2011-2012 NFL Playoff Team Rankings
This is something new I’m trying out this year. It has nothing to do with my power rankings. Just for fun, I’ve ranked the 12 playoff teams in 6 different categories (Quarterback, Coaching, Defense, Offensive Line, Special Teams, Other) to come up with an overall ranking heading into the postseason.
It’s not too scientific. It’s based both on numbers and my general thoughts/beliefs. 5 of the 6 categories are pretty self-explanatory. The 6th category—“Other”—is the most dicey. “Other” is basically a combination of experience, history, momentum, health, and team intelligence. If I do a version of these rankings next year I might just skip the “Other” category, but this year I wanted to try it out.
There’s something else a bit dicey about these rankings that I must own up to. Both the Offensive Line rankings and the Special Teams rankings are based entirely on the rankings done by Football Outsiders. This choice was made partly out of an understanding that I’m limited in my knowledge of some parts of the game, but mostly due to time constraints and laziness.
For the OL rankings, there simply was no other choice. With all of the numbers they can crunch, their O-line rankings are simply going to be superior to anything I could come up with.
For special teams, I was originally just going to rank the kickers. However, when I was getting the info on the O-lines I checked out their ST rankings and decided I might as well just follow their lead in that area as well. That way I could save a lot of time and be able to include other areas of special teams.
So, a big thank you to Football Outsiders for helping make this little experiment happen. For the other areas, I have my own ideas, and I think we can all agree that football’s sabermetricians haven’t quite figured it all out yet.
Just to be clear: 12 equals the worst; 1 equals the best. I added up the rankings of the 6 categories to come up with the overall rankings (the lower the number, the better the ranking). There were several ties in the overall rankings and I used “biggest weakness” as the tiebreaker.
Specifically, I ranked the Broncos behind the Falcons because Tim Tebow (while in some ways a strength) is a more glaring weakness in terms of winning the Super Bowl than any weakness the Falcons have.
For the other tiebreaker, I ranked the Giants behind the Ravens because Eli Manning’s habit of having a really bad game is still—in my opinion—a bigger potential weakness in terms of winning the Super Bowl than any weakness the Ravens have (though Manning is a strength for the G-Men in many other ways).
So here are the first ever Horse Collar Playoff Team Rankings.
Quarterback
12. Houston
11. Cincinnati
10. Denver
9. San Francisco
8. Baltimore
7. Atlanta
6. Detroit
5. New York Giants
4. Pittsburgh
3. New Orleans
2. New England
1. Green Bay
Coaching
12. Detroit
11. Houston
10. Cincinnati
9. Denver
8. Baltimore
7. Atlanta
6. New York Giants
5. San Francisco
4. Green Bay
3. New Orleans
2. Pittsburgh
1. New England
Defense
12. Detroit
11. Denver
10. Atlanta
9. New Orleans
8. New York Giants
7. New England
6. Green Bay
5. Cincinnati
4. Houston
3. Baltimore
2. San Francisco
1. Pittsburgh
Offensive Line
12. Detroit
11. New York Giants
10. Atlanta
9. San Francisco
8. Cincinnati
7. Green Bay
6. Denver
5. Baltimore
4. Houston
3. Pittsburgh
2. New England
1. New Orleans
Special Teams
12. Detroit
11. Baltimore
10. Atlanta
9. Denver
8. Houston
7. New Orleans
6. New York Giants
5. Pittsburgh
4. Green Bay
3. Cincinnati
2. San Francisco
1. New England
Other
12. Cincinnati
11. Houston
10. Detroit
9. San Francisco
8. Atlanta
7. Denver
6. Baltimore
5. New York Giants
4. Pittsburgh
3. New Orleans
2. New England
1. Green Bay
Overall
12. Detroit (64.0)
11. Denver (52.1)
10. Atlanta (52.0)
9. Houston (50.0)
8. Cincinnati (49.0)
7. New York Giants (41.1)
6. Baltimore (41.0)
5. San Francisco (36.0)
4. New Orleans (30.0)
3. Green Bay (26.0)
2. Pittsburgh (21.0)
1. New England (16.0)
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