What this is
A comparison of APR's Week 15 power rankings with ESPN's rankings for the same week of games. This acts as a sanity check (both ways) to see what teams are over- or underrated.
Only teams that are at least 9 positions apart are listed. The number in parentheses is the difference between APR's rank and ESPN's rank.
Teams ESPN likes more than APR:
- Chiefs (+11)
- I don't have much to add to what I said last week about the Chiefs. It will take more than a win over the not-very-impressive Rams to change my opinion here.
- On the bubble:
- Rams (+8). Coming off another double-digit loss, this time at home, I don't know how ESPN can rank the Rams out of the bottom 10.
- In range:
- Jets, Seahawks (+6).
Teams APR likes more than ESPN:
- Bills (-10)
- The Bills are another team that seem to be turning the corner. They've lost 6 games by one score or less, they took the playoff-contending Ravens and Steelers to overtime, and they're 3-2 in their last 5 games. Yeah, they're only 4-10, but, like the Lions, they're no longer an easy team to beat.
- On the bubble:
- Packers, Lions, Browns (-8). Teams with a lot of close losses. The Packers 6 losses are all by 4 points or less. As noted before, I think APR is too lenient on close losses, particularly when they start to mount up.
