The NFL season is back and so are the power ranks! If you are newer reader to the site, each week I put up the NFL power ranks, which are based on a weighted mathematical formula that takes record, recent success, strength of schedule, strength of division, offense, defense, and turnover ratio into account. The ranks have been a fun tool over the past few years to see who is the best right now and who might be better (or worse) than their record indicates. Last year, my first playoff prediction based on the ranks, which occurred half way through the season turned out to be very close to actual match-ups, so it’s not a rock solid formula, but it isn’t totally worthless either.
However, the week 1 power rankings are usually pretty worthless. Recent success takes last season heavily into account and all the 1-0 teams have a terrible strength of schedule while all the 0-1 teams have a perfect strength of schedule. I have some pretty high doubts that some the teams at the top of these first ranks, who took advantage of beating down bad teams, will still be at the top at the end of the season, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Saints and even the Texans or Titans are still there.
The bottom 5 is pretty interesting to start the year. I wouldn’t be too surprised if most of these teams stay there almost all season. The Broncos look pretty bad, and the Raiders, Rams, and 49ers have been no strangers to the bottom 5 over the past few years (even though the 49ers were allegedly going to be better this year). It’s not a stretch the Bengals will stay down there too, despite a good year last year.
Here are the initial ranks:
1. Titans – 81.77
2. Texans – 78.06
3. Saints – 77.58
4. Steelers – 75.32
5. Buccaneers – 71.61
6. Seahawks – 68.06
7. Jaguars – 67.90
8. Patriots – 67.58
9. Giants – 66.94
10. Bears – 66.77
11. Packers – 65.16
12. Cardinals – 64.68
13. Chiefs – 62.90
14. Ravens – 61.94
15. Redskins – 61.61
16. Dolphins – 59.35
17. Colts – 44.84
18. Jets – 44.68
19. Falcons – 42.90
20. Browns – 42.58
21. Panthers – 40.97
22. Eagles – 37.42
23(tie). Cowboys – 36.61
23(tie). Vikings – 36.61
25. Bills – 33.55
26. Lions – 31.77
27. Chargers – 30.65
28. 49ers – 29.84
29. Bengals – 29.03
30. Rams – 28.87
31. Raiders – 21.77
32. Broncos – 19.03
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