Buchanty
Third String But Playing on Special Teams
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2006
- Messages
- 637
- Reaction score
- 286
I was intrigued by the often stated notion that the Jags and Colts had the best chance to upset the Patriots run in the post season. The rationale behind such protestations most commonly has been strength of schedule. The AFC South is the strongest and the AFC East is the weakest is the popular refrain.
I can understand fans using this excuse to justify their homer opinions, but as more and more pundits seemed to be reflecting the same thoughts and opinions, including bestowing the honorable title of "team to fear most in the playoffs" on the Jags, I felt compelled to review the statistics one more time.
Certainly the AFC South has the best win loss record for the season, however the AFC East is by no means the weakest:
1. AFC South 42-22
2. NFC East 40-24
3. NFC North 35-29
4. AFC North 32-32
5. AFC East 28-36
6. NFC South 27-37
7T NFC West 26-38
7T AFC West 26-38
Admittedly the AFC East is only 2 games better than the worst (interesting enough both west coast divisions).
The biggest nag in my mind has been the belief by some that the Patriots benefitted from a weak division and the "gift" of 6 easy games. For some reason the 6 easy games were used to offset the 7 games against quality opposition (thank you CHFF). I guess it is easy to ignore data that contradicts the sound bytes. Anyway this strange logic got me curious to find out what other easy games were faced by the Pats and just as importantly the Jags and Colts.
Not that I need to remind everyone but the schedule for the AFC East brought them up against the NFC East and the AFC North, while the AFC South met the NFC South and the AFC West.
Well needless to say the Pats met 8 teams with a collective record of 72-56, which more or less reflects the CHFF Quality Wins stats. But what was more revealing was the fact the the two playoff teams from the AFC South were the beneficiaries of a much easier schedule against teams with a collective record of 53-75. In another thread I contended that the Bills could have beaten the Titans and no doubt if they had played in the AFC South they too would have had a winning record.
Of the remaining games (2 games against 2006 AFC division counterparts) the Colts beat Baltimore but lost to NE, and the Jags beat Pittsburgh and Buffalo. Ignoring the intra-divisional games the Colts record against quality teams is less than stellar at 1-2, while the Jags had a very respectable 3-0.
I just thought the message board might be interested to learn that the biggest beneficiaries of a soft schedule appear to be the AFC South not the East.
PS the Colts ended up 4-3 in the CHFF Quality Standing, which might be OK for home games but not for a post season run (unless its with happy feet).
I can understand fans using this excuse to justify their homer opinions, but as more and more pundits seemed to be reflecting the same thoughts and opinions, including bestowing the honorable title of "team to fear most in the playoffs" on the Jags, I felt compelled to review the statistics one more time.
Certainly the AFC South has the best win loss record for the season, however the AFC East is by no means the weakest:
1. AFC South 42-22
2. NFC East 40-24
3. NFC North 35-29
4. AFC North 32-32
5. AFC East 28-36
6. NFC South 27-37
7T NFC West 26-38
7T AFC West 26-38
Admittedly the AFC East is only 2 games better than the worst (interesting enough both west coast divisions).
The biggest nag in my mind has been the belief by some that the Patriots benefitted from a weak division and the "gift" of 6 easy games. For some reason the 6 easy games were used to offset the 7 games against quality opposition (thank you CHFF). I guess it is easy to ignore data that contradicts the sound bytes. Anyway this strange logic got me curious to find out what other easy games were faced by the Pats and just as importantly the Jags and Colts.
Not that I need to remind everyone but the schedule for the AFC East brought them up against the NFC East and the AFC North, while the AFC South met the NFC South and the AFC West.
Well needless to say the Pats met 8 teams with a collective record of 72-56, which more or less reflects the CHFF Quality Wins stats. But what was more revealing was the fact the the two playoff teams from the AFC South were the beneficiaries of a much easier schedule against teams with a collective record of 53-75. In another thread I contended that the Bills could have beaten the Titans and no doubt if they had played in the AFC South they too would have had a winning record.
Of the remaining games (2 games against 2006 AFC division counterparts) the Colts beat Baltimore but lost to NE, and the Jags beat Pittsburgh and Buffalo. Ignoring the intra-divisional games the Colts record against quality teams is less than stellar at 1-2, while the Jags had a very respectable 3-0.
I just thought the message board might be interested to learn that the biggest beneficiaries of a soft schedule appear to be the AFC South not the East.
PS the Colts ended up 4-3 in the CHFF Quality Standing, which might be OK for home games but not for a post season run (unless its with happy feet).