Final Mathematical NFL Power Rankings Of The Season
By Keith Myers
It is time for the final installment for my mathematical power rankings for this season. If you’re new here, or haven’t been paying attention, these are based entirely on stats. About 30 season stats are combined into 1 meta-stat (power) and the teams are ranked accordingly. There’s no popularity contest going on here.
Seattle wraps up the year at #2. There was a chance that they could overtake the Patriots in the final week, but they struggled to beat the Rams while the Patriots dominated the Dolphins. Still, the Seahawks ended the season as the as the 2nd best team in the NFL, at least statistically.
Interestingly, these rankings suggest that there are only 4 true contenders for the Super Bowl this year. Seattle and the 49ers in the NFC, and and the Patriots and Broncos in the AFC. While the Packers are generally considered the favorite in the NFC right now, a power of only 75.0 suggests that they likely wont be able to go on the road and win a playoff game.
Rank |
Last
Team
Yds
PTDif
ST
Power
1
1
New England
0.38
14.1
12.36
91.9
2
2
Seattle
2.28
10.5
3.76
88.6
3
3
San Francisco
4.24
7.7
5.82
87.8
4
4
Denver
1.82
12
8.26
86.1
5
5
Chicago
0.5
6.1
8.34
79.0
6
8
Washington
2.5
3
2.92
77.8
7
6
Houston
0.92
5.3
-2.24
76.2
8
7
Green Bay
0.14
6.1
9.3
75.0
9
9
Atlanta
-1.46
7.5
-1.58
73.3
10
10
Baltimore
0.58
3.4
7.62
72.6
11
13
NY Giant
-0.7
5.3
-2.12
71.9
12
11
Cincinnati
0.4
4.4
3.82
71.5
13
12
Minnesota
1.44
1.9
4.04
69.3
14
14
Carolina
1.58
-0.4
6.82
68.6
15
15
Pittsburgh
1
1.4
-5.08
65.3
16
16
Tampa Bay
0.84
-0.3
-9.3
64.5
17
17
San Diego
-0.42
0
2.62
62.6
18
19
New Orleans
-1.84
0.4
-11.2
59.0
19
18
Miami
-0.04
-1.8
2.08
58.5
20
20
Cleveland
-0.72
-4.1
15.94
57.6
21
21
St. Louis
-0.56
-3.1
-10.34
55.9
22
22
Dallas
-1.44
-1.5
4.76
55.0
23
26
Buffalo
-0.1
-5.7
9.66
52.5
24
23
Detroit
-0.74
-4
-6.16
51.8
25
25
Indianapolis
-2.48
-1.9
-3.72
51.3
26
28
Tennessee
-0.42
-8.8
8.28
50.1
27
24
NY Jets
-0.9
-5.8
0.34
49.5
28
27
Arizona
-2.74
-6.7
-3.98
45.8
29
30
Oakland
-1.5
-9.6
-17.38
42.6
30
29
Philadelphia
-0.52
-10.3
-10.96
40.4
31
31
Jacksonville
-1.48
-11.9
-16.12
40.0
32
32
Kansas City
-1.32
-13.4
-14.34
33.6
Yds – Yards – A poorly named index that is found by subtracting the defensive index from the offensive index. Think of it as how much better the offense is in terms of yards per play than what the defense gives up.
PtDef – Point Differential per game.
ST – Special teams index. Made up mostly of return yards, and return yards allowed. Corrects made for blocked kicks and other thing that are a part of special teams play.