Atlanta has the league’s No. 1 offense so far, and I’m not sure they’ll be going away anytime soon. They just got done with a two-game road trip through Denver and Seattle, so now their remaining schedule projects to be the easiest in the league.
That’s based on wins and losses. It also doesn’t include Week 17 (I’m leaving that one out, figuring most fantasy leagues are done at that time).
Using current records as a guide, the Falcons’ next nine games are against teams that are currently a combined 23-32.
Other teams with easy remaining schedules: 49ers, Titans, Bills and Rams.
The Eagles, Lions and Jaguars, meanwhile, project to play the hardest schedules. All of those teams will play their remaining games against teams that collectively have won over 60 percent of their games.
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE, Wins (Weeks 7-16) | |||
---|---|---|---|
Team | W | L | Pct |
Atlanta | 23 | 32 | .418 |
San Francisco | 23 | 29 | .442 |
Tennessee | 25 | 31 | .446 |
Buffalo | 26 | 32 | .448 |
Los Angeles | 26 | 32 | .448 |
Miami | 27 | 33 | .450 |
NY Jets | 27 | 33 | .450 |
New England | 27 | 32 | .458 |
San Diego | 27 | 31 | .466 |
Tampa Bay | 29 | 33 | .468 |
Houston | 27 | 30 | .474 |
Baltimore | 28 | 31 | .475 |
Cincinnati | 28 | 31 | .475 |
Kansas City | 30 | 33 | .476 |
Minnesota | 30 | 33 | .476 |
NY Giants | 28 | 30 | .483 |
New Orleans | 30 | 32 | .484 |
Seattle | 30 | 32 | .484 |
Oakland | 28 | 29 | .491 |
Cleveland | 30 | 30 | .500 |
Pittsburgh | 27 | 27 | .500 |
Washington | 29 | 28 | .509 |
Arizona | 30 | 26 | .536 |
Dallas | 30 | 26 | .536 |
Green Bay | 34 | 29 | .540 |
Carolina | 31 | 25 | .554 |
Denver | 32 | 24 | .571 |
Indianapolis | 32 | 24 | .571 |
Chicago | 32 | 23 | .582 |
Jacksonville | 39 | 25 | .609 |
Detroit | 34 | 21 | .618 |
Philadelphia | 41 | 22 | .651 |
With these schedules, we can also look at not only what is coming but what has occurred. That is, which teams so far have been saddled with hard schedules? (Or benefitted from playing cupcakes?)
The Giants, Packers and Texans, the numbers show, have played the hardest schedules. I also see the Vikings up there, even though they’re the only unbeaten, untied team. In the case of New York, it’s played five games against Dallas, Washington, Minnesota, Green Bay and Baltimore, who’ve all lost 0-2 games in their work against other teams.
The Jaguars, Broncos, Seahawks and Eagles, on the other hand, have benefited from easier schedules.
On these numbers below, they do not include each team’s own games. That is, Cleveland’s opponents actually are a combined 20-15. They are 6-0 against the Browns, and 14-15 against the rest of the league. To avoid the dynamic of penalizing teams with good records (and rewarding those with poor records) we leave those games out.
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE, Wins (Weeks 1-6) | |||
---|---|---|---|
Team | W | L | Pct |
NY Giants | 19 | 8 | .704 |
Green Bay | 16 | 7 | .696 |
Houston | 17 | 11 | .607 |
Minnesota | 14 | 10 | .583 |
Cincinnati | 17 | 13 | .567 |
Atlanta | 15 | 12 | .556 |
Washington | 16 | 13 | .552 |
NY Jets | 15 | 13 | .536 |
Oakland | 15 | 13 | .536 |
Kansas City | 13 | 12 | .520 |
San Francisco | 15 | 14 | .517 |
Tennessee | 15 | 14 | .517 |
Chicago | 14 | 14 | .500 |
Los Angeles | 14 | 14 | .500 |
Baltimore | 14 | 15 | .483 |
Cleveland | 14 | 15 | .483 |
Miami | 14 | 15 | .483 |
Carolina | 13 | 14 | .481 |
San Diego | 13 | 14 | .481 |
Tampa Bay | 12 | 13 | .480 |
Buffalo | 14 | 16 | .467 |
New England | 14 | 16 | .467 |
Pittsburgh | 13 | 15 | .464 |
Arizona | 13 | 16 | .448 |
Dallas | 13 | 16 | .448 |
New Orleans | 11 | 14 | .440 |
Detroit | 12 | 16 | .429 |
Indianapolis | 12 | 17 | .414 |
Philadelphia | 10 | 15 | .400 |
Seattle | 10 | 15 | .400 |
Denver | 11 | 18 | .379 |
Jacksonville | 8 | 16 | .333 |
—Ian Allan