NFL Power Rankings: Week Five

NFL Power Rankings

9/30/2008 Rankings

By Paul Bessire, WhatIfSports.com

Sept. 30, 2008

 

WhatIfSports.com utilizes its NFL football simulation engine to present the most comprehensive, deterministic and unbiased ranking of all 32 teams. We simulated every possible match-up in the NFL 100 times, and used the winning percentages from those nearly 50,000 games to evaluate all every team. All 32 teams are ranked below with their average points for and against from the simulated games. Simulations are based on strength-of-schedule-adjusted stats and updated depth charts so significant week-to-week changes could occur.

Teams Ranked by Winning Percentage
(everyone plays everyone 100 times)

	Team	Change	Win Pct	PF/G	PA/G
1.	New York Giants	+2	79.7%	26.2	13.8
2.	Tennessee Titans	+3	79.0%	24.6	14.7
3.	Buffalo Bills	+1	77.5%	23.5	16.9
4.	Dallas Cowboys	-3	76.5%	29.7	21.5
5.	Washington Redskins	+11	75.5%	28.6	15.4
6.	Philadelphia Eagles	-4	71.0%	27.8	18.3
7.	Chicago Bears	+3	70.8%	21.3	17.0
8.	San Diego Chargers	-2	70.7%	29.7	19.5
9.	Pittsburgh Steelers	0	65.2%	25.0	17.5
10.	Carolina Panthers	+3	59.2%	24.7	17.4
11.	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	+10	57.5%	23.6	17.7
12.	Indianapolis Colts	+3	55.1%	23.5	23.2
13.	New York Jets	+5	54.6%	25.2	22.4
14.	New Orleans Saints	+6	53.9%	24.2	23.0
15.	Miami Dolphins	+4	50.4%	23.2	23.6
16.	Denver Broncos	-9	50.0%	24.6	27.3
17.	Baltimore Ravens	+6	47.9%	20.9	18.2
18.	Minnesota Vikings	-7	45.1%	22.2	23.9
19.	Oakland Raiders	+3	45.1%	21.6	24.2
20.	Green Bay Packers	-12	43.2%	22.6	26.9
21.	Atlanta Falcons	+3	43.2%	21.5	27.9
22.	New England Patriots	+3	40.7%	20.2	23.3
23.	Jacksonville Jaguars	-11	35.8%	20.7	22.4
24.	Kansas City Chiefs	+8	35.6%	21.7	28.6
25.	Arizona Cardinals	-11	34.8%	23.7	27.5
26.	Seattle Seahawks	0	33.8%	22.0	25.7
27.	San Francisco 49ers	-10	33.5%	22.4	26.7
28.	Cleveland Browns	-1	28.8%	16.8	28.4
29.	Houston Texans	0	25.5%	20.4	26.1
30.	Detroit Lions	0	21.7%	18.8	32.9
31.	Cincinnati Bengals	-3	21.0%	14.2	28.9
32.	St. Louis Rams	-1	17.7%	18.0	32.1

Paul Bessire is the Senior Quantitative Analyst and Content Manager for WhatIfSports.com and a member of the Pro Football Writers of America. With any comments, questions or topic suggestions, Paul can be reached at [e-mail]. Thanks!