Crude NFL Ratings, 2013

Since I have a crude rating system set up to evaluate MLB teams that relies on win ratio and identity of opponents and thus can be adapted to any number of sports, I see no reason not to apply it to the lesser NFL once a year. Since I am only a casual follower of the NFL, I will endeavor to avoid excessive comment on the results.

As a brief overview, the ratings are based on win ratio for the season, adjusted over the course of several iterations for opponent’s win ratio. They know nothing about injuries, about where games were played, about the distribution of points from game to game; nothing beyond the win ratio of all of the teams in the league and each team’s opponents. The final result is presented in a format that can be directly plugged into Log5. I call them “Crude Team Ratings” to avoid overselling them, but they tend to match the results from systems that are not undersold fairly decently.

First are ratings based on actual wins and losses. 12.2 games of regression are included when figuring the win ratios (this will apply to the point-based ratings as well). CTR is the bottom line rating, aW% converts it to an adjusted W%, and SOS is the average CTR of the team’s opponents:



I prefer to focus on the ratings based on points and points allowed, which are coupled with a Pythagorean approach published at Pro-Football Reference to generate the win ratios:



As you can see, the top five teams all hail from the NFC South and West, which unfortunately had a maximum of four playoff spots available, leaving Arizona as the odd team out. Note that despite going 10-6, a raw record that was bettered by nine NFL teams, the Cardinals ranked sixth in win-based rating, so this is not a Pythagorean fluke. Arizona was a legitimately outstanding team based on the actual on-field results in 2013, but will sit home as far lesser teams battle it out thanks to the vagaries of their micro-division.

The Browns are second-to-last either way you figure it; by W-L record the Redskins are worse, but rank 30th by points, and by points the Jaguars are worse, but rank 27th by W-L.

I use the geometric mean of the CTR of each team to calculate division and conference ratings:



The NFC West would rank fourth if it was a team--it was an absurdly strong division, with all of its teams among the top ten. The ratings imply that the composite NFC team would be expected to win about 55.2% of the time against its AFC counterpart.

The ratings can be used to feed playoff odds, naturally; here home field is assumed to be a 32.6% boost to CTR (equivalent to a .570 home W%). I’m not going to bother with the round-by-round breakout of potential matchups as I do for MLB, but here are the overall crude odds:



It’s worth acknowledging that each of the last two Super Bowl champs were longshots by this or any other estimate--last year’s Ravens were given only a 3% chance. Of course, I’d also point out that the probability of any longshot winning (let’s define that as 5% rounded probability or lower) is 20% and was 14% in 2012.

These odds imply a 60% chance that the NFC champ will win the Super Bowl, but also a 95% chance that the NFC champ will be favored by the odds to win the Super Bowl. The AFC’s best team, Denver, would be favored in only two potential Super Bowl matchups, as would...all five other AFC teams. The top four playoff teams in CTR hail from the NFC, the next six from the AFC, and then the winners of the micro-division lottery, Philadelphia and Green Bay. The NFL frequently provides examples of why I dislike tiny divisions, but never as clearly or as destructively as in 2013.