Over the years, TMQ has lauded Authentic Games: quality wins versus a formidable opponent. Last year, with a month remaining in the regular season, I used my proprietary Authentic Games metric to forecast a Super Bowl of Denver versus Seattle. That prediction did OK. All victories count the same, but authentic victories foretell a team's future. This year, Tuesday Morning Quarterback is diving into the deep end by posting the Authentic Games standings, beginning this week and continuing until the playoffs.

What's an Authentic Game? I'd like to say I possess a super-sophisticated algorithm that takes into account average gains running through the 50 gap on second-and-3, net punts into crosswind and the curvature of the Earth. Actually, I don't even have a definition of an authentic opponent. An Authentic Game is like pornography -- impossible to define, but you know it when you see it.

Authentic Games are those versus a playoff-caliber opponent, but what precisely does that mean? A team might be an authentic opponent early in the season, then drop out of that classification if its performance fades. Or it might start weak and end up authentic. Right now I'm counting New Orleans as an authentic opponent because TMQ takes the Saints seriously, but this may not last. I don't consider Buffalo authentic, though the Bills have a better record than the Saints. I view San Diego as authentic owing to its December potency, even though division rival Kansas City has a better record. The Chiefs aren't authentic so far but could become so soon, with upcoming consecutive games versus winning teams.

They chanted, "Make the Authentic Games index! Make the Authentic Games index!" AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

My "metric" sees Baltimore at 5-4 as authentic, if shaky; Cleveland at 5-3 as not. Miami is on the cusp of authenticity, while Green Bay could soon lose this status. Right now I consider Seattle and Santa Clara authentic, though the defending champions could lose this label and the Niners are receiving the benefit of the doubt based on previous seasons, not this season.

Like the companies in the Dow Jones index, the teams in my authentic club are whichever ones I say they are and are weighted based largely on hocus-pocus. All I know for sure is that last year, the Authentic Games index predicted the Super Bowl pairing.

In the table to the right are the initial Authentic Games standings for 2014 -- this will be a running item until the end of the regular season. Note I consider total victories more important than won-loss percentage -- for instance, Denver's 4-2 is better than New England's 2-0, though the latter is superior if one thinks in percentage terms. Again there's no super-sophisticated reasoning underlying this assumption, just a feeling that winning lots of big games while also losing a few is better than playing a soft schedule and not being tested often.

Authentic Games Standings These standings are through Nov. 4. Arizona 4-1 Denver 4-2 *Detroit 2-0 *New England 2-0 Pittsburgh 2-1 *Cincinnati 2-2 *Dallas 2-2 *Santa Clara 2-2 *Seattle 2-2 Indianapolis 2-3 *New Orleans 1-2 *Philadelphia 1-2 San Diego 1-3 Baltimore 1-4 Green Bay 0-3 * indicates tie

At the halfway point of the season, my Authentic Games metric predicts a Super Bowl of Denver versus Arizona. Note the Broncos and Cardinals not only have the most authentic wins but also they've participated in the most big games, which is almost as important. By that logic, keep your eye on Indianapolis, which has also been in many big games already. I called the Super Bowl early last year -- the pressure's on!

Tuesday is Election Day. Not voting is your prerogative. But if you don't vote, promise not to complain about government for the next two years.

Election Day raises two questions: Whether voters themselves are a cause of partisan gridlock and whether it's a waste of time to vote.

In this important article, Ronald Brownstein of The Atlantic shows there is a generation-long trend of young people turning out to vote in presidential elections but not for midterms, while seniors turn out at about the same rate in both. The result is that Democrats do well when the White House is on the line -- taking the popular vote in five of the past six presidential cycles -- while Republicans do well at midterms. That's a formula for gridlock: With the parties exchanging the upper hand every two years, neither can really govern. Each has incentive to stall, stall, stall until its next expected victory comes around -- the way Republicans stalled, stalled, stalled in the House in the past two years, and Democrats, if retaining the Senate, may stall, stall, stall until 2016.

The framers of the Constitution intended it to be hard to enact legislation, so partisanship might not necessarily offend them. Especially when they were drunk (see below). And if it's true that millennials are shifting to the right politically -- expected to pay off the nation's astounding debt, millennials may become deficit hawks -- then partisanship may be resolved by a GOP majority. Or perhaps some force will cause a Democratic majority. The point is that everyone complains about partisan gridlock, yet one cause is voting patterns that produce Democratic margins in presidential years and Republican margins in midterms.

The larger question is: Why vote? "I don't like any of the candidates" is not a reason not to vote. If the choice for dinner is steak or veggie, saying, "I don't like either dish" doesn't help. In life, we must choose among available options. The strong reason not to vote is that it's all but mathematically impossible that any one person's ballot will decide an election. And if big turnouts have the useful effect of reminding politicians that the people are watching, it's all but mathematically impossible that any one person's vote will alter a turnout statistic. So why vote? You're more likely to be run over by a reindeer on the way to the polls than to cast a vote that determines who wins.

