WhatIfSports NFL Power Rankings: Week 16

NFL Power Rankings

12/15/2008 Rankings

By Paul Bessire, WhatIfSports.com

December 15th, 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.	Pittsburgh Steelers	+2	92.0%	27.2	5.5
2.	Carolina Panthers	+2	85.5%	28.9	12.2
3.	Tennessee Titans	-2	82.3%	26.3	10.5
4.	New York Giants	+1	78.6%	26.7	12.3
5.	Dallas Cowboys	+6	76.8%	27.0	14.3
6.	Baltimore Ravens	-4	75.9%	22.1	11.0
7.	Minnesota Vikings	+7	72.1%	24.4	14.0
8.	Indianapolis Colts	0	70.5%	23.2	14.4
9.	Philadelphia Eagles	-3	68.8%	23.0	14.1
10.	New York Jets	+7	66.8%	26.6	19.0
11.	Houston Texans	+2	64.9%	26.6	20.4
12.	Chicago Bears	+3	63.1%	22.9	16.7
13.	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	-3	62.1%	21.5	16.1
14.	Atlanta Falcons	+5	61.1%	24.9	20.1
15.	San Diego Chargers	-3	55.3%	24.6	22.1
16.	New Orleans Saints	-7	54.4%	25.5	23.2
	Team	Change	Win Pct	PF/G	PA/G
17.	Miami Dolphins	-1	51.8%	21.5	20.4
18.	New England Patriots	+2	48.1%	22.3	22.1
19.	Arizona Cardinals	-12	47.5%	22.6	23.0
20.	Washington Redskins	-2	41.9%	20.0	22.6
21.	Green Bay Packers	+2	36.8%	21.5	26.5
22.	San Francisco 49ers	-1	33.6%	19.6	26.5
23.	Jacksonville Jaguars	+2	32.7%	16.8	24.3
24.	Denver Broncos	-2	29.0%	19.7	29.5
25.	Buffalo Bills	-1	27.7%	18.3	27.8
26.	Cleveland Browns	+2	24.7%	15.8	27.4
27.	Seattle Seahawks	-1	24.6%	16.9	29.0
28.	Oakland Raiders	-1	19.0%	17.2	32.1
29.	Kansas City Chiefs	0	16.6%	16.0	33.2
30.	Detroit Lions	+2	14.8%	18.0	37.2
31.	Cincinnati Bengals	-1	13.2%	11.4	28.3
32.	St. Louis Rams	-1	8.0%	14.7	37.9

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!