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Factoid

Preseason

Does winning in August translate?

How much should we care when a team goes winless in the preseason? Or when it goes undefeated? Does it matter at all? Or are we just watching a bunch of backups who won’t even be in the league? Certainly that’s the vibe in those first and last preseason games.

Since the league moved to 32 teams, 25 teams have finished preseasons undefeated. Of that group, 9 finished with top-10 offenses. Eight finished with bottom-10 offenses (in scoring).

Not particularly meaningful.

In this chart, I’ve got the top-10 offenses in bold, and the bottom-10 groups tagged with the dreaded black dot.

UNDEFEATED PRESEASON TEAMS
Year TeamWLTPointsRnk
2002Atlanta96125.15
2002NY Jets97022.415
2003• Arizona412014.132
2003Tennessee124027.25
2003Carolina115020.315
2003New England142021.812
2004Carolina79022.213
2005Denver133024.77
2006• Carolina88016.927
2006Cincinnati88023.38
2006NY Giants88022.211
2008• Detroit016016.827
2009• Seattle511017.525
2009Baltimore97024.49
2009Miami79022.515
2010• San Francisco610019.124
2011• St. Louis214012.132
2011Detroit106029.64
2012• Philadelphia412017.529
2012Seattle115025.89
2013• Washington313020.923
2013Seattle133026.18T
2014Baltimore106025.68
2014Minnesota79020.320
2014NY Giants610023.813

During the same time period, 28 teams have gone winless in the preseason. For that group, nine have had bottom-10 offenses, and eight have had top-10 offenses. (Again, in scoring.)

Best, it seems, to not worry too much about preseason records.

WINLESS PRESEASON TEAMS
Year TeamWLTPointsRnk
2002• St. Louis79019.823
2002Buffalo88023.711
2003• Houston511015.928
2003Atlanta511018.720
2004• San Francisco214016.230
2005Indianapolis142027.42
2005Kansas City106025.26
2006Pittsburgh88022.113
2006Washington511019.220
2007• Kansas City412014.131
2007Arizona88025.37
2008• Cleveland412014.530
2008New England115025.68
2009• Kansas City412018.423
2009Arizona106023.411
2009Carolina88019.721
2010Indianapolis106027.24
2010Chicago115020.921
2011• Kansas City79013.331
2011Atlanta106025.17
2011Oakland88022.416
2012• Miami79018.027
2012• NY Jets88017.628
2012Buffalo610021.521
2013Atlanta412022.120
2013Pittsburgh88023.716T
2014Dallas124029.25
2014Indianapolis115028.66

—Ian Allan

Fantasy Index