2009 NFL Week 11 Beatpath Rankings

Kenneth here again, everybody! And just barely, it looks like! Well, not really–the first game has already started. Here’s the lesson–never expect to get stuff done on a travel day. Bleah. Wiped me out. Fortunately, the family is not arriving until later today, so I’ve got just enough time to say some asinine things and get this out to you. Happy Thanksgiving U.S. peoples! (do we have any foreign readers?)

Rank	Team	Notes	Last Week	EdgePower
1		*(Beat BAL)* Nothing much changing on top. The Colts get a quality win, improve to 10-0, and are still on top.	1	78.42 (54 – 0) / 95 #1 – #10
2		*(Beat TB)* On the other hand, the Saints get a meaningless win (beatpathwise) by beating the Bucs, and so gain nothing on the Colts. In fact, they actually fall behind a bit.	2	72.11 (42 – 0) / 95 #1 – #15
3		*(Beat DEN)* Wowza! Whatta move! Part of it is the Charger’s doing–getting the season split from the Broncos caused the Chargers to regain their wins over the NFC East duo of the Eagles and Giants. Even more helpful, though, was their AFC West compadres Chiefs and Raiders who took out the AFC North leaders Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, respectively. That looped away losses to Pittsburgh and Baltimore for San Diego, and left them with no beatlosses, and near the top of the graph. Impressive! Not only that, but these loops are pretty stable–only San Diego can break them up, by losing in the division or to Cincy–so San Diego might be up here for awhile.	11	68.95 (36 – 0) / 95 #1 – #15
4		*(Beat STL)* Another team on a high upward trend, the Cards head up the charts a little more. Some of it is due to other teams falling backwards, but the Cards look better this week too, thanks to the Giants’ resurgence.	6	66.32 (32 – 1) / 95 #2 – #16
5		*(Beat WAS)* Didn’t think this win would do much for the Cowboys, did you? But it did. It let them loop away their loss to Denver, with a 3 team beatloop (DEN=>DAL=>WAS=>DEN). That took the place of several existing 4 team beatloops they had, giving them back wins over Carolina, Kansas City, and most importantly, Atlanta. It’s that last one that gives them most support, sending them ever higher.	10	64.21 (27 – 0) / 95 #1 – #17
6		*(Beat NYJ)* Beating the Jets gave the Patriots a season split, which restored 2 beatwins…over Miami and Buffalo. Whoopie. This relative unimpressiveness compared to other teams keeps New England down.	5	63.68 (27 – 1) / 95 #2 – #17
7		*(Beat SEA)* Not much happens to the Vikings. I mean, really not much happens, which is why their total edges owned stays the same; but thanks to the graph being more vertical, the amount of edges in the graph increases, which means these Vikings fall a bit in the rankings.	4	62.11 (23 – 0) / 95 #1 – #21
8		*(Beat ATL)* Holy following the Cardinal’s path, Batman! The Giants are once again propped up by the Falcons, as they were earlier this season. The difference here is that this is due to their own win, so it might be a bit more stable. Maybe. We’ll see how the Giants go on from here.	19	62.11 (27 – 4) / 95 #5 – #17
9		*(Lost to OAK)* I really feel there should be even more of a penalty for losing to Oakland, but all it costs is one of the Bengal’s wins over Baltimore (the other is used up looping away the Bengal’s loss to Denver). Still a significant hit, and the Bengals drop a bit.	3	58.42 (16 – 0) / 95 #1 – #23
10		*(Lost to NYG)* Losing to the Giants puts a lot of teams on top of them, which is bad. But Atlanta does get some more edges underneath it, but the only thing I can see that does that is…Detroit beating Cleveland? Seriously? Okay, back to the lab on this one. (Actually, I think what keeps the Falcons where they are is that they had a pretty big buffer between them and the team behind them last week, and lost that this week.)	9	56.84 (22 – 9) / 95 #8 – #19
11		*(Beat CHI)* Beating the Bears gives the Eagles paths to a whole other set of sucky teams. That lets them close on the teams above them, but not pass them. Yet.	12	56.32 (14 – 2) / 95 #3 – #24
12		*(Beat SF)* Beating the 49ers helps the Pack out a fair bit, considering their only other beatwins before this were the Browns and the Lions.	15	54.74 (11 – 2) / 95 #3 – #25
13		*(Lost to IND)* I didn’t realize how much that win over the Chargers was helping the Ravens, but it got looped away in a 4 team beatloop (BAL=>SD=>OAK=>CIN=>BAL). Without that, they only have paths to Cleveland and Kansas City, although they’re out from under the Bengals, so I guess that’s good.	8	52.63 (7 – 2) / 95 #3 – #27
14		*(Beat BUF)* Can we stop with the “Pocket Hercules” stuff? It’s getting annoying. Have I mentioned this already? I know very little about Jacksonville this season.	16	52.63 (6 – 1) / 95 #2 – #26
15		*(Lost to KC)* As mentioned, the loss loops away their win over San Diego, which drops a lot of support of theirs–their only visible beatpath now is to Detroit.	7	52.11 (5 – 1) / 95 #2 – #28
