Time for Week 9′s power rankings. The height of the graph collapsed a bit due to more beatloops and upsets. This means that this week’s rankings use the previous week’s rankings as a tiebreaker a bit more often than they usually do.
First, the graph:
And now, the rankings:
| Rank | Team | Notes | Last Week | BeatPower |
1 |
 |
(Beat NE) Indy retains the top spot and solidifies their placement thanks to two quality beatwins over the last two weeks. They host Buffalo and are picked to win. And, isn’t it interesting they host Miami in the final game of the regular season? |
1 |
100.0(28/28 – 0/28) |
2 |
 |
(Beat PIT) Denver doesn’t get a huge bonus for beating Pittsburgh, but their win over Baltimore is looking more impressive. They visit Oakland and are picked to win. |
2 |
96.2(25/26 – 1/26) |
3 |
 |
(Beat CIN) People seemed to forget about Baltimore a little bit when they lost two in a row – they’ve managed to rack up some quality wins. However, it’s possible that the loss to Carolina might hurt them again further into the season. They visit Tennessee and are picked to win. |
7 |
89.5(17/19 – 2/19) |
4 |
 |
(Beat TB) New Orleans is pushed up partially by Tampa Bay’s win over Philadelphia, which many people believe looks pretty flukey. They visit Pittsburgh and are picked to win. |
11 |
80.0(12/15 – 3/15) |
5 |
 |
(Lost to MIA) All of a sudden, Chicago’s beatwins don’t look all that impressive. Impressive in 2005, maybe. These next few weeks should be pretty interesting for Chicago. They visit the Giants and are picked to win. Lots of away games for the top of the rankings this week… |
3 |
100.0(14/14 – 0/14) |
6 |
 |
(Lost to IND) Paper didn’t cover rock. But New England appears to have a fairly easy second half of the season. A key home game against Chicago should keep them boosted high in the rankings if they win. They host the Jets and are picked to win. |
4 |
83.3(10/12 – 2/12) |
7 |
 |
(Beat CLE) For the first time in a long time, Beatpaths recognizes San Diego as having racked up some quality beatwins. Now is San Diego’s chance to prove it belongs – they have a very tough-looking second half of the season. They visit Cincinnati and are picked to win. |
12 |
73.1(9/13 – 3/13) |
8 |
 |
(Beat OAK) Seattle has a chance to gain some confidence these next three weeks before facing Denver. Seattle hosts St. Louis and is picked to win. |
6 |
65.6(6/16 – 1/16) |
9 |
 |
(Lost to DET) Dumb loss by Atlanta. It might hurt them later. They host Cleveland and are picked to win. |
9 |
61.9(9/21 – 4/21) |
10 |
 |
(Beat HOU) The Giants host Chicago and are picked to lose. I would badly want to pick the Giants, though.  |
8 |
64.3(5/14 – 1/14) |
11 |
 |
(Beat TEN) Jacksonville hosts Houston and is picked to win, which would give them a season split. |
10 |
70.0(5/10 – 1/10) |
12 |
 |
(Lost to NO) Tampa Bay’s beatpath over Philadelphia re-emerged. There used to be a long beatloop of CAR=>BAL=>TB=>PHI=>DAL=>CAR but then Baltimore beat Cincinnati this week. The resultant CAR=>BAL=>CIN=>CAR beatloop restored BAL=>TB=>PHI=>DAL=>CAR. Tampa Bay gets helped, Carolina gets hurt, and Tampa Bay is picked to win when they visit Carolina this week. Carolina can shake things up by beating them. |
21 |
56.2(7/16 – 5/16) |
13 |
 |
(Bye) Philadelphia hosts Washington and are picked to win. |
15 |
50.0(6/18 – 6/18) |
14 |
 |
(Beat STL) Kansas City climbs on their victory, and is picked to win when they visit Miami. |
19 |
50.0(2/13 – 2/13) |
15 |
 |
(Lost to SF) Minnesota takes a tumble! MIN=>SEA=>NYG=>PHI=>SF=>MIN is to blame. Of course, the long beatloop means that it’s likely it will shrink and that portions of it will be restored to the graph later. Minnesota hosts Green Bay and is picked to win. |
5 |
46.2(3/13 – 4/13) |
16 |
 |
(Lost to BAL) Cincinnati hosts San Diego and is picked to lose. I find this a compelling matchup when I look at it through my 2005 lenses. Both teams were apparently powerful but capable of stinking at any moment – both seemed to outperform their true quality levels fairly regularly. Since then, San Diego has possibly solidified into a more consistent team, which Cincinnati has apparently collapsed a bit. |
