Our schedule was projected to be the toughest in the league. I look at it another way - basically how many bottom-feeder teams did we get to play for so-called "freebie" wins? Sure, there is no such thing as a free win, but as we learned last year, it sure is easier to make a run when the teams on your schedule aren't so great.
For the purposes of this comparison I am defining "bottom-feeder" by a team with 4 or less wins right now and more or less considering it a free win. There are 7 such teams currently: OAK, KC, CLE, STL, DET, WAS, TB
We got to play only one of them.
Chargers - SIX
Bengals - FIVE
Ravens - FIVE
Broncos - FIVE
Steelers - FIVE
Jags - THREE
Jets - TWO
Texans - TWO
Titans - ONE
Pats - ONE
Phins - ONE
Colts - ONE
This seems to indicate that the Phins, Titans, Pats, Texans, and Jets *might* be significantly better than their record indicates.
It also shows how remarkable the Colts' undefeated record thus far is - they haven't drawn many freebie games either. Meanwhile, the Ravens have absolutely FEASTED, and may beat us out for a wildcard because of this. This might possibly work in our favor though - their SOV can't be terribly high assuming the bottom-feeders keep losing. So, you should root for the bottom-feeders (particularly the ones the Ravens have played - KC, CLE, OAK, DET) to keep losing, unless of course they're playing the Ravens in the final three weeks (OAK).
It also suggests that the best remaining team on our schedule is the Titans (plus that's a road game), followed by the Texans. The Steelers don't look too impressive considering they've been granted 5 bottom-feeder games and didn't even win all of them.
For the purposes of this comparison I am defining "bottom-feeder" by a team with 4 or less wins right now and more or less considering it a free win. There are 7 such teams currently: OAK, KC, CLE, STL, DET, WAS, TB
We got to play only one of them.
Chargers - SIX
Bengals - FIVE
Ravens - FIVE
Broncos - FIVE
Steelers - FIVE
Jags - THREE
Jets - TWO
Texans - TWO
Titans - ONE
Pats - ONE
Phins - ONE
Colts - ONE
This seems to indicate that the Phins, Titans, Pats, Texans, and Jets *might* be significantly better than their record indicates.
It also shows how remarkable the Colts' undefeated record thus far is - they haven't drawn many freebie games either. Meanwhile, the Ravens have absolutely FEASTED, and may beat us out for a wildcard because of this. This might possibly work in our favor though - their SOV can't be terribly high assuming the bottom-feeders keep losing. So, you should root for the bottom-feeders (particularly the ones the Ravens have played - KC, CLE, OAK, DET) to keep losing, unless of course they're playing the Ravens in the final three weeks (OAK).
It also suggests that the best remaining team on our schedule is the Titans (plus that's a road game), followed by the Texans. The Steelers don't look too impressive considering they've been granted 5 bottom-feeder games and didn't even win all of them.
