Let me check in with a look at Strength of Schedule. Which teams have seen the easiest schedules so far? And who’s got a hard schedule coming up? Sifting through the data, the Denver Broncos are the team that attracts my attention.

For this version, I’m going to ignore the real-life factual data and instead use my gut feel opinion of each team. That is, first step is to create a 1 thru 32 “power ranking” of the teams, then plug those numbers into the actual NFL schedule.

So for starters, here’s how I rank the teams from best to worst. The win-loss records here aren’t how I feel they will finish. Instead they reflect how I think they would finish if the season started today and each team played an average, typical schedule.

There’s a little bit of a voodoo math element here, because teams change. Kansas City, for example, used to be a middle-of-the-pack team, but now Jamaal Charles is out for the year and they have no chance of finishing .500. Similarly, the Steelers and Cowboys might both be above-average teams when they’re at full strength, but they’re playing part of the year without their franchise quarterbacks.

But whatever. You’ve got to put them in some kind of order, and I’m going but what I have seen. The Patriots and Bengals seem like the best teams to me. I’ve got the Packers at No. 3. I’m putting Denver down at 4th; love the defense, but they haven’t made any progress at solving their extensive offensive issues.

There’s no clear “worst” team in my eyes. I think there are about a dozen teams down in that lesser group.

IAN'S POWER RANKINGS
RkTeamWLTPct
1.New England1420.875
2.Cincinnati1330.813
3.Green Bay1231.781
4.Denver1141.719
5.Arizona1150.688
6.Pittsburgh1060.625
7.Carolina1060.625
8.Atlanta961.594
9.Seattle961.594
10.NY Jets961.594
11.Minnesota970.563
12.Philadelphia970.563
13.Indianapolis871.531
14.San Diego871.531
15.Buffalo880.500
16.Dallas880.500
17.NY Giants880.500
18.St. Louis781.469
19.Baltimore691.406
20.Washington691.406
21.New Orleans691.406
22.Chicago691.406
23.Oakland6100.375
24.Cleveland6100.375
25.San Francisco5101.344
26.Detroit5101.344
27.Miami5101.344
28.Kansas City5110.313
29.Houston5110.313
30.Tennessee5110.313
31.Tampa Bay5110.313
32.Jacksonville4111.281

As the next step in the process of this thing, let’s look at which teams have played the easiest schedules so far.

By my math, the Panthers, Bucs, Broncos and Titans have played the easiest schedules. Denver is undefeated, but it hasn’t played good teams yet. The Titans came out guns blazing in their opener, but they’ve lost 4 in a row despite playing an easy schedule.

At the other end of this deal, I’ve got the Rams, Kansas City, 49ers, Cowboys and Lions. Then you finally run into some good teams with the Chargers and Seahawks.

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE, SO FAR (Weeks 1-6)
TeamWLTPct
Carolina29483.381
Tampa Bay30482.388
Denver37572.396
Tennessee32462.413
Miami32453.419
Arizona39525.432
Houston41523.443
Green Bay40515.443
NY Jets34433.444
Atlanta42522.448
Minnesota34424.450
Cincinnati42513.453
Indianapolis45492.479
NY Giants45483.484
New England38402.488
Cleveland45474.490
Jacksonville47472.500
Philadelphia46464.500
Washington47454.510
Chicago48453.516
Baltimore51432.542
Oakland42353.544
New Orleans52431.547
Pittsburgh51414.552
Buffalo53412.563
Seattle53394.573
San Diego55392.583
Detroit54384.583
Dallas46322.588
San Francisco56382.594
Kansas City56373.599
St. Louis48293.619

Shifting to the remaining schedule, I see Saints, Chargers and Falcons at the top. Those are the teams that I believe will benefit from playing easy schedules in the remaining 11 weeks.

At the other end of this deal, I see Broncos, Browns, Dolphins, Cardinals and Vikings. I think those teams will be hurt by the quality of their remaining schedule.

Denver, recall, was in the group that so far has seen easy schedules. So to me, that looks like a team that’s ripe to slip by a notch going forward. The Browns have been an offensive surprise, but scheduling will make it tough to keep that run going.

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE, REMAINING (Weeks 7-17)
TeamWLTPct
New Orleans65905.422
San Diego65896.425
Atlanta67894.431
Jacksonville69856.450
Indianapolis70855.453
Tennessee80906.472
New England80906.472
St. Louis80906.472
Buffalo74815.478
Kansas City74815.478
NY Jets85892.489
Cincinnati77794.494
Houston77785.497
Carolina85856.500
Seattle78784.500
Detroit77776.500
Chicago77767.503
Baltimore78775.503
Tampa Bay86837.509
Philadelphia80773.509
Oakland87836.511
Dallas87836.511
Green Bay80764.513
NY Giants81754.519
Washington82762.519
Pittsburgh83734.531
San Francisco82717.534
Minnesota91778.540
Arizona85696.550
Miami97754.563
Cleveland89674.569
Denver90655.578

—Ian Allan