14 |
46.9(3/16 – 4/16) |
17 |
 |
(Bye) The Jets visit New England and are picked to lose. |
20 |
45.8(3/12 – 4/12) |
18 |
 |
(Beat ATL) Detroit sheds both their Seattle and Jets beatloss by beating Atlanta, and they climb significantly. It’s again part of a long beatloop, though – a good chance of one of these beatlosses being restored in the near future. Detroit hosts San Francisco and is picked to win. |
29 |
45.8(0/12 – 1/12) |
19 |
 |
(Lost to SD) Cleveland really didn’t do too badly against San Diego. They visit Atlanta next and are picked to lose. |
17 |
42.3(3/13 – 5/13) |
20 |
 |
(Lost to KC) St. Louis sinks a bit more due to being upset by Kansas City. They visit Seattle next and are picked to lose. |
16 |
39.3(3/14 – 6/14) |
21 |
 |
(Beat DAL) Washington upsets Dallas and rises in the rankings. They visit Philadelphia next and are picked to lose. |
27 |
25.0(1/10 – 6/10) |
22 |
 |
(Beat GB) Buffalo upsets Green Bay (yes, it was an upset!) and rises slightly. They visit Indianapolis next and are picked to lose. |
30 |
25.0(1/10 – 6/10) |
23 |
 |
(Lost to WAS) Dallas visits Arizona next and is picked to win. |
18 |
26.9(2/13 – 8/13) |
24 |
 |
(Lost to SEA) Oakland loses to Seattle as expected. They host Denver next and are picked to lose again. |
23 |
25.0(2/12 – 8/12) |
25 |
 |
(Beat MIN) That was a weird win. It helped them too by blowing apart the MIN=>SEA=>NYG=>PHI=>SF beatpath. Again, it’ll be easy for some of that to come back into the graph. They visit Detroit next and are picked to lose. Last week, they would have been picked to win, but Detroit’s win over Atlanta changed things. |
24 |
26.9(0/13 – 6/13) |
26 |
 |
(Lost to NYG) Houston rises a few notches despite the loss, mostly because other teams sucked worse. Carolina’s collapse had something to do with it, too. Houston visits Jacksonville next and is picked to lose. |
31 |
20.8(0/12 – 7/12) |
27 |
 |
(Lost to BUF) Green Bay falls on the upset. They visit Minnesota next and are picked to lose. |
22 |
20.0(2/15 – 11/15) |
28 |
 |
(Lost to DEN) Pittsburgh hosts New Orleans next and is again picked to lose. They have a tough second half of the season coming up – they still have to face Baltimore twice. |
25 |
10.0(1/15 – 13/15) |
29 |
 |
(Bye) Carolina falls spectacularly on the bye, and the reasons why are explained here. They can start to turn it around by defeating Tampa Bay at home – they already defeated Tampa Bay on the road this year. Right now, however, they are picked to lose. |
13 |
9.4(0/16 – 13/16) |
30 |
 |
(Lost to JAC) Tennessee hosts Baltimore and is picked to lose. I know divisions are different and all, but it just seems kind of wrong for Tennessee to have a schedule that is clearly much more difficult than Chicago’s. |
26 |
9.4(0/16 – 13/16) |
31 |
 |
(Bye) Arizona hosts Dallas and is picked to lose. |
28 |
6.7(0/15 – 13/15) |
32 |
 |
(Beat CHI) Miami normally would have shed their losses to Buffalo and Green Bay, but for now, their victory over Chicago is considered a fluke. We’ll see if that changes. Miami hosts Kansas City and is picked to lose. |
32 |
4.5(0/22 – 20/22) |
Love the site, but I gotta wonder…
Unless you’re predicting a tie — and a 15 position difference in the rankings suggests that’s unlikely, especially with the home team ranked higher — these can’t both be right, can they?
right you are… typo… fixed.
Hi I just stumbled across this on google. I am just fascinated by it but don’t know what it all proves or consists of. Is there a formula to this at all or anything? Sorry I am just interested in this if you have an introductory to this theory or “instructions” on how you come up with this it would be awesome if you could e-mail it to me.
nevermind had to look around more but I promise I’m not a moron.
what would happen to the graph in the case of a tie? just ignore it?
Right-o. A tie means that you can’t tell who’s better than who. So it’s just like a season split.