efficiency, and then divide that by 10. I then add that number to the team's adjusted winning percentage number for the final ranking.

Without further ado, here are the results through Week 12 of the NFL season:

Rank	NFL Team	Total	Week 10
1	New Orleans Saints	4.420	1
2	Indianapolis Colts	4.050	2
3	Minnesota Vikings	3.598	4
4	New England Patriots	3.416	3
5	Baltimore Ravens	2.909	7
6	San Diego Chargers	2.775	12
7	Dallas Cowboys	2.525	10
8	Cincinnati Bengals	2.399	5
9	Philadelphia Eagles	2.336	13
10	Green Bay Packers	2.255	17
11	Denver Broncos	2.223	11
12	Pittsburgh Steelers	2.108	8
13	Atlanta Falcons	2.101	9
14	Arizona Cardinals	2.066	6
15	New York Giants	2.025	15
16	Houston Texans	1.799	14
17	New York Jets	1.706	18
18	San Francisco 49ers	1.700	19
19	Miami Dolphins	1.570	16
20	Tennessee Titans	1.177	23
21	Jacksonville Jaguars	0.830	22
22	Carolina Panthers	0.722	20
23	Chicago Bears	0.695	21
24	Seattle Seahawks	0.508	24
25	Buffalo Bills	0.224	25
26	Kansas City Chiefs	-0.030	27
27	Washington Redskins	-0.109	26
28	Oakland Raiders	-0.127	29
29	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	-0.515	28
30	Detroit Lions	-0.811	30
31	Cleveland Browns	-0.960	31
32	St. Louis Rams	-1.125	32

If I were a betting man (3-1 against the spread in Week 10)...

I would take Houston (pick) over Jacksonville, San Francisco (pick) over Seattle, Baltimore (minus three) over Green Bay, New England (minus five) over Miami, and Dallas (minus two) over the New York Giants.