Tuesday, January 4, 2011

NFL: Week 17 APR vs. ESPN

What this is

A comparison of APR's Week 16 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 (+12)
The Chiefs went 2-4 in division games, worse than the Raiders (6-0) and the Chargers (3-3). They've also won just 3 games away from Arrowhead Stadium (Browns, Seahawks, and Rams). They are just not a good team.
Rams (+11), Seahawks (+10)
ESPN inexplicably raises the Seahawks 7 spots on their unimpressive win over the Rams, while dropping the Rams only 1. Both of these teams belong in the bottom 10.
On the bubble:
Titans (+7)

Teams APR likes more than ESPN:

Bills, Lions (-13)
Do these teams really belong in the bottom 10? Both are in very competitive divsions, and both showed signs of turning things around.
Bengals (-9), Browns (-8)
The Bengals are clearly awful, so I'm willing to stipulate that APR has them overrated even at a relatively modest #22. While the Browns... well, they probably did the right thing getting rid of Mangini. The real question here is, how does Marvin Lewis still have his job?
On the bubble:
Packers (-7)

Stay tuned!

Game picks and power rankings will continue on through the playoffs, along with some season wrapup posts.