Strength of schedule so far

[jmt57]

The problem with that formula - and the whole concept of strength of schedule - is that the top teams are a combined 40-6. So yeah, they are going to have what looks like weak strength of schedules because right there their opponents are 6-40. It's not a perfect correlation but in general, as you go down the list, the SOS gets gradually tougher.

It is something that has always caused me to shake my head, when people find (and complain) that good teams have 'easy' schedules and bad teams have 'difficult' schedules. Bad teams don't get the benefit of playing themselves (i.e., an 'easy' game against a team with a bad record) while good teams are not tasked with playing themselves (i.e, a 'tough' game against a club with a high winning percentage).

Why so many fans (and worse, members of the media) are surprised by this and the correlating strength of schedules year after year is just plain sad.

 

[SalemPats]

it's not our fault that the Bills, Fish and Jets are gong-shows

 

[SB39]

it's not our fault that the Bills, Fish and Jets are gong-shows

Actually it partially is our fault consider we're what? 36-7 (or something like that) against those teams over the past 6 years?

But that's kinda the point. We are going to finish the season with an easier SOS than the Bills, with the primary reason being that we had 2 games against the Bills while they had 2 games against us. The only other differences in our opponents are we get Denver and Houston (combined record 10-8) while they get KC and Jax (also 10-8).

 

[Fencer]

It is something that has always caused me to shake my head, when people find (and complain) that good teams have 'easy' schedules and bad teams have 'difficult' schedules. Bad teams don't get the benefit of playing themselves (i.e., an 'easy' game against a team with a bad record) while good teams are not tasked with playing themselves (i.e, a 'tough' game against a club with a high winning percentage).

Why so many fans (and worse, members of the media) are surprised by this and the correlating strength of schedules year after year is just plain sad.

Hence the construction of my OP, in which I pulled out the effect of playing the Pats as best I could.

 

[supafly]

It seems as though every year there are some who look down on the team due to what they perceive as a weakened strength of schedule, and I think that Fencer and jmt57's comments address a nice defense against that thinking.

One thing that I think we all hope for is continued progress against some of the tougher defensive fronts in the league, and I think we've done fairly well (better than average) vs those teams in the past year and a half. The thinking may be the more practice and gameplanning, the higher our chances of doing well vs the usual suspect of defenses that we may face in the postseason.

 

[1960Pats]

It is something that has always caused me to shake my head, when people find (and complain) that good teams have 'easy' schedules and bad teams have 'difficult' schedules. Bad teams don't get the benefit of playing themselves (i.e., an 'easy' game against a team with a bad record) while good teams are not tasked with playing themselves (i.e, a 'tough' game against a club with a high winning percentage).

Why so many fans (and worse, members of the media) are surprised by this and the correlating strength of schedules year after year is just plain sad.

Try not to feel too sad for me, but below is my version of the strength of schedule from most difficult to easiest.

The Jags aren't on top because of who they didn't play (themselves) they're on top because of who they did play (KC, Seattle, Indy, Denver and the Niners.)

1 Jacksonville
2 Houston
3 Buffalo
4 Tampa Bay
5 Atlanta
5 New York Giants
7 Dallas
8 Washington
9 Arizona
10 Green Bay
11 Chicago
11 Minnesota
13 Cincinnati
13 Cleveland
13 San Francisco
16 Tennessee
17 Detroit
17 St Louis
19 Oakland
20 Miami
21 New York Jets
22 Philadelphia
23 Indianapolis
23 Pittsburgh
25 Baltimore
26 New Orleans
27 San Diego
28 New England
29 Seattle
30 Denver
31 Carolina
32 Kansas City

 

[1960Pats]

Actually it partially is our fault consider we're what? 36-7 (or something like that) against those teams over the past 6 years?

But that's kinda the point. We are going to finish the season with an easier SOS than the Bills, with the primary reason being that we had 2 games against the Bills while they had 2 games against us. The only other differences in our opponents are we get Denver and Houston (combined record 10-8) while they get KC and Jax (also 10-8).

That's only true for 3 out of the other 31 teams in the NFL. For those other 28 we're being judged on totally different schedules.