Welcome everyone! Aren't we all excited about the new season? Since it's the start of the season (it feels like the first day of school, doesn't it?), I'll give everyone a quick primer about how this works.
I troll the web for various NFL power rankings, load them up into my computer and crunch the numbers. I then make observations based on what the numbers tell me. Don't worry, it's nothing too complicated, and I'll walk you through the various displays, explaining as we go along.
Notable Quotes
Comparing the rosters of the 2013 Raiders and 2008 Lions, I've determined that the former is much, much worse. If the two teams played, I feel like Detroit would win by double digits. Indeed, the 2013 Raiders might just become the first team to go 0-17. There's no way they're going to beat their own bye.
WalterFootball.com
Chargers fans the world over rejoiced upon the ousting of Norv Turner and AJ Smith. That excitement may have been tempered somewhat during this preseason. While there have been marked improvements in the running game, other problems are still prevalent. Make no mistake, this is a rebuilding year.
Reddit
Is there anyone on the planet who knows what to make of the Chargers right now? I checked Angie's List, NFL Media colleagues ... this is a tough team to decipher. Still thinking San Diego will be on par with the Kansas City Chiefs, but King Dunlap's presence at left tackle and a very questionable receiver group make one wish Antonio Gates were five years younger and a half-a-second faster. The easy AFC West keeps San Diego ahead of Tampa and Cleveland.
NFL.com
Division Averages
Before we get to looking at where all the teams rank, let's take look at the bigger picture in the NFL. This table takes the average rankings for each team, then averages the rankings of each team in the division. It's used as a way of showing where the tougher and weaker divisions lie each week.
Division
Avg Ranking
NFC West
11.6667
NFC North
14.1389
AFC North
14.5000
NFC South
14.9444
NFC East
15.8611
AFC South
19.2222
AFC West
20.5278
AFC East
21.1389
Observations
It wasn't all that long ago when the NFC West was the laughingstock of the league. Now look at them.
The only thing keeping the AFC West out of the cellar is Denver holding everyone else up, and the futility of the Jets pulling everyone in the East down.
Stock Rising
This table is kind of self-explanatory: it shows which teams have moved up the most this week compared to last week.
Team
Preseason Week 1 Average
Week 1 Average
Difference
CLE
14.250
12.611
1.639
CHI
8.000
6.722
1.278
NO
6.833
5.889
0.944
WAS
6.417
5.556
0.861
DET
11.250
10.556
0.694
Observations
Not much movement is to be expected going from Preseason to the Regular Season, unless a team suffers some catastrophic injuries, not much changes.
Stock Falling
Team
Preseason Week 1 Average
Week 1 Average
Difference
TB
9.917
11.278
-1.361
SDG
11.917
12.944
-1.027
PIT
7.500
8.222
-0.722
IND
5.583
6.278
-0.695
NYG
5.583
6.222
-0.639
Subjective Average
We'll start off with the Subjective Average. These rankings are the ones that has actual people ranking the teams based on their gut feelings. You'll see in a moment that some of these sites may even just throw darts at a board, or have a chicken pecking at numbers. I then take all those rankings and average them together, then sort the table based on the average ranking. This method evens out the peaks and valleys and allows us to get a more reliable "big picture" view of the perception of where teams rank in the league.
Subjective
49ers
3
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
2
1.444
0.056
Seahawks
1
3
6
3
2
3
2
2
1
2.556
0.277
Broncos
4
2
1
2
3
2
3
3
4
2.667
-0.334
Falcons
2
4
3
4
5
5
4
5
8
4.444
-0.444
Packers
5
7
5
9
4
4
7
4
6
5.667
0.333
Patriots
6
6
4
8
6
8
5
6
3
5.778
0.055
Ravens
8
5
8
6
8
7
8
7
9
7.333
-1.166
Texans
7
8
9
7
7
6
6
8
11
7.667
0.666
Bengals
9
9
7
5
9
9
9
9
15
9.000
-0.833
Redskins
10
13
16
10
11
10
10
13
7
11.111
1.722
Saints
13
16
11
18
10
11
12
10
5
11.778
1.889
Giants
12
15
10
16
12
13
13
11
10
12.444
-1.277
Colts
11
12
13
11
13
14
11
15
13
12.556
-1.389
Bears
14
11
15
12
15
12
14
14
14
13.444
2.556
Cowboys
18
17
14
15
16
15
15
12
21
15.889
-0.722
Vikings
17
10
18
13
21
17
16
19
16
16.333
0.167
Steelers
16
20
12
20
14
16
17
16
17
16.444
-1.444
Rams
15
14
17
17
19
22
18
20
12
17.111
-0.444
Dolphins
20
25
23
14
23
19
22
18
18
20.222
-0.389
Panthers
23
28
19
19
18
18
23
22
19
21.000
0.500
Lions
21
18
28
21
17
20
19
24
22
21.111
1.389
Chiefs
19
19
24
27
20
24
21
17
24
21.667
0.833
Buccaneers
22
21
21
23
24
21
20
23
28
22.556
-2.723
Eagles
25
23
25
26
22
23
26
21
25
24.000
1.000
Browns
28
24
26
24
25
26
28
26
20
25.222
3.278
Cardinals
26
29
20
25
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