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Updated strength of schedule

New York teams have played league's easiest schedules

Checking in with the weekly look at strength of schedule. A chance to see which teams have benefitted so far from playing easy schedules – and which ones might benefit from the future.

For remaining schedules, Kansas City, Detroit, Houston and Indianapolis have the easiet projected schedules in these remaining three weeks. None of those teams have anyone left on their schedule with a winning record.

The Giants, Ravens and Packers appear to have the hardest schedules. Baltimore and Cleveland, by the way, are the only teams that will play teams with winning records in each of their remaining games.

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE (Weeks 15-17)
TeamWLPct>.500
Kansas City1326.3330
Detroit1425.3590
Houston1425.3590
Indianapolis1425.3590
New Orleans1524.3850
New England1623.4101
Washington1623.4100
Jacksonville1722.4360
Pittsburgh1722.4361
Buffalo1821.4621
Carolina1821.4620
Chicago1821.4621
Cincinnati1821.4621
St. Louis1821.4621
San Francisco1920.4871
Seattle1920.4871
Dallas2019.5131
Miami2019.5131
Minnesota2019.5131
Oakland2019.5132
Denver2118.5382
NY Jets2118.5381
San Diego2118.5381
Arizona2316.5902
Atlanta2316.5901
Philadelphia2316.5901
Tampa Bay2316.5901
Tennessee2316.5901
Cleveland2415.6153
Green Bay2514.6412
Baltimore2613.6673
NY Giants2712.6922

We can also look at where teams have come from. The two New York teams, Tampa Bay and Tennessee thus far have played the easiest schedules. The Jets’ 13 games have been against opponents that have gone 69-87 in their other games (plus going 5-8 against the Jets themselves, which we’re not counting).

The Lions, Colts and Texans have played the league’s hardest schedules, with Detroit also playing a league-high eight games against teams with winning records.

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE (Weeks 1-14)
TeamWLPct>.500
NY Jets6987.4421
NY Giants7086.4492
Tampa Bay7086.4491
Tennessee7086.4492
Arizona7185.4554
Miami7185.4553
Atlanta7284.4622
Baltimore7284.4625
Jacksonville7284.4623
Carolina7581.4812
Cincinnati7680.4875
Cleveland7680.4876
Green Bay7779.4945
Oakland7779.4947
Philadelphia7779.4943
Denver7878.5005
Minnesota7878.5005
San Diego7878.5007
Washington7977.5063
New England8076.5133
Buffalo8373.5325
Chicago8373.5327
Kansas City8373.5326
San Francisco8373.5327
St. Louis8373.5327
Dallas8472.5384
New Orleans8472.5383
Pittsburgh8472.5386
Seattle8472.5386
Houston8571.5455
Indianapolis8571.5455
Detroit8769.5588

With three weeks left, it is also appropriate at this point to consider draft order. Three teams are tied at 3-10 – the Chargers, Titans and Browns. One of those teams most certainly will be picking No. 1 overall.

Recall that when breaking ties for draft order, head-to-head doesn’t count. It doesn’t matter, therefore, that the Chargers beat the Browns earlier in the year, nor that Tennessee lost at Cleveland.

The Titans have by far the easiest schedule of these three teams. Their 16 opponents are currently a combined 103-105, six games ahead of the Chargers and seven games ahead of the Browns. So if the Titans lose out, they will hold the No. 1 pick of the draft.

With the Browns and Chargers being just a game apart, it’s too early to say which of those teams will finish higher should they both go 3-13. If they wind up tied, the Browns would pick earlier because they lost at San Diego earlier in the year. But it’s early to get into that; the Chargers are hosting Miami this week and certainly could win that game.

—Ian Allan

Fantasy Index