A great thing about turning out to vote is that you get the moral high ground when denouncing politicians. AP Photo/Patrick Semansky

I'll tell you why I vote, including in every primary: because I like to. I like walking to the local elementary school, passing a forest of cheesy political banners, greeting my neighbors waiting in line, reporting my name to a poll judge, getting a card and entering a booth where no one but me will ever know who I favored or disfavored. I like buying something from the girls' soccer club bake sale table as I depart. These are rituals of civic democracy, and I enjoy participating. Given the math, voting because you like to is the best argument for trudging to the polls.

The bigger reason to vote is that what makes sense for an individual may not make sense for a community. Why should a parent have a child inoculated when so long as everyone else gets the shot, any one child is protected by herd immunity? Because if everyone thought this way, individual choice would backfire. Why stop at a stop sign if there's no other car around? Why report a crime when, even if the crook is caught, there will be more crimes anyway? Why refrain from littering even if there's no one around to notice? Democracies rely on civic self-discipline. People engage in positive actions of their own free will because they know the community will be better off as a result. Voting is such an act.

Last week TMQ ranked the four College Football Playoff teams using the ESPN Grade formula, which makes the radical assumption that student-athletes actually are student-athletes. I used the most recent data available when the column published. Later that same day, as scriptwriters say, the NCAA released 2014 data. See below for the playoff top four based on the upgraded graduation data, and for the midseason refresh of the ESPN Grade Top 25.

Stats Of The Week No. 1: In two trips to New England in less than a year, Denver jumped to a combined 28-point lead then was outscored by a combined 53 points.

Stats Of The Week No. 2: St. Louis had six sacks in its first seven games, then eight versus the Niners at Santa Clara.

Stats Of The Week No. 3: The Dolphins are on a 9-2 stretch versus San Diego, which hasn't won in Miami since Jan. 2, 1982.

Stats Of The Week No. 4: The Bengals are on a 13-0-1 regular-season home streak and a 0-3 postseason home streak.

Stats Of The Week No. 5: The Chiefs' Justin Houston is on pace for 24 sacks; the NFL season record is 22.5.

Stats Of The Week No. 6: Jersey/B is on pace to finish the season with five takeaways. The all-time season low is 11.

Stats Of The Week No. 7: The Raiders are on a 2-18 road stretch.

Stats of the Week No. 8: Last season, Nick Foles played 13 games and threw two interceptions; this season, he's thrown 10 interceptions in eight games. Foles is now out with a broken collarbone.

Stats Of The Week No. 9: Cleveland is 2-1 in its past three games -- versus the Bucs, Raiders and Jaguars, who have a combined record of 2-23.

Stats Of The Week No. 10: Peyton Manning is 8-12 as a starter when the kickoff temperature is below 40 degrees.

Sweet Play Of The Week: New England leading 20-7 on a day with gusting wind, Denver goes for it on fourth-and-6 from the Flying Elvii's 34, a classic Maroon Zone decision. The Patriots rush just three, the Broncos have six to block them. One of the six is tight end Julius Thomas, lined up as a fullback. He whiffs -- Thomas' allergy to blocking is an ongoing issue for the Broncs -- while three offensive linemen end up gang-blocking a single defensive lineman. Peyton Manning hesitates because New England shows an odd front with linebacker Jamie Collins lined up as if he is a cornerback. Down goes Manning on a sack -- with six guys to block three pass-rushers. Sweet defense.

Maybe that near-loss to the Raiders was just what the doctor ordered for the Patriots. Jim Rogash/Getty Images

New England frustrated Manning by jamming his receivers to disrupt their timing -- why all teams don't do this against the Broncos is a minor mystery -- while often showing mega-blitz, then backing out. Scouts' note: Unwanted Rob Ninkovich, let go by the Saints and Dolphins, is playing at a very high level for the Flying Elvii.

Later in the game, the Flying Elvii were leading 27-14 and facing fourth-and-5 in the Denver Maroon Zone (37-yard line). Tailback Shane Vereen flanks out, runs a quick pivot and makes the catch to convert the first down; the hosts score a touchdown later in the possession and take command. Vereen has assumed the role Kevin Faulk once played in Bill Belichick's offense, as the go-to guy to sneak out on short-yardage situations. Extra sweet for New England was that a pivot route was Wes Welker's favorite when he played for the Patriots. Belichick must have chortled over using it against Welker's Broncos.

I don't wish to alarm the rest of the league, but Tom Brady has 22 touchdown passes versus three interceptions, throwing to a motley crew that includes undrafted Danny Amendola, low-drafted Julian Edelman and Brandon LaFell, who was let go by the receiver-needy Panthers.

Sour Tactics Of The Week: When Patrick Peterson seemed to be taking a blocked field goal attempt back for a touchdown as time expired in the first half, Jason Witten did a fantastic job of running him down from behind. That was the Cowboys' only nice play in their second home loss in six days.

