Power rankings, while usually fun to read, aren’t usually the result of hard science. A team of writers simply gets together and determines each team’s ranking with one part stats, one part intution. It’s hard to take a scientific approach with these sorts of things...unless, of course, you’re a scientist. Which is apparently what Michael Salfino is. Gang Green Nation has given him the floor to explain the statistical method behind his power rankings:
Dropping Science on Power Rankings
↵↵Here are final 2009 Week 4 NFL Key Stat Power Rankings of all 32 teams in the team stats that most correlated to winning and losing since I started tracking them in 2002. These stats are net red-zone possessions (trips for minus trips allowed), net yards per play, net interception rate and net third-down percentage. The numbers in each column reflect where each team ranks in each category.
↵↵The verdict is that so far this season, the Saints are the best team in the league. However, the “brown-ness of uniform” metric wasn’t used here. If it were, the Browns would be ranked much higher.
See More:
