NFL Power Index: Seattle up to 4, Denver rising fast
By Keith Myers
The NFL Power Index has some familiar faces in familiar places, but there’s been some significant movement at the top and the bottom of the rankings.
The Kansas City Chiefs are camped out in the league’s top spot once again. They’ve begun to create some serious separation between themselves and the rest of the league as well.
The Denver Broncos are rising rapidly now that Brock Osweiler has taken over at QB. Their offensive number have taken a step up each week that Peyton Manning has been on the sidelines.
The Seahawks climbed passed Cincinnati into the 4th spot this week. The improvement in their offensive, third downs, turnovers and return numbers were able to more-than offset the losses in the defensive columns.
The undefeated Carolina Panthers are at a season-high sixth right now. The NFL Power Index had supported the “Paper Tiger” description of Carolina for much of the season, but they are starting to creep up the ranking now.
Finally, we have a new bottom feeder for the first time in many weeks. The Detroit Lions, who were were under five in total power not long ago (which was the worst score the index has ever seen), have battled their way up into the 20s with some good performances recently.
That leaves some old friends, the San Francisco 49er,s as the league’s worst team. It was only a couple of seasons ago when the 49ers were consistently challenging Seattle for the top spot in this index. The mighty have indeed fallen.
NFL Power Index
| Rank | Last | Team | Yds | ST | 3% | SoS | Power |
| 1 | 1 | Kansas City | 1.1 | 24.9 | 3.7 | 2.7 | 88.66 |
| 2 | 3 | Arizona | 1.5 | 23.6 | 12.3 | -0.5 | 81.27 |
| 3 | 2 | New England | 0.5 | 15.9 | 5.6 | 0.3 | 79.67 |
| 4 | 5 | Seattle | 1.7 | 16.4 | 6.3 | 0.6 | 78.49 |
| 5 | 4 | Cincinnati | 0.4 | 18.6 | 4.8 | 0.7 | 78.34 |
| 6 | 7 | Carolina | 1.2 | 20.9 | 3.3 | -1.6 | 72.64 |
| 7 | 11 | Denver | 1.2 | 16.9 | 0 | 1.9 | 71.30 |
| 8 | 10 | Minnesota | 0.7 | 28.3 | 3.6 | 0.1 | 68.31 |
| 9 | 6 | Pittsburgh | 1.4 | 20.2 | -5.2 | 1.2 | 65.88 |
| 10 | 9 | Green Bay | -0.2 | 29.8 | -2.9 | 0.9 | 65.11 |
| 11 | 8 | Buffalo | 0.9 | 13.1 | -1.8 | 1.3 | 62.44 |
| 12 | 12 | NY Jets | 0.4 | 17.4 | 5.8 | -1.6 | 60.32 |
| 13 | 16 | Oakland | -0.1 | 24.9 | 5.1 | 0.1 | 55.80 |
| 14 | 18 | Tampa Bay | 1.5 | 24.3 | -1.6 | -1.8 | 55.70 |
| 15 | 19 | Houston | -1.0 | 22.9 | 12.2 | -1 | 55.68 |
| 16 | 13 | Atlanta | 0.9 | 25.5 | 2.6 | -2.6 | 54.29 |
| 17 | 15 | NY Giants | -1.0 | 18.3 | -6.5 | -1.4 | 51.17 |
| 18 | 17 | St. Louis | 0.1 | 22.4 | -5.2 | 1 | 46.24 |
| 19 | 23 | Indianapolis | -1.2 | 19.6 | 3.1 | -0.4 | 45.38 |
| 20 | 20 | Washington | -1.2 | 14.7 | 1.6 | -0.9 | 44.91 |
| 21 | 14 | Philadelphia | -0.6 | 22.9 | -8.2 | -1.3 | 44.87 |
| 22 | 21 | New Orleans | -1.7 | 22.5 | 9.6 | -1 | 43.30 |
| 23 | 26 | Tennessee | -0.6 | 14.9 | -7.3 | -2.3 | 43.10 |
| 24 | 28 | Baltimore | -0.2 | 30.6 | -6.9 | -0.6 | 42.33 |
| 25 | 24 | Chicago | -0.9 | 25.3 | -1.9 | 2.5 | 41.79 |
| 26 | 22 | Dallas | -0.1 | 25.0 | 2.2 | 0 | 41.21 |
| 27 | 29 | Jacksonville | 0.4 | 18.0 | -10.9 | -0.5 | 38.88 |
| 28 | 25 | San Diego | -1.9 | 25.5 | 4.8 | -0.2 | 37.77 |
| 29 | 27 | Miami | -0.1 | 16.9 | -15.2 | 0.2 | 32.24 |
| 30 | 31 | Cleveland | -1.8 | 16.7 | 1.7 | 0.5 | 30.78 |
| 31 | 32 | Detroit | -1.1 | 27.9 | -7.6 | 1.5 | 24.52 |
| 32 | 30 | San Francisco | -1.0 | 23.0 | -8.6 | 2 | 18.68 |
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 – Index of yards per play. Run and pass weighted separately.
SOS – Strength of schedule, taken from TeamRankings.
ST – Special teams index, created using punt and kick returns averages