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Strength of schedule

KC defense might get boost from scheduling

Most often with Strength of Schedule, it’s used to calculate the strength of defenses that teams will face. But it can also be flipped around. Which NFL teams might benefit from playing against the worst offenses?

As part of our player rankings, we project how many rushing and passing touchdowns each NFL offense will produce (with teams like Kansas City, Baltimore and New Orleans projecting to score the most). If we take those projections and then run them through the 2020 NFL schedule, we get some idea of what each defense is up against.

Kansas City, Indianapolis and New England, if our projections are accurate, will play the most favorable schedules. Kansas City’s 16 games are against teams should score a combined total of about 609 touchdowns.

Washington, Houston and Atlanta, meanwhile, project to play the highest-scoring offenses. Those are the three teams whose opponents project to score at least 660 touchdowns.

If you felt that all six of those defenses were pretty comparable, it would make sense to expect that KC, Indy and New England will allow fewer points than Atlanta, Houston and Washington.

SCHEDULING (opposing offenses)
TeamTDPTDRTotal
Kansas City401.9207.5609.4
Indianapolis410.6208.5619.0
New England414.1209.1623.2
Miami406.9218.1625.0
Tennessee411.4214.2625.6
LA Chargers427.7202.7630.4
Buffalo411.4219.8631.2
Cleveland419.0214.6633.6
Arizona409.3225.0634.2
Detroit409.6224.8634.4
Pittsburgh409.0228.3637.3
Tampa Bay423.8215.4639.2
Seattle409.8229.8639.5
Jacksonville412.8229.0641.8
Dallas411.2230.9642.1
Green Bay429.6212.8642.4
NY Jets407.2235.4642.6
Cincinnati416.8226.1642.9
LA Rams415.5228.0643.5
New Orleans429.9214.2644.2
Las Vegas427.4217.4644.8
Baltimore417.3228.5645.8
Denver432.5213.4645.9
San Francisco408.2237.8645.9
Minnesota430.6216.2646.7
Chicago426.1224.5650.6
NY Giants420.8234.2655.0
Philadelphia418.6237.3655.8
Carolina441.6214.7656.3
Atlanta434.7225.3660.0
Houston430.9230.7661.6
Washington425.8237.6663.4

If you want to look more at the here and now, we can look at just the first half of the season. That is, what each team will face in September and October.

If we look at just the first eight games for each team, only one of those six teams still shows up in the top 3 or bottom 3. For the first half of the season, Tennessee, Tampa Bay and Arizona project to play against the weakest offenses.

For the first half of the season, Green Bay, Minnesota and Washington project to play the hardest schedules.

SCHEDULING (opposing offenses) G 1-8
TeamTDPTDRTotal
Tennessee193.697.4291.0
Tampa Bay193.4106.9300.3
Arizona202.499.2301.6
Indianapolis202.699.0301.6
Jacksonville199.2104.2303.4
LA Rams199.7104.3304.0
New Orleans202.4105.1307.5
Kansas City198.7109.4308.2
LA Chargers216.293.0309.1
Miami198.7111.8310.6
Atlanta199.0115.0314.1
San Francisco198.7115.8314.6
Cleveland205.1110.4315.5
Buffalo209.3106.7316.0
Carolina215.4102.9318.2
New England216.3101.9318.2
Dallas200.8118.4319.2
Philadelphia209.6113.9323.5
NY Giants212.6111.5324.2
Detroit214.4110.7325.1
Seattle210.7116.5327.2
Chicago217.4110.1327.5
Cincinnati208.8119.7328.5
Baltimore215.4114.4329.8
Denver225.8105.8331.5
NY Jets216.0115.7331.7
Pittsburgh213.3122.7336.0
Las Vegas217.0119.8336.8
Houston227.0110.4337.4
Washington209.4128.2337.6
Minnesota220.8117.9338.7
Green Bay229.8110.4340.2

—Ian Allan

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