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.