With the first set of BCS rankings released this week and more NFL Power Polls than you can shake a remote at available on the Internet, Sports in a Can has decided to get into the action. Welcome to the inaugural Sports in a Can NFL Rankings.

First, let's explain how the list came to be. I was trying to decide how good the Broncos are. They are 6-0 but the image of their opening week win--which only came to be because of one of the flukiest plays in NFL history--still gnaws at me every time I consider how good they are. That game clearly could have gone either way if you think about it. And really any NFL game decided by 8 points or less is one play away from going the other way.

That led to my realization that every team really has three sets of win totals: 1. their actual number of wins; 2. the number of games they would have won if they won every close game; and 3. the number of games they would have won if they lost every close game. I define close games as any game decided by 8 points or less.

And that's it. That's the formula. Put even more simply:

a win by 9+ points is worth 3 points
a win by 1-8 points is worth 2 points
a loss by 1-8 points is worth 1 point
a loss by 9+ points is worth 0 points

I kept it simple by using the above method, even though a team who scored a late touchdown to cut the lead to under 8 really skews the formula. But I wanted something that could be figured out quickly for any team in this or any season.

To test the formula, I looked at last season's teams. At the end of the regular season, the Tennessee Titans would have had the #1 ranking with a rating of 36. They won 13 games, had 1 close loss, and 4 close wins (13 wins + 14 potential wins + 9 potential wins, or (9*3) + (4*2) + (1*1) = 36). They were upset in the playoffs by the Baltimore Ravens--who won 11 games but would have had a rating of 35, just one behind Tennessee. Arizona's rating was 27, and the teams they beat on the road to the Super Bowl had ratings of 29 (Atlanta), 32 (Carolina), and 31 (Philadelphia). Maybe those playoff results weren't so crazy after all.

And if you want some historical perspective, the best regular season rating I've seen is 44, accomplished by the 2007 Patriots (who went on to lose the Super Bowl to a team with an improbably low rating of 26). The 1985 Bears finished the regular season with a 43 (their "close games" were defined as games decided by 7 or less since the two-point conversion was not in effect back then). And the number teams would like to avoid is 5. That would be the rating the Lions achieved last season thanks to their 5 close losses and 0 wins.

Since we are through 6 weeks a perfect rating would be 18 (six wins by 9 or more). For any team that has already had their bye, I have taken their per game average and multiplied by 6.

Any ties were broken by looking in depth at each team's slate of games to date. Other than that, the numbers speak for themselves.

Without further ado, here is the first ever Sports in a Can NFL Rankings (the number in parentheses is the team's rating according to the above formula):

32 Tampa Bay (2)
The winless Buccaneers are the worst team in the league right now. They barely get the nod over the Rams by virtue of their 7-point loss last week to Carolina. Other than that they have one 3-point loss and 4 losses of 9 or more. But it was this close between these two teams.

31 St. Louis (2)
Their overtime loss to the Jags last week just barely keeps the Rams out of the cellar.

30 Detroit (3)
Another toss-up between teams with the same rating, but the Lions' lone close loss was an 8-point loss to the Steelers that no one really thought they had a chance of winning, right?

29 Cleveland (3)
The Browns could have won their overtime game against the Bengals, which keeps them a spot above the Lions.

28 Tennessee (3)
The winless Titans ahead of two teams with 1 win each even after their 59-0 loss to New England? Only because the Titans have played one more close game than the Lions and Rams have. Sure, Tennessee lost all three of their close games but they were one play away in each game. Of course, if they keep playing like they did against the Patriots last week they could find themselves at the bottom of this list soon enough.

27 Kansas City (4)
All hail the Chiefs, who finally posted a win after coming close in overtime against the Cowboys and losing by 3 to the Raiders in Week 2.

26 Oakland (5)
Speaking of the Raiders, their win over Philadelphia last week slots them in at #26--still the worst of all the teams with 2 or more wins.

25 Carolina (6)
After an 0-3 start the Panthers have won back-to-back games, but both by 7 or less. Meanwhile quarterback Jake Delhomme has thrown 10 interceptions in 5 games.

24 Seattle (7)
The Most Jekyl and Hyde team in the league, the Seahawks have won 2 games by a combined score of 69-0 but have lost 3 games by a combined score of 84-30. They sit behind Buffalo until we can figure out which team is going to show up each week. But keep this in mind: The Cardinals lost 4 games by 9 or more last season--more than any other playoff team--and ended up in the Super Bowl. But 3 losses by that much this early in the season is a bad sign for Seattle.

23 Buffalo (7)
The Bills should have beaten the Patriots Week 1 but since then it's been a roller coaster ride, including their bizarre win over the Jets last week. They've allowed 961 rushing yards just in the last 4 games. If they continue giving up yards on the ground at that pace it's going to be a long season.

22 Miami (7.2)
The Wildcat offense is about as erratic as the Dolphins' entire team. They almost beat the Colts, then struggled against the Chargers. They blew out the Bills then barely got by the Jets. How this team fares in it's next three games--against the Saints, Jets, and Patriots--could determine how the rest of the season will go.

21 San Diego (7.2)
The Chargers are ahead of the Dolphins simply because they won their head-to-head match-up, but things are not good in San Diego. They can't run the ball and they can't stop anyone. There are going to be quite a few shoot-outs in the Chargers' future.

