I can’t say that I am a huge football fan, and I can’t claim to be an expert on how teams are ranked. One thing is clear, no-one has come up with the simplistic idea of just looking at the league as a whole. Forget the conferences and the other BS. Who is winning and who is not. Even though the season is only in week three, the numbers are starting to come in.

I am not an expert in statistics, so I had to cobble together an excel spreadsheet. I discounted most of data and looked at the basic facts, how many wins and how many losses. I included the points for and points against data, but left it out of the calculation. Lets face it, who cares? A team can lose by 1 point one week and win by 30 points the next week. This is a boring statistic. Indeed most of the statistics are boring. Rushing yards are what you do when you hear your wife drive up and you have messed up the house and need to get it tidied up before she gives you a good tongue lashing.

Defensive tactics also mean little to my simple brain. Infrequently have I found that the plan of playing Possum in the bedroom works well.

So when you strip away all of the fluff here is what the NFL standings are.

Team Won Lost Percentage Points For Against
Cincinnati Bengals 3 0 1 80 33
Arizona Cardinals 3 0 1 66 45
Buffalo Bills 2 1 0.667 62 52
New England Patriots 2 1 0.667 66 49
Baltimore Ravens 2 1 0.667 65 50
Pittsburgh Steelers 2 1 0.667 73 72
Houston Texans 2 1 0.667 64 50
Denver Broncos 2 1 0.667 75 67
San Diego Chargers 2 1 0.667 69 49
Dallas Cowboys 2 1 0.667 77 69
Detroit Lions 2 1 0.667 61 45
Carolina Panthers 2 1 0.667 63 58
Atlanta Falcons 2 1 0.667 103 72
Seattle Seahawks 2 1 0.667 83 66
New York Jets 1 1 0.5 43 45
Miami Dolphins 1 2 0.333 58 83
Cleveland Browns 1 2 0.333 74 77
Indianapolis Colts 1 2 0.333 95 78
Tennessee Titans 1 2 0.333 43 69
Kansas City Chiefs 1 2 0.333 61 65
New York Giants 1 2 0.333 58 77
Washington Redskins 1 2 0.333 81 64
Chicago Bears 1 1 0.5 48 43
Minnesota Vikings 1 2 0.333 50 56
Green Bay Packers 1 2 0.333 54 79
New Orleans Saints 1 2 0.333 78 72
San Francisco 49ers 1 2 0.333 62 68
St. Louis Rams 1 2 0.333 56 85
Jacksonville Jaguars 0 3 0 44 119
Oakland Raiders 0 3 0 37 65
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 0 3 0 45 95

The bottom line is the San Diego Chargers are in the top 10. In fact if you look closer at the data, they are tied for third place! Likewise the teams at the end of the list are in the wrong order. Tampa Bay has managed to score 45 points, this is clearly more than the Raiders 37, and the Jaguars with 44.

I am sure that people will disagree with my analysis, but it is what it is.

Simon Barrett

 

 

 

 

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