2017 NFL Power Rankings: Pre-Week 1 Edition
We made it, you guys.
No more speculating about the battles for third-string quarterback roles or snap counts in the fourth quarter of preseason games. In just a few days, we’ll have real NFL games that actually count to worry about.
The New England Patriots came out on top of the last NFL game that counted, something that is also true of our power rankings. Our preseason rankings are based on nERD projections, which measure a team’s expected margin of victory against an average team on a neutral field.
The most successful team of the century looks poised to continue this run, as the Patriots have a nERD score that is more than double that of the second-ranked Dallas Cowboys. The 4.92-point gap between New England and Dallas is roughly equivalent to that between Dallas and the 23rd-ranked Baltimore Ravens.
But don’t despair, fans of the other 31 teams. While the Patriots do indeed have the league's highest Super Bowl odds, there is still an 82.9% chance they do not lift the Lombardi Trophy again, per our numbers.
Let’s look at some of these other teams, starting with the ones that almost certainly will not be playing into February.
