The season’s about to begin, so I’ll weigh in with my overall lay of the land. I’ve scouted the teams, I’ve seen them all play in the preseason, and I’ve settled on a general expectation of what they’re all about. I can now rank them 1 thru 32.
On the win-loss records below, those don’t reflect what I believe will actual occur. Instead, those are where I think each team would finish if it played a typical schedule. Dolphins, for example, are listed at 8-8, but they’ll benefit from playing four games against the Jets and Bills.
Cowboys and Colts are the hardest teams to grade, with star players potentially missing numerous games. So I’ve also included additional grades for those teams, showing where I rank them when they’ve got their key guys on the field.
As far as predicting actual win-loss records, I need to go through all 256 of the regular season games.
But big picture, I’m thinking the Patriots and Seahawks are the best two teams, and looking like the favorites to meet in Super Bowl LII.
2017 POWER RANKINGS | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Team | W | L | T | Pct |
New England | 14 | 2 | 0 | .875 |
Seattle | 13 | 3 | 0 | .813 |
Pittsburgh | 12 | 4 | 0 | .750 |
Green Bay | 11 | 5 | 0 | .688 |
Atlanta | 11 | 5 | 0 | .688 |
Kansas City | 10 | 6 | 0 | .625 |
• Dallas (with Elliott) | 10 | 6 | 0 | .625 |
Arizona | 9 | 7 | 0 | .563 |
Carolina | 9 | 7 | 0 | .563 |
Tennessee | 9 | 7 | 0 | .563 |
Dallas | 9 | 7 | 0 | .563 |
Minnesota | 9 | 7 | 0 | .563 |
Cincinnati | 9 | 7 | 0 | .563 |
Philadelphia | 9 | 7 | 0 | .563 |
Denver | 8 | 7 | 1 | .531 |
• Indianapolis (with Luck) | 8 | 7 | 1 | .531 |
Tampa Bay | 8 | 8 | 0 | .500 |
Detroit | 8 | 8 | 0 | .500 |
NY Giants | 8 | 8 | 0 | .500 |
New Orleans | 8 | 8 | 0 | .500 |
Miami | 8 | 8 | 0 | .500 |
LA Chargers | 8 | 8 | 0 | .500 |
Houston | 7 | 8 | 1 | .469 |
Oakland | 7 | 8 | 1 | .469 |
• Dallas (without Elliott) | 7 | 9 | 0 | .438 |
Washington | 7 | 9 | 0 | .438 |
Indianapolis | 7 | 9 | 0 | .438 |
Baltimore | 6 | 9 | 1 | .406 |
San Francisco | 6 | 10 | 0 | .375 |
Chicago | 5 | 11 | 0 | .313 |
Cleveland | 5 | 11 | 0 | .313 |
• Indianapolis (without Luck) | 4 | 12 | 0 | .250 |
LA Rams | 4 | 12 | 0 | .250 |
Buffalo | 4 | 12 | 0 | .250 |
Jacksonville | 3 | 13 | 0 | .188 |
NY Jets | 3 | 13 | 0 | .188 |
—Ian Allan