NFL Power Rankings Seahawks sitting at #11

NFL Power Rankings have definitely become a thing. All season I’ve been providing a weekly update of the top national lists and showing where the Seattle Seahawks stand in each one. But I want something better. Something that helps mitigate some of the extremes you see from one poll to the next, and something that provides a balanced look at the overall national viewpoint on where the Seahawks stand relative to the rest of the league.

Enter….. the Aggregate NFL Power Rankings!

Thanks to all the polls out there (with a huge helping hand from Microsoft Excel) there is enough information to compile a comprehensive look at the overall rankings. Most of these polls are subjective, driven by sheer opinion, while a few are created using statistical metrics (such as strength of schedule, offensive and defensive ratings etc.).

Overall I will use 10 different rankings, from the following sources:

12thmanrising.com: Keith Myers*
ESPN Power Poll: John Clayton*
Pro Football Focus: Nathan Jahnke*
Fox Sports: Dan Schneier
CBS Sports: Pete Prisco
Sports Illustrated: Chris Burke
NFL.com: Elliott Harrison
USA Today: Staff
walterfootball.com: Walter Cherepiinsky
Yahoo Sports: Frank Schwab

*The first three rankings are statistics based, objective, numbers plugged into a spreadsheet and spit out for our enjoyment. The rest are opinion polls*

All I did was take each and every list, plug the numbers into a spreadsheet, and calculate the average position for each team.

So without further ado, here are the results in reverse order. After the list, we’ll highlight some key points.

32. Cleveland Browns (2-8)

31. San Francisco (3-6)

30. Detroit Lions (2-7)

29. Tennessee Titans (2-7)

28. San Diego Chargers (2-7)

27. Baltimore Ravens (2-7)

26. Jacksonville Jaguars (3-6)

25. Dallas Cowboys (2-7)

24. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-5)

23. New Orleans Saints (4-6)

22. Houston Texans (4-5)

21. Miami Dolphins (4-5)

20. Washington Redskins (4-5)

19. Indianapolis Colts (4-5)

18. St. Louis Rams (4-5)

17. Philadelphia Eagles (4-5)

16. Chicago Bears (4-5)

15. Oakland Raiders (4-5)

14. Kansas City Chiefs (4-5)

13. New York Jets (5-4)

12. New York Giants (5-5)

11. Seattle Seahawks (4-5)

10. Atlanta Falcons (6-3)

9. Buffalo Bills (5-4)

8. Green Bay Packers (6-3)

7. Denver Broncos (7-2)

6. Pittsburgh Steelers (6-4)

5. Minnesota Vikings (7-2)

4. Cincinatti Bengals (8-1)

3. Arizona Cardinals (7-2)

2. Carolina Panthers (9-0)

New England Patriots (9-0)

More from Seattle Seahawks News

NOTES:

First of all…. wow, a whopping eleven teams with matching 4-5 records. The Seahawks are definitely not alone.
Only 11 teams with winning records. The league wants parity but, is this really what they had in mind?
Keith’s Power Index loves the #14 Kansas City Chiefs, assigning them the number 1 spot in his stats-based rankings.
There was a near consensus on the top four teams. None of them were ranked lower than 5th in anyone’s poll.
However, Arizona and Cincinnati are in a virtual tie for 3rd. The Cardinals edged out the Bengals in average ranking 3.6 to 3.8.
Seattle has the highest average ranking of any team with a losing record. They have a high of #5 (Keith’s Power Index), and a low of 17 (Pro Football Focus).

Next: Is Russell Wilson to blame for Hawks woes?

One final observation: A proper power rankings list should give you the ability to project how teams would perform against one another, correct? For example, on a neutral field we should assume that Buffalo would beat Kansas City. If that’s the case, the Seahawks are listed behind three of their remaining opponents (Pittsburgh, Minnesota and Arizona). That would work out to a 4-3 record over the seven remaining games, resulting in an 8-8 record, certainly leaving them out of the playoff race.

Let’s hope that’s not the case.

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Aggregate NFL Power Rankings – Seahawks 11th overall

By Dan Viens | Nov 19, 2015