The only team with a larger margin of victory than Jacksonville is the Rams. Raise your hand if you thought that would be the case before the season.
| Rank | Team | nERD | Rec | Playoffs | Off. NEP Rank | Def. NEP Rank | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | Seattle Seahawks | 2.00 | 4-2 | 72.20% | 17 | 12 | 2 |
| 11 | Green Bay Packers | 3.04 | 4-3 | 48.20% | 7 | 20 | -1 |
| 10 | New England Patriots | 3.23 | 5-2 | 86.70% | 2 | 29 | -1 |
| 9 | Denver Broncos | 3.74 | 3-3 | 42.80% | 24 | 2 | -2 |
| 8 | Minnesota Vikings | 4.03 | 5-2 | 77.20% | 12 | 14 | 0 |
| 7 | Houston Texans | 4.76 | 3-3 | 46.90% | 15 | 4 | -2 |
| 6 | Los Angeles Rams | 5.26 | 5-2 | 75.40% | 10 | 8 | 10 |
| 5 | Philadelphia Eagles | 5.38 | 6-1 | 96.00% | 4 | 19 | -2 |
| 4 | New Orleans Saints | 5.41 | 4-2 | 76.80% | 5 | 17 | 2 |
| 3 | Kansas City Chiefs | 5.63 | 5-2 | 90.80% | 1 | 23 | -1 |
| 2 | Pittsburgh Steelers | 8.06 | 5-2 | 96.40% | 6 | 6 | 2 |
| 1 | Jacksonville Jaguars | 12.35 | 4-3 | 73.00% | 8 | 1 | 0 |
Los Angeles does not rank as high as the Jaguars, in part because of schedule adjustments. According to Pro-Football-Reference, both teams have played below-average schedules, but while the Jaguars’ average opponent has been 1.1 points below average, the Rams’ average foe has been 4.0 points below. Only Seattle has played an easier schedule.
Still, before the season, it would have been hard to imagine the Rams were going to play this well and harder still to believe the passing game has been one of the primary reasons why.
| Rams | NEP per play rank |
|---|---|
| Passing | 5th |
| Rushing | 11th |
| Pass Def. | 3rd |
| Rush Def. | 27th |
New Orleans -- a team we liked before the year and had ranked sixth in the preseason -- is also proving itself to be a contender.
The Saints’ defense is due to regress -- it is overly reliant on turnovers -- but given the strength of the offense, New Orleans will probably just need its defense to be somewhat decent to be competitive. Granted, this has been a bar they have struggled to climb in previous years, but things could be looking up this season.