Winning Stats Power Ranking - Week 8

by mgrex03 on Oct 30, 2009 12:40 AM EDT in Stampede Blue Power Rankings Comment 3 comments

More photos » by Jeff Roberson - AP

The leader of the #1 Offense in the NFL. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Quite a bit of movement this week in the Power Rankings, as the better teams start to separate themselves from the rest of the league. The Colts moved up 2 spots this week to #4 after their dismantling of the Rams. As I mentioned in the Inside the Numbers article, the Colts now have the #1 offense, but a middle of the pack defense, which is keeping them at #4.

The biggest surprise on here has the be the Patriots at #2, but that mainly has to do with the fact they've played the Titans and Buccaneers, who've combined for as many wins as all of us have this year. Their upcoming schedule of Dolphins, Colts, Jets, Saints (OMG!), and Dolphins again will show if they deserve to stay up there.

More analysis after the jump, along with the rankings:

Team	Power Rankings			Strength of Schedule
Team	Offense	Defense	Total	Offense	Defense	Total
Saints	5	2	1	3	26	11
Patriots	2	8	2	17	22	19
Broncos	7	3	3	29	11	18
Colts	1	16	4	28	27	27
Packers	6	5	5	31	24	30
Giants	12	6	6	11	29	22
Ravens	3	17	7	25	9	17
Eagles	18	1	8	22	32	32
Steelers	4	18	9	32	19	29
Vikings	11	10	10	30	14	25
Cowboys	8	20	11	20	23	20
Dolphins	10	19	12	8	6	4
Bengals	14	15	13	19	5	5
Cardinals	20	4	14	9	12	15
Texans	16	14	15	12	30	28
Falcons	9	23	16	18	8	14
Jets	23	7	17	6	20	12
Redskins	21	11	18	27	31	31
Seahawks	19	13	19	26	16	26
Chargers	13	28	20	23	7	8
Jaguars	15	27	21	21	25	24
49ers	25	9	22	15	15	21
Bears	17	24	23	24	4	10
Bills	28	12	24	10	18	16
Panthers	24	21	25	16	28	23
Chiefs	26	22	26	13	13	9
Lions	22	31	27	5	2	2
Titans	30	26	28	14	3	3
Buccaneers	29	30	29	1	21	7
Rams	27	32	30	7	10	13
Raiders	32	25	31	2	17	6
Browns	31	29	32	4	1	1

A few more thoughts from around the league:

Don't let common misconceptions tell you how well teams are playing. Take a look at the Ravens, Steelers, and Cardinals. All 3 are lauded over for the side of the football that is average at best, while excelling on the other side. It was crazy to include Kurt Warner in any MVP talks last year, and it's even more so this year. Likewise with the Steelers and Ravens...they are winning on Offense, and not on Defense.
I was talking to a buddy of mine who is an Eagles fan, and I mentioned to him about the Eagles being #1 defensively. He was quick to point out the QBs they have faced this year: Delhomme, Brees, Cassel, Josh Johnson, Russell, and Campbell. They really just need Derek Anderson thrown in to make it complete. They have had the easiest defensive schedule so far, but that is pretty obvious.
The Giants have really slipped the past 2 weeks, after playing some real teams. Maybe they aren't as good as everyone in New York made them out to be.
The Colts schedule has been pretty easy so far this season. Having the schedule backloaded isn't such a bad thing though. It will keep them motivated throughout the season, and playing sharp going into January.

This weekend I'm going to attempt to get a Defensive-Adjusted Ranking. That is, if I can figure out iterative calculations in Excel. This will (hopefully) give us a little clearer picture as to how well these teams are playing.

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