Week 16 Power Ranking - 2005

No longer will I defend the Cleveland Browns. Earlier in the season, the Browns were ranked very high and I defended their ranking due to their early victory against the Ravens and difficult schedule. Their recent losses to mediocre teams has dropped them very quickly. This week also shows an obvious flaw in equally weighting all games. There comes a point with some teams where games just don't matter anymore. The Eagles had locked home-field advantage for the playoffs, leaving nothing to play for and no reason to risk injury, so they didn't play their regular starters against the Rams. This game should have little to no effect on the rankings, however, since every game is treated equally, the Eagles fall and the Rams rise. Despite this flaw, I have made no adjustment to the weight of the Rams/Eagles game so that the rankings remain objective - perhaps next season I'll decide on a weighting strategy based on game importance. A weighting stragety, however, would add an element of subjectivity to the rankings.

Score / Change from Last Week / W - L / Team

1. 3.22 / -0.21 / 14 - 1 / Pittsburgh Steelers
2. 2.63 / 0.24 / 13 - 2 / New England Patriots
3. 1.93 / -1.22 / 13 - 2 / Philadelphia Eagles
4. 1.69 / 0.17 / 12 - 3 / Indianapolis Colts
5. 1.21 / -0.08 / 10 - 5 / New York Jets
6. 1.17 / -0.12 / 11 - 4 / San Diego Chargers
7. 0.78 / -0.11 / 8 - 7 / Baltimore Ravens
8. 0.56 / 0.09 / 9 - 6 / Buffalo Bills
9. 0.53 / -0.22 / 11 - 4 / Atlanta Falcons
10. 0.48 / -0.19 / 8 - 7 / Jacksonville Jaguars
11. 0.36 / 0.13 / 9 - 6 / Denver Broncos
12. 0.22 / 0.17 / 9 - 6 / Green Bay Packers
13. 0.07 / 0.23 / 7 - 8 / Houston Texans
14. 0.06 / 0.15 / 7 - 8 / Kansas City Chiefs
15. 0.01 / 0.04 / 7 - 8 / Cincinnati Bengals
16. -0.07 / -0.16 / 8 - 7 / Minnesota Vikings
17. -0.39 / 0.24 / 7 - 8 / Carolina Panthers
18. -0.45 / 0.30 / 8 - 7 / Seattle Seahawks
19. -0.49 / -0.04 / 5 - 10 / Oakland Raiders
20. -0.56 / 0.33 / 7 - 8 / New Orleans Saints
21. -0.58 / 0.05 / 6 - 9 / Dallas Cowboys
22. -0.58 / 0.05 / 6 - 9 / Detroit Lions
23. -0.59 / 0.54 / 7 - 8 / St Louis Rams
24. -0.85 / -0.23 / 5 - 10 / New York Giants
25. -0.92 / -0.06 / 4 - 11 / Tennessee Titans
26. -1.07 / -0.33 / 3 - 12 / Cleveland Browns
27. -1.08 / -0.17 / 5 - 10 / Chicago Bears
28. -1.09 / -0.22 / 5 - 10 / Washington Redskins
29. -1.17 / 0.39 / 4 - 11 / Miami Dolphins
30. -1.18 / -0.04 / 5 - 10 / Tampa Bay Buccaneers
31. -1.27 / 0.11 / 5 - 10 / Arizona Cardinals
32. -2.60 / 0.14 / 2 - 13 / San Francisco 49ers

Home-field Advantage = 0.32