Tuesday, December 10, 2013

NFL Week 14 APR vs. ESPN

What this is

A comparison of APR's Week 14 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 with the widest differential are listed. The number in parentheses is the difference between APR's rank and ESPN's rank.

Teams ESPN likes more than APR:

Bears (+8)
ESPN moves the Bears up a couple spots after their beat-down of the hapless Cowboys defense. Which, to put things in perspective, is probably their best showing since their week 3 victory over the Steelers.
Jets (+7)
ESPN moves the Jets up a couple spots this week. #21 is really too near the middle of the pack for a team with 6 really ugly losses on their record, including 2 in their home stadium.
On the bubble:
The Lions (+6) are 1-3 in their last 4 games, and have turned the ball over 15 times in that strech. That doesn't seem like a #12 team to me.
The Packers (+6) are 1-4-1 in their last 6. Aaron Rodgers might (or might not) be back next week. But for now, APR's rank of #24 seems about right.

Teams APR likes more than ESPN:

Buccaneers (-8)
The Bucs are 4-1 in their last 5, losing only to the surging Panthers on the road. They're out of the playoffs, which is why ESPN doesn't like them, but they're sure not an easy win anymore, either.
Rams (-7)
APR and ESPN both hold the Rams steady on their loss to the Cardinals. APR has them at #13, which is too high for an 8-loss team.
Falcons (-7)
APR moves the Falcons up 1 on their 1-point road loss to the Packers. I'm not really sure why APR has them as high as #23, although they did have a close loss to the Saints in week 12, which may make them seem better than they are.
On the bubble:
APR has the Chargers (-6) at #11, which is too high for a 6-7 team.