NFL Power Index: Arizona up to No. 2, Seattle 5th
By Keith Myers
The Seattle Seahawks remain in the league’s top 5 in the NFL Power Index despite their 5-5 record.
It is a late edition of the NFL Power Index this week. The holiday interfered with the writing schedule a bit. Below are the results following last week, but before the Thanksgiving slate of games.
For the second week in a row, the Kansas City Chiefs are in the top spot. They continue to play well despite the league’s toughest strength of schedule. They also lead the league in turnover differential.
The Seahawks remain strong in the NFL power index despite their mediocre 5-5 record. While they aren’t winning as much as they’d like, they’re still putting up stats that correlation very strongly to winning games.
Interesting, the team right behind them in the rankings is this week’s opponent. The Pittsburgh Steelers are sixth overall, but there is a sizable gap between Seattle and them.
One of the big results this week is that the Detroit Lions are no longer in the single digits. Until this week, they’ve been the worst team in the history of this index. Now they’re up in the teens. They’re still terrible, but not historically so.
NFL Power Index
| Rank | Last | Team | Yds | ST | Pt Dif | SoS | TO | Power |
| 1 | 1 | Kansas City | 1.1 | 23.5 | 5.9 | 2.7 | 10 | 85.83 |
| 2 | 3 | Arizona | 2.0 | 24.0 | 12.0 | -0.5 | 0 | 81.15 |
| 3 | 2 | New England | 0.8 | 11.7 | 14.1 | -0.5 | 6 | 77.49 |
| 4 | 4 | Cincinnati | 0.2 | 17.4 | 8.0 | 1 | 4 | 76.08 |
| 5 | 5 | Seattle | 1.9 | 18.0 | 3.6 | 0.6 | 0 | 75.27 |
| 6 | 6 | Pittsburgh | 1.7 | 20.2 | 4.5 | 0.3 | 5 | 69.83 |
| 7 | 7 | Carolina | 1.2 | 20.7 | 10.8 | -1.7 | 13 | 69.76 |
| 8 | 9 | Green Bay | -0.3 | 28.7 | 5.1 | 1 | 8 | 67.38 |
| 9 | 8 | Buffalo | 1.1 | 12.3 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 5 | 66.05 |
| 10 | 11 | Denver | 0.9 | 14.3 | 3.9 | 1.1 | 0 | 64.73 |
| 11 | 10 | Minnesota | 0.8 | 24.1 | 2.7 | -0.5 | 1 | 62.97 |
| 12 | 12 | NY Jets | 0.2 | 20.1 | 2.6 | -1.2 | 2 | 58.22 |
| 13 | 13 | Atlanta | 0.9 | 22.8 | 3.6 | -2.4 | -1 | 56.12 |
| 14 | 18 | Tampa Bay | 1.3 | 22.3 | -1.8 | -2 | 3 | 55.22 |
| 15 | 15 | NY Giants | -0.9 | 19.3 | 2.0 | -0.8 | 12 | 54.60 |
| 16 | 19 | Houston | -1.2 | 24.9 | -2.0 | -0.4 | 0 | 53.77 |
| 17 | 16 | Oakland | -0.1 | 24.6 | -1.9 | -0.1 | -1 | 53.24 |
| 18 | 17 | St. Louis | 0.3 | 21.9 | -2.0 | 0.2 | 2 | 50.50 |
| 19 | 14 | Philadelphia | -0.4 | 18.1 | 0.0 | -1.1 | 1 | 47.38 |
| 20 | 22 | Dallas | 0.0 | 29.7 | -3.8 | 0.6 | -9 | 46.59 |
| 21 | 21 | New Orleans | -1.6 | 21.7 | -6.0 | -0.9 | -4 | 45.99 |
| 22 | 23 | Indianapolis | -0.7 | 21.9 | -2.4 | 0.3 | -6 | 45.51 |
| 23 | 26 | Tennessee | -0.5 | 19.5 | -5.1 | -1.8 | -7 | 42.81 |
| 24 | 24 | Chicago | -0.7 | 26.1 | -3.7 | 1.7 | -3 | 40.36 |
| 25 | 28 | Baltimore | -0.4 | 24.3 | -2.3 | -0.5 | -8 | 40.31 |
| 26 | 20 | Washington | -1.5 | 17.6 | -3.2 | -0.2 | -5 | 39.10 |
| 27 | 27 | Miami | 0.2 | 18.3 | -4.4 | 0.1 | -2 | 38.63 |
| 28 | 25 | San Diego | -1.9 | 32.8 | -6.9 | -0.4 | -7 | 37.58 |
| 29 | 29 | Jacksonville | 0.2 | 20.6 | -5.7 | 0 | -5 | 37.45 |
| 30 | 31 | Cleveland | -1.9 | 16.5 | -9.1 | 0.8 | -5 | 26.53 |
| 31 | 30 | San Francisco | -1.5 | 22.1 | -11.3 | 2.1 | -1 | 18.60 |
| 32 | 32 | Detroit | -1.5 | 26.7 | -8.9 | 1.5 | -10 | 14.08 |
Over 30 stats are combined into several indexes, and then those indexes are weighted and combined into a raw power index. That is then normalized to historical data from the last 15 years. 50 is average.
Yds – yards per play index. Offense and defense included, with run and pass weighted separately.
SOS – Strength of schedule ratings from TeamRankings.
ST – Special teams index, created using returns averages, both for and against
TO – Turnover differential