The pregame situation: The Boys were fielding a bumbling backup quarterback but boasted the league's leading rushing attack; running works best at home, where it feeds off crowd energy. The Cardinals have a bumbling secondary but a top rushing defense. So will Dallas pass or rush? You've already guessed: Adjusting for sacks and scrambles, Dallas coaches called 36 passing plays and 23 rushes. What do they teach coaches at Princeton, anyway? Arizona leading 14-10 in the third quarter, Dallas reached the red zone and went rush, incompletion, interception. Very sour.

At Houston, they were not cheering for the director of football research. AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez

Sweet 'N' Sour Play: Philadelphia at Houston, Texans star cornerback Johnathan Joseph left the game shaken up. Rookie Andre Hal took his position. Immediately, Philadelphia faked a toss sweep toward Hal, drawing him up to the line, then threw a deep post to his man. Sweet 59-yard touchdown reception that set in motion the Eagles' win.

That teams go straight at the pass defender who just came in is not some carefully guarded secret. Yet there was no safety in sight to help Hal and apparently no one warned him about what was sure to be coming. The Texans have 18 coaches and a "director of football research." None of them appeared to know that it's common to throw deep against a new corner.

Giants Barely Avoid Running Clock at Home in Prime Time: "Peyton Manning's record for passing yards in a season will remain, an NFL spokesman confirmed." Yes, but for how long? That statement came a mere 10 months ago. In football's offense a-go-go world, Andrew Luck is on pace for 5,484 passing yards this season, which would break Manning's record. In the first half at Jersey/A, Colts coaches called 32 passes and five rushes. The NFL is a passing league, and Indianapolis leads that league in passing -- a good sign for TMQ's preseason Super Bowl pick.

On the final down of the first half, Indianapolis leading 16-3, the Giants' Damontre Moore sacked Luck. Moore jumped up and did a wild celebration dance, as if he'd just cured cancer or brought peace to the Middle East. One does not thump one's chest whilst losing!

"...our Fortunes and our sacred Honor." OK boys, that wraps it up. First round's on me! MPI/Getty Images

In Order To Form A More Inebriated Union: Reason.com reports that at a 1787 farewell party for George Washington, 55 people, among them founding fathers, drank 60 bottles of regular wine, 54 bottles of high-proof "fortified" wine, eight bottles of whiskey, seven bowls of spiked punch, and lots of beer and hard cider. Of course, they didn't have to drive afterward. Still, it's hard to see how they could remain standing, let alone conscious: The level of imbibing depicted could cause alcohol poisoning. "Across the country during the Colonial era, the average American consumed many times as much beverage alcohol as contemporary Americans do," Stanton Peele writes.

Do a Little Dance If You Want to Gain That Yard: TMQ's Law of Short Yardage holds: Do a little dance if you want to gain that yard. San Diego at Miami scoreless, the Bolts went for it on fourth-and-1 on the Genetically Engineered Surimi's 22. No shifts, no man in motion, no misdirection -- straight-ahead run stuffed.

Rams leading 13-10, Santa Clara had third-and-goal on Les Mouflons' 1 with nine seconds remaining. No shift, no man in motion, no misdirection -- simply a quarterback sneak, fumble, St. Louis recovers and wins. Plus fullback Bruce Miller should have been flagged for helping the runner -- he wrapped his arms around Colin Kaepernick and pushed him forward.

Trailing Arizona 14-10 at home in the fourth quarter, the Cowboys went for it on fourth-and-inches from the Cardinals' 34. Power set, no shifts, no misdirection -- the play was Load Left, which Dallas has been running, and getting stuffed on, for a quarter century. What do they teach coaches at Princeton, anyway? After the fourth-and-inches failure, Arizona controlled the remainder of the contest.

NFL teams have top-heavy coaching staffs that look like federal agency bureaucracies -- the Cowboys, for instance, have 20 coaches who do nothing all year long except football. The fact that on fourth-and-short, misdirection works and straight-ahead doesn't, is not some carefully guarded secret. So why do NFL teams insist on using plays that don't work on fourth-and-short -- often, a game's decisive down?

The Loch Ness Monster is about as easy to find as voter fraud. AP Photo

Longing For Conspiracies: In the run-up to today's midterm, many Democrats and their media supporters have decried what they claim is Republican suppression of minority voters, while many Republicans and their media supporters have decried what they claim is Democratic vote fraud. Neither claim withstands scrutiny.

Voter fraud is the Loch Ness Monster of politics -- lots of people say it exists yet no one can produce any evidence. A five-year Justice Department study conducted by the George W. Bush administration failed to uncover anything more than trivial instances of voter fraud. Justin Levitt of Loyola University Law School has found that since 2000, 31 instances out of about 1 billion ballots can be verified as voter impersonation. Levitt notes that laboriously impersonating someone else in order to cast a ballot is "a slow, clunky way to steal an election" bearing just shy of zero chance of impacting elections in which tens or hundreds of thousands of ballots are cast. Corrupt electioneering officials can indeed steal elections. But Republican anti-fraud initiatives don't concern election officials -- since there are plenty of Republican election officials -- rather, concern the ability of individuals to cast ballots.