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A different approach to power Rankings

While I enjoy keeping up with the myriad of Power Rankings out there as much as the next guy, I also realize they're somewhat silly and irrelevant.

What I thought might have more meaning relevance is to make categories of teams.  Just off the top of my head, I put the teams into the following 4 tiers:

Elite (6): Colts, Patriots, Steelers, Broncos, Saints, Vikings

Contenders (9): Giants, Packers, Cowboys, Bengals, Ravens, Falcons, Eagles, Cardinals, Chargers

The Fringe (8): Jets, Bears, Texans, Jags, Bills, Dolphins, Seahawks, 49ers

The Awful (9): Titans, Panthers, Redskins, Browns, Rams, Raiders, Bucs, Chiefs, Lions

Obviously that doesn't settle all the quibbling - I'm sure you might want to move a team like the Eagles, Chargers, 49ers, Steelers, etc, etc - but I do think this approach is useful, particularly this year, when the spread between teams seems to be growing.

What I then did was to look at the game results thus far this year.  Now obviously this is a little bit of a chicken and the egg problem, since a large input to my putting teams into tiers was those very results, but the results were nonetheless striking.

Tier 1 vs Tier 4: 13-0

Tier 1 vs Tier 3: 8-2 (Bears over Steelers, Jets over Patriots)

Tier 2 vs Tier 4: 20-1 (Raiders over Eagles)

Tier 1 vs Tier 2: 11-1 (Bengals over Steelers)

Tier 2 vs Tier 3: 9-2 (49ers over Cardinals, Texans over Bengals)

Tier 3 vs Tier 4: 11-1 (Browns over Bills)

(1 vs 1 = 2 games, 2 vs 2 = 6 games, 3 vs 3 = 9 games, 4 vs 4 = 7 games)

So in 79 games involving teams on different tiers, there have only been 7 upsets!

Full stats after the jump.

Tier 1

Colts

vs 1 0-0; vs 2 1-0 (Arz); vs 3 3-0 (Sea, Mia, Jax); vs 4 2-0 (Stl, Ten)

Patriots

vs 1 0-1 (Den); vs 2 2-0 (Atl, Bal); vs 3 1-1 (Buf / NYJ); vs 4 2-0 (TB, Ten)

Broncos

vs 1 1-0 (NE); vs 2 3-0 (SD, Dal, Cin); vs 3 0-0; vs 4 2-0 (Cle, Oak)

Steelers

vs 1 1-0 (Min); vs 2 1-1 (SD / Cin); vs 3 0-1 (Chi); vs 4 3-0 (Det, Cle, Ten)

Vikings

vs 1 0-1 (Pit); vs 2 2-0 (GB, Bal); vs 3 1-0 (SF); vs 4 3-0 (Det, Stl, Cle)

Saints

vs 1 0-0; vs 2 2-0 (Phi, NYG); vs 3 3-0 (NYJ, Mia, Buf); vs 4 1-0 (Det)

Tier 2

Chargers

vs 1 0-2 (Pit, Den); vs 2 0-1 (Bal); vs 3 1-0 (Mia); vs 4 2-0 (KC, Oak)

Ravens

vs 1 0-2 (Min, NE); vs 2 1-1 (SD / Cin); vs 3 0-0; vs 4 2-0 (Cle, KC)

Bengals

vs 1 1-1 (Pit / Den); vs 2 2-0 (Bal, GB); vs 3 1-1 (Chi / Hou); vs 4 1-0 (Cle)

Eagles

vs 1 0-1 (NO); vs 2 0-0; vs 3 0-0; vs 4 4-1 (Was, TB, KC, Car / Oak)

Giants

vs 1 0-1 (NO); vs 2 1-1 (Dal / Arz); vs 3 0-0; vs 4 4-0 (Oak, KC, TB, Was)

Cowboys

vs 1 0-1 (Den); vs 2 1-1 (Atl / NYG); vs 3 0-0; vs 4 3-0 (KC, Car, TB)

Packers

vs 1 0-1 (Min); vs 2 0-1 (Cin); vs 3 1-0 (Chi); vs 4 3-0 (Cle, Det, Stl)

Cardinals

vs 1 0-1 (Ind); vs 2 1-0 (NYG); vs 3 3-1 (Sea, Jac, Hou / SF); vs 4 0-0

Falcons

vs 1 0-1 (NE); vs 2 0-1 (Dal); vs 3 3-0 (SF, Chi, Mia); vs 4 1-0 (Car)

Tier 3

Jags 0-1, 0-1, 1-1, 2-0

Texans 0-0, 1-1, 1-2, 2-0

Jets 1-1, 0-0, 1-2, 2-0

Bills 0-2, 0-0, 1-1, 2-1

Dolphins 0-2, 0-2, 2-0, 0-0

Bears 1-0, 0-3, 1-0, 1-0

Seahawks 0-1, 0-1, 1-2, 1-0

49ers 0-1, 1-1, 1-1, 1-0

Tier 4

Titans 0-3, 0-0, 0-3, 0-0

Chiefs 0-0, 0-5, 0-0, 1-1

Raiders 0-1, 1-2, 0-2, 1-0

Browns 0-3, 0-3, 1-0, 0-0

Redskins 0-0, 0-2, 0-0, 2-3

Lions 0-3, 0-1, 0-1, 1-0

Rams 0-2, 0-1, 0-3, 0-1

Panthers 0-0, 0-3, 0-1, 2-0

Bucs 0-1, 0-3, 0-1, 0-2

                                                                                                                                                                                                               

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Stampede Blue's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Stampede Blue's writers or editors.

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