Neither the AFC nor the AFC’s No. 1 seed has the best odds to win the Super Bowl, which does seem a bit unusual. Tell us in the comments section!
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While their path to Santa Clara for Super Bowl 50 could be easier, we still feel the Cardinals are in a great position to run the table.
Without getting too bogged down in numbers, Bhanpuri’s model produces a “rating” for each team based on three main factors that measure offensive and defensive efficiency: expected points contributed by offense, which accounts for the “importance” of each yard gained; simple rating system (SRS), which accounts for a team’s margin of victory and strength of schedule; and offense simple rating system (OSRS), which is a variation of the SRS. They haven’t beaten a team with a winning record all season (they went 0-3 with an average point differential of -19.7 agains teams that finished the year above.500), but there might not be a quarterback playing better than Captain Kirk right now. The team that was one play away from a repeat.
Dallas Cowboys (4-12) I probably had the Cowboys a little high, but this pick went to hell when Tony Romo went down for the year.
NFL.com today reported that a mathematical model has predicted a Super Bowl 50 matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Arizona Cardinals. Will AJ McCarron be the quarterback to break Cincinnati’s 25-year skid? As for the Cardinals, they are America’s oldest professional football team, founded in 1898.
Those NFC teams in playoff contention include: The Washington Redskins, the Green Bay Packers, the Carolina Panthers, the Minnesota Vikings, the Seattle Seahawks, and the Arizona Cardinals.
There was a reason I was a Communication major and Journalism minor in college – I hate math. Ok, maybe I don’t “hate” math, but its mathematical findings like this that makes me not trust numbers. It didn’t even look that close.
That first Super Bowl, which was played in Los Angeles, was won by the Packers 35-10. Do the Broncos have questions at quarterback?
Quite simply, Arians is not a coach who is used to losing.
To begin, their 28 playoff berths and 21 division titles are more than any other team since the 1970 National Football League merger with the AFL. Making a pick in the AFC is hard.
Adrian Peterson (8.4k) – Due to a late scratch Marshawn Lynch is no longer the Premium Play at RB this week. They have a good defense and their coach has been here a time or two in the past.
It is also important to point out that the algorithm that makes up this model is flawed. And since the Ravens also have won two and no other team from the AFC East (Patriots) or NFC East (Giants) have won a Lombardi in that time, you can argue the merits of playing in a weaker division as opposed to the AFC North.
As a group, the Sports Illustrated writers have picked the Kansas City Chiefs to beat the Houston Texans, the Pittsburgh Steelers to beat the Cincinnati Bengals, the Washington Redskins to beat the Green Bay Packers, and the Seattle Seahawks to beat the Minnesota Vikings. If this model truly accounted for everything, then the Packers would be second or third on last year’s list – not sixth.
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