If you’re a fan of strength of schedule, the Browns and Chargers look like teams to emphasize in the second half of the season. Their schedules project to be the easiest over the next nine weeks.
This is using current wins-loss records and considering games through Week 16 (most fantasy seasons are over by Week 17, so those games have been left out of the calculations).
The Browns’ next eight games are against teams that so far have gone a combined 18-34-1. That’s the worst. The Chargers are the only other team whose opponents have won fewer than 40 percent of their games.
Other teams with easier schedules including Kansas City, Chicago and Las Vegas.
The Jaguars, 49ers and Jets, meanwhile, project to play the hardest schedules going forward.
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE (Weeks 8-16) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Team | W | L | T | Pct |
Cleveland | 18 | 34 | 1 | .349 |
LA Chargers | 21 | 36 | 0 | .368 |
Kansas City | 21 | 31 | 0 | .404 |
Chicago | 21 | 29 | 0 | .420 |
Las Vegas | 25 | 33 | 0 | .431 |
Miami | 26 | 32 | 1 | .449 |
Pittsburgh | 26 | 32 | 2 | .450 |
New Orleans | 27 | 33 | 1 | .451 |
Tampa Bay | 24 | 29 | 0 | .453 |
Dallas | 23 | 27 | 3 | .462 |
Seattle | 29 | 33 | 1 | .468 |
Carolina | 25 | 27 | 0 | .481 |
Washington | 25 | 27 | 1 | .481 |
Green Bay | 28 | 30 | 1 | .483 |
Houston | 25 | 26 | 1 | .490 |
Baltimore | 26 | 26 | 0 | .500 |
Cincinnati | 26 | 26 | 0 | .500 |
Denver | 29 | 29 | 0 | .500 |
New England | 31 | 29 | 0 | .517 |
Arizona | 27 | 25 | 1 | .519 |
Detroit | 31 | 28 | 0 | .525 |
Philadelphia | 29 | 24 | 0 | .547 |
Minnesota | 33 | 27 | 0 | .550 |
LA Rams | 29 | 23 | 0 | .558 |
Buffalo | 28 | 22 | 0 | .560 |
Atlanta | 29 | 22 | 0 | .569 |
NY Giants | 30 | 22 | 2 | .574 |
Tennessee | 33 | 24 | 1 | .578 |
Indianapolis | 34 | 22 | 0 | .607 |
NY Jets | 31 | 20 | 0 | .608 |
San Francisco | 33 | 20 | 0 | .623 |
Jacksonville | 33 | 18 | 0 | .647 |
It is also useful at this point to look at what teams have seen already. The Colts, Jaguars and 49ers – all teams that going forward should play hard schedules – so far have played the league’s easiest schedules. They’ve benefited from easier schedules (and that’s about to change).
The Raiders, Texans and Broncos, meanwhile, so far have played the hardest schedules.
On this one, you’re looking at combined records of opponents in other games. With the Steelers, for example, their opponents show at 16-17-1. Their actually combined record is 16-23-1, but the 0-6 record in games against the Steelers is disregarded. If you leave in teams’ own games, then teams with winning records appear to play harder schedules. (The Jets are 0-7, for example, so their opponents would start seven games over .500, even if they weren’t actually all that good.)
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE (Weeks 1-7) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Team | W | L | T | Pct |
Indianapolis | 11 | 23 | 1 | .329 |
Jacksonville | 13 | 23 | 1 | .365 |
San Francisco | 15 | 24 | 1 | .388 |
Seattle | 13 | 20 | 0 | .394 |
Miami | 14 | 20 | 0 | .412 |
Green Bay | 14 | 19 | 0 | .424 |
Arizona | 17 | 23 | 0 | .425 |
Tennessee | 15 | 18 | 0 | .455 |
Dallas | 19 | 22 | 0 | .463 |
LA Rams | 19 | 22 | 1 | .464 |
LA Chargers | 16 | 18 | 1 | .471 |
Atlanta | 18 | 20 | 0 | .474 |
Pittsburgh | 16 | 17 | 1 | .485 |
Cincinnati | 19 | 20 | 0 | .487 |
Chicago | 20 | 20 | 0 | .500 |
Minnesota | 16 | 16 | 0 | .500 |
NY Giants | 20 | 20 | 1 | .500 |
Philadelphia | 20 | 20 | 0 | .500 |
Washington | 20 | 20 | 1 | .500 |
Buffalo | 20 | 19 | 0 | .513 |
Cleveland | 19 | 18 | 2 | .513 |
Kansas City | 19 | 18 | 0 | .514 |
Detroit | 18 | 16 | 0 | .529 |
Carolina | 21 | 18 | 0 | .538 |
NY Jets | 21 | 18 | 0 | .538 |
Baltimore | 22 | 18 | 2 | .548 |
New England | 19 | 13 | 0 | .594 |
New Orleans | 19 | 13 | 0 | .594 |
Tampa Bay | 22 | 15 | 0 | .595 |
Denver | 20 | 13 | 0 | .606 |
Houston | 23 | 14 | 0 | .622 |
Las Vegas | 22 | 12 | 0 | .647 |
—Ian Allan