2009 Week seven Rankings

For more information about the table contents and what they mean, see this older post.

I've changed the "AvgRank" column at the left, as it was confusing and hard to judge, I think. That was the average rank of the team in terms of the AvgWin, AvgOff, and AvgDef. The "AvgRating" column is where the team falls on a range of 0 to 100. A team with an AvgRating of 0 would be the worst in the league at all three of the ratings. A team with 100 would be the best in all three. There's only been one team since 1970 that has managed to have an AvgRating of 100 at the end of the season...the '96 Packers.

AvgRating	Team	W	L	AvgWin	AvgOff	AvgDef	AvgComb
87	Saints	6	0	4.7	17.9	1.5	19.4
84	Broncos	6	0	4.3	0.6	8.6	9.2
78	Patriots	5	2	2.3	7.1	6.0	13.1
76	Colts	6	0	3.7	4.9	5.3	10.2
73	Bengals	5	2	3.0	3.4	4.1	7.5
66	Jets	4	3	1.4	-1.3	7.3	6.0
65	Falcons	4	2	2.3	2.7	4.1	6.8
65	Giants	5	1	3.0	6.8	-0.3	6.5
64	Vikings	6	1	3.0	6.1	-1.6	4.5
63	Cardinals	3	2	2.4	2.7	4.7	7.4
61	Cowboys	4	2	2.3	5.0	0.2	5.2
59	Steelers	5	2	2.3	-1.5	1.9	0.5
59	Packers	4	2	1.8	1.8	2.4	4.1
58	Ravens	3	3	1.0	6.4	0.2	6.5
57	Dolphins	2	4	0.8	5.8	1.0	6.8
52	49ers	3	3	1.2	0.6	1.0	1.6
49	Seahawks	2	4	0.2	-1.1	2.7	1.6
49	Bears	3	3	1.3	1.3	-1.5	-0.2
49	Eagles	3	2	1.0	2.1	-1.2	0.9
49	Chargers	3	3	1.0	5.6	-3.4	2.1
46	Texans	4	3	1.3	1.8	-3.7	-1.9
43	Bills	3	4	0.1	-5.9	2.2	-3.6
35	Jaguars	3	3	0.5	-2.5	-5.1	-7.6
32	Lions	1	5	-0.2	-1.5	-5.3	-6.8
30	Panthers	2	4	-0.5	-4.9	-4.0	-8.9
29	Browns	1	6	-0.7	-7.7	-1.3	-9.1
27	Raiders	2	5	-0.3	-10.8	-1.5	-12.3
24	Redskins	2	4	-1.7	-13.6	0.6	-12.9
23	Chiefs	1	6	-1.6	-5.9	-2.9	-8.8
11	Buccaneers	0	7	-2.6	-5.3	-6.6	-12.0
11	Titans	0	6	-2.0	-4.8	-9.5	-14.3
7	Rams	0	7	-2.1	-9.9	-7.1	-17.0

Notes for the week:

• The Saints lifted their overall "AvgRate" to 86 from 85. The most notable stat here is the 17.9 for their AvgOff. This means they are averaging scoring nearly 18 more points than their opponents have averaged allowing in the rest of their games. This is the highest value for this statistic *ever* in the 39 years worth of data.
• In an interesting coincidence, the -13.6 AvgOff for the Redskins is the *lowest* value for this statistic in history. To have both of those the same week is impressive.
  
• The Colts slid down a slot with the Patriots victory.
  
• The Bengals make their first appearance in the top five since at least 2005.
  
• The Steelers win definitely helped them, moving them up from a 50 rating to a 59. They're still the worst-rated 5-2 team.
• The Niners continue to tumble, going down to a very average 52 rating.
  
• We are down to "only" three unbeaten teams and 3 winless teams, but it's still unprecedented at this point in the season. Parity?
  

Last year at this time, the top five teams were the Buccaneers, Cardinals, Titans, Panthers, and Bears. The bottom five were the Raiders, Seahawks, Bengals, Chiefs, and Lions.

The Steelers are still doing poorly overall compared with last year, even though their record is a solid 5-2. Historically, 72% of 5-2 teams make the playoffs. Considering that a 1-2 record has only led to a playoff appearance 22% of the time, they've bounced back pretty well.