Fantasy News
Below are the final strength of schedule numbers for the 2008 season.
Looks like the AFC North, as we expected in the magazine, was saddled with tough schedules. According to our numbers, the four teams from that division played the hardest schedules in the league – Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Baltimore.
According to the NFL’s official numbers, Detroit and Kansas City projected to play two of the hardest four schedules in the league, but that data is slightly skewed (in our opinion). Those teams lost plenty of games, so it’s only natural that their schedules appeared to be hard. The Lions, for example, went 0-16, making a 127-113 (a difficult schedule) look like a 143-113 whopper.
The 49ers, Bills and Broncos appear to have played the easiest schedules. We were wrong there. We expected the Chargers and Patriots to benefit from easy schedules, but neither of those teams were in the elite group.
The playoff teams with the easiest schedules were the Falcons and Dolphins. Atlanta is a bit of surprise, considering it played in the NFC South (where every team went at least 8-8); but the Falcons also played 2-14 Kansas City, 2-14 St. Louis, 5-11 Oakland and 0-16 Detroit.
The complete number appear below -- the NFL numbers, followed by our own numbers (which we feel are more telling).
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE (Standard NFL version)
W L T Pct.
114 141 1 .447 San Francisco
116 140 0 .453 Buffalo
117 139 0 .457 Denver
117 138 1 .459 Atlanta
117 138 1 .459 Tennessee
118 138 0 .461 Miami
120 135 1 .471 NY Jets
121 134 1 .475 Chicago
121 132 3 .479 Washington
123 133 0 .480 New England
123 133 0 .480 Tampa Bay
124 131 1 .486 Arizona
125 131 0 .488 Carolina
127 129 0 .496 New Orleans
126 127 3 .498 Dallas
127 128 1 .498 Indianapolis
127 128 1 .498 Seattle
127 126 3 .502 NY Giants
129 127 0 .504 Green Bay
129 127 0 .504 Minnesota
131 124 1 .514 Philadelphia
132 124 0 .516 San Diego
132 123 1 .518 Houston
133 123 0 .520 Oakland
132 121 3 .521 Baltimore
133 120 3 .525 Pittsburgh
136 119 1 .533 St. Louis
137 118 1 .537 Jacksonville
137 118 1 .537 Kansas City
141 114 1 .553 Cincinnati
143 113 0 .559 Detroit
145 108 3 .572 Cleveland
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE (customized Fantasy Index version)
W L T Pct.
105 134 1 .440 San Francisco
107 133 0 .446 Buffalo
109 131 0 .454 Denver
112 127 1 .469 Atlanta
113 127 0 .471 Miami
113 126 1 .473 NY Jets
114 125 1 .477 Chicago
114 125 1 .477 Tennessee
113 124 3 .477 Washington
115 124 1 .481 Seattle
116 124 0 .483 Tampa Bay
117 122 1 .490 Arizona
118 122 0 .492 New England
119 121 0 .496 Green Bay
119 121 0 .496 New Orleans
119 118 3 .502 Dallas
121 119 0 .504 Carolina
122 118 0 .508 Oakland
122 117 1 .510 St. Louis
123 117 0 .513 Minnesota
123 116 1 .515 Indianapolis
123 116 1 .515 Kansas City
124 116 0 .517 San Diego
124 115 1 .519 Houston
123 114 3 .519 NY Giants
125 115 0 .521 Philadelphia
126 113 1 .527 Jacksonville
127 113 0 .529 Detroit
127 110 3 .535 Baltimore
130 110 0 .542 Cincinnati
129 108 3 .544 Pittsburgh
133 104 3 .560 Cleveland
—Ian Allan
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Posted by MATT SHEDOR | Dec. 31 at 10:02 AM
i remember going through strength of schedules in the Index before draft day.. we had some Browns and Bengals ranked pretty high, but your strength of schedule chart scared us off. on the other hand, we drafted Cutler BECAUSE of his schedule. this was a valuable tool.