16		*(Lost to SD)* The various wins and losses don’t really affect the Broncos so much this week, as it just causes them to form shorter beatloops to take away their wins and losses. I was shocked that they put Orton in there; is it really worth risking your season for one win, even one against your top divisional rival?	13	52.11 (4 – 0) / 95 #1 – #28
17		*(Lost to TEN)* Houston splits with Tennessee, leaving them with only a path to Oakland–but they’re only under Indy. Seems like something here should change in the future.	14	50.00 (1 – 1) / 95 #2 – #31
18		*(Beat HOU)* Tennessee continues it’s hard charge up the charts despite not having any actual beatwins to its name…yet. Beating Arizona would change that, though. But even right now, the only teams above Tennessee are the Colts and Pats. That is nothing to be ashamed of, considering where they had been.	22	48.42 (0 – 3) / 95 #3 – #32
19		*(Beat CAR)* Much like the Eagles, the Dolphins’ win gives them paths to a bunch of bad teams, which boosts their support.	23	47.89 (10 – 14) / 95 #9 – #26
20		*(Lost to GB)* The 49ers seem to be in a bind to me. Everybody agrees that Alex Smith is much better in the shotgun; but playing out of that formation limits your best player, Frank Gore. I know the NFL is a passing league now, but will San Francisco really gain much by sacrificing their strong running attack?	18	46.32 (7 – 14) / 95 #12 – #26
21		*(Lost to PHI)* The verticalization of the graph caused me to miss the fact that one of the longer beatloops from last week (ARI=>CHI=>CLE=>BUF=>CAR=>ARI) got busted up (from Jacksonville beating Buffalo, causing a smaller ARI=>JAC=>BUF=>CAR=>ARI loop to replace it). The effects at the top of the graph are hard to see, because Arizona’s path to Chicago is hidden, as is Chicago’s path to Cleveland. Such is the nature of beatpaths. Also, goodbye playoffs, Bears! I am very worried that this season is giving Cutler DCS–David Carr Syndrome.	21	45.26 (5 – 14) / 95 #10 – #28
22		*(Beat PIT)* Beating Pittsburgh got looped away instantly, as you might expect. But Dallas beating Washington and San Diego beating Denver gave the Chiefs back their win over Washington. Not much, but if I were the Chiefs I would take it. Now if they can beat the Chargers this weekend, they’ll really be cooking!	26	43.68 (2 – 14) / 95 #11 – #30
23		*(Lost to MIN)* What’s the next move for this franchise? I feel like they should go after a QB in the draft, but given the dearth of offensive talent I don’t know that that pick would ever bear fruit.	24	42.11 (5 – 20) / 95 #13 – #27
24		*(Lost to MIA)* Dallas beating Washington also gave back the Panthers a win over Washington. Dallas: the team loves to give! Unfortunately for the Panthers, they lost to a team that didn’t already have a path to them, so they get a heap more teams on top of them and fall down the rankings. So for those of you who are paying attention each week, Miami is the new Buffalo.	20	41.05 (3 – 20) / 95 #11 – #30
25		*(Lost to NE)* Jets lose little on the loss to the Pats, except the chance to move up the charts. Still, other teams look worse, so they move up a bit.	28	40.53 (1 – 19) / 95 #11 – #31
26		*(Beat CIN)* See, this is what the Raiders do each year. They pull a few games like this outta their butt, which convinces them that they’re on to something, and they stay terrible next year. Just you watch. That’s right, I’m gonna go out on a limb and predict that the Raiders suck next year.	31	37.37 (0 – 24) / 95 #14 – #32
27		*(Lost to ARI)* On the other hand from Seattle, I think the Rams have a fair amount of offensive talent and might do well drafting a QB. And on the other hand from the Raiders, I think they might be onto something–even if all that means is a 6-10 season next year.	30	34.74 (0 – 29) / 95 #15 – #32
28		*(Beat CLE)* The Lions have won 2 games! I REPEAT: THE LIONS HAVE WON 2 GAMES. And, they have beatpaths to multiple teams! What fevered dream is this that bids to tear this league in twain?	29	34.21 (3 – 33) / 95 #17 – #29
29		*(Lost to DAL)* Washington drops heavily by their loss to KC showing back up in the graph, as mentioned before. I was really hoping for the Redskins to win this game, just to cause chaos in the system and panic in Dallas. Instead, just more heartburn for Daniel Snyder, which is an okay consolation prize, I guess. What happened to the constant “Fire Zorn” drumbeat? Is it still there and just being drowned out the by the national “Fire Weis” drumbeat or something?	17	33.16 (1 – 33) / 95 #16 – #31
30		*(Lost to DET)* I’ll say this–that was one hell of a game. Let that be a lesson to you bad teams–go all offense and no defense, and people will at least enjoy your games. As a second lesson, make sure your DBs know not to tackle WRs on Hail Mary passes.	25	27.89 (2 – 44) / 95 #20 – #30
31		*(Lost to JAC)* Buffalo falls under Cleveland, due to dynamics mentioned in the Chicago entry. And given that…how are the Sabres doing?	27	22.63 (1 – 53) / 95 #22 – #31
32		*(Lost to NO)* Buccaneers find themselves in familiar territory. I know he had some problems against the Saints but I still think this Freeman kid has some potential, which is way more than I would have said at the beginning of the season.	32	10.00 (0 – 76) / 95 #27 – #32