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NFC West not currently an elite division

By Keith Myers

Oct 2, 2016; Glendale, AZ, USA; Arizona Cardinals running back David Johnson (31) fumbles the ball as Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Dominique Easley (91) defends during the second half at University of Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 2, 2016; Glendale, AZ, USA; Arizona Cardinals running back David Johnson (31) fumbles the ball as Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Dominique Easley (91) defends during the second half at University of Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports /
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The NFC West is off to a slow start overall, and the NFL Power Index suggests that the Seattle Seahawks should have an easier-than-normal path to the playoffs.

After posting the results of of the NFL Power Index for the week, I took a look at the NFC West. The Seahawks represent the division in the top tier of teams, but the rest of the division looks fairly poor according to the mathematical model.

Clearly, the days of the NFC West being the league’s toughest division are over. They no longer have two teams in the top 5, which has been the case almost every week since the 2nd half of 2012.

Of course, that led to the question: What division is the strongest?

To try and answer that, I used two different methods. The 1st was to add the ranks all the division teams. So the NFC West ranking total would be 5 (Seattle) plus 13 (Arizona), etc. Obviously, the lower total here mean a better division.

Because of the occasional gaps between one rank and the next in terms of overall Power, I also combined the Power metric for all the division teams. In this case, a higher sum indicates a better division.

Both methods produced the same order:

DivisionRanking totalPower Total
AFC West44236.49
AFC North50224.94
NFC East63216.31
NFC North64211.16
NFC West72199.04
AFC East73192.19
NFC South76187.51
AFC South86165.34

Obviously, the AFC West is the class of the NFL right now, and no other division is particularly close. This makes sense when you consider that Denver and Oakland are both playoff caliber teams. The Chargers have led by 2 scores in the 4th quarter of every game. Even the Chiefs have looked decent except in that one blowout loss in prime time.

Is also shouldn’t be much of a surprise that the AFC South is the league’s worst division. There isn’t a decent team in that division. The Colts, Jaguars, Texans and Titans make a strong case for playoff seeding to not take into account if a team won their division.

As for the NFC West, come in as the 5th-best division overall. There is also a large gap between them and the NFC North in 4th. So while it is a median division, it is also below average overall.

What does this mean for Seattle? Quite simply, it means an easier road to a decent playoff seed. The metrics suggest both a collapse from LA is coming and that Arizona isn’t likely to surge into contention.

Next: Seahawks 5th in current NFL Power Index rankings

We’ll see how this progresses over the next few weeks, but for now the Seahawks will have an easier path to the playoffs than they’ve had at any time during the Russell Wilson era.

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