20 Jacksonville (8)
The Jaguars lost to Seattle by 41 and barely beat the lowly Rams in overtime last week. And yet there are 12 worse teams than them in the NFL.

19 Washington (8)
Washington is the only team on the board who, with a play per game going the right way, could be either undefeated or winless. Every Redskins game has been decided by 8 points or less. This can't possibly continue, can it?

18 Cincinnati (9)
Why are the 4-2 Bengals sitting behind 9 teams with 3 wins? They are the only team in the top 24 without a defining win (a win by 9 or more) and their 11-point loss to the Texans last week goes in the "unwinnable game" category. Five of the Bengals' six games have been decided by 7 points or less--which means they could just as easily be 0-6 as they could 5-1. They've had some big wins (and should have won Week 1) but until they start putting teams away, their rating is going to continue to suffer.

17 NY Jets (9)
After a 3-0 start, the last 3 weeks have been a disaster for the Jets. Were quarterback Mark Sanchez's first three games too good to be true?

16 Houston (10)
Of course the perpetually 8-8 Texans are right in the middle of the pack. Where else would they be?

15 Arizona (10.8)
The 2009 Cardinals are just hanging around, beating the bad teams and losing to the good teams. They have six games the rest of the way against teams .500 or better and four games against teams with a combined 1 win, so they theoretically could cruise to an 8-8 record without breaking a sweat.

14 San Francisco (10.8)
The 49ers beat the Cardinals head-to-head, so they get the nod for the #14 spot. Who can figure this team out right now? They had a win against the Vikings in the books until Favre's last-minute heroics but two weeks later they're losing 45-10 to Atlanta--at home. They have a very similar remaining schedule to the Cardinals' (including one more head-to-head game) and finally have #1 pick Michael Crabtree in the lineup and running back Frank Gore back from injury.

13 Chicago (10.8)
Improbably, the Bears currently have the same rating as the Cardinals and 49ers. But they have only one win over a quality team to go with two close losses to good teams.

12 Baltimore (11)
The Ravens would have been near the top of the rankings after three straight wins (two of them via the blowout) to open the season. But three straight losses have Baltimore stuck closer to the middle of the pack.

11 Philadelphia (12)
Just looking at the numbers I had Philadelphia coming out ahead of the five other teams with a 12 rating. Until I looked at the fact that the Eagles' three "take care of business games" came against the 25th, 27th, and 32nd ranked teams on this list. That would have been fine until they lost to the 26th-ranked Raiders last week. This automatically disqualifies the Eagles from winning any tiebreakers.

10 Green Bay (12)
Like the Eagles, the Packers' biggest wins have come against the dregs of the league (30th ranked Detroit and 31st ranked St. Louis). Their much-awaited rematch with Brett Favre and the Vikings is next weekend, though.

9 Atlanta (12)
Atlanta's close win over the Panthers and not-so-close loss to the Patriots keep the 4-1 Falcons sitting behind the 3-2 Cowboys.

8 Dallas (12)
The Cowboys have lost close games to two of the best teams in the league (the Giants and Broncos) but struggled to beat the Chiefs two weeks ago, keeping them just below the Patriots on this list.

7 New England (12)
The Patriots have a solid win against the Falcons, a close one over the Ravens, and an overtime loss to the Broncos working for them. Plus a 59-0 win gets you the nod when it comes to tiebreakers.

6 Pittsburgh (12)
The Steelers followed up back-to-back close losses with three straight wins heading into two straight games against currently undefeated teams (Minnesota and Denver).

5 NY Giants (13)
The Giants did not look good against the Saints last week, but that one game did not undo the work they did in their first five. The road ahead is not a picnic for the Giants--7 of their final 10 games are against teams that are above .500.

4 Minnesota (15)
The 6-0 Vikings have taken care of business against the 29th, 30th, and 31st ranked teams on the list. Two of their three other games easily could have been losses. That makes the Vikings the 4th best undefeated team in the league.

3 Denver (15)
And the answer to my original question--how good are the Broncos--is this: They are the 3rd best team in the NFL. The Broncos' three close wins came against the 7th, 8th, and 19th teams on this list, and they've taken care of business against the three bad teams they've played. It all adds up to an incredible turnaround by the Broncos. And with games remaining against Washington, San Diego, Kansas City (twice), and Oakland, the Broncos actually have a shot at a first round bye in the playoffs.

2 Indianapolis (15.6)
After back-to-back squeakers to start the season, the Colts have won their last three by the combined score of 96-36. They come out of the bye with 0-6 St. Louis and then play 8 of their next 9 against teams that are .500 or better.

1 New Orleans (18)
And then there are the Saints. They've played 5 games and won all 5 of them by 14 or more. That gives them a perfect record in our ratings system. And with three games remaining with 0-6 teams and only four with teams over .500, it's going to be tough to get them out of this top spot.

Week 7 Picks

New England (-14½) over Tampa Bay
Indianapolis (-13½) over ST. LOUIS
Minnesota (+5) over PITTSBURGH
KANSAS CITY (+5) over San Diego
HOUSTON (-3) over San Francisco
Green Bay (-7) over CLEVELAND
OAKLAND (+7) over NY Jets
Buffalo (+7) over CAROLINA
CINCINNATI (-1) over Chicago
New Orleans (-6½) over MIAMI
DALLAS (-4) over Atlanta
NY GIANTS (-7) over Arizona
Philadelphia (-7) over WASHINGTON

Last week: 7-7

Season: 49-41