2025 through Monday, Week 6

Power Ratings

According to Bud Goode's computer-aided analysis of pro football a good power rating system is determined by simply dividing points scored on offense by points allowed on defense.

The average team earns one point on offense for each point given up on defense and has a ratio of 1.00. Divisional champs earn 1.5 points for each point given up and cellar dwellers earn about 1 point for each 2 points allowed. An average team should be close to an 8-8 record.

Here are the power ratings for last year's playoff teams:

2024 Playoff Teams
1 Green Bay Packers 31.29 7 Kansas City Chiefs 1.34
2 Miami Dolphins 10.16 8 Denver Broncos 1.24
3 Baltimore Ravens 9.47 9 Cincinnati Bengals 1.09
4 Philadelphia Eagles 1.53 10 Seattle Seahawks 1.01
5 Buffalo Bills 1.48 11 Arizona Cardinals 0.99
6 Minnesota Vikings 1.41 12 Houston Texans 0.97
2024: Super Bowl average = 20.38 Playoff average = 5.16

The ultimate playoff teams for this year will be the ones with the best balance. After week number 6 the computer power ratings are:

2025
1 Green Bay Packers 65.50 17 Tampa Bay Bucs 1.09
2 Miami Dolphins 1.81 18 Arizona Cardinals 1.02
3 Houston Texans 1.77 19 L. A. Chargers 1.02
4 Indianapolis Colts 1.67 20 Atlanta Falcons 1.00
5 Baltimore Ravens 1.53 21 Philadelphia Eagles 0.99
6 Seattle Seahawks 1.42 22 San Francisco 49ers 0.98
7 Denver Broncos 1.37 23 Dallas Cowboys 0.97
8 Detroit Lions 1.35 24 Carolina Panthers 0.90
9 L. A. Rams 1.27 25 Chicago Bears 0.89
10 Minnesota Vikings 1.27 26 New York Giants 0.84
11 Washington Commanders 1.25 27 New York Jets 0.72
12 Kansas City Chiefs 1.25 28 New Orleans Saints 0.69
13 New England Patriots 1.25 29 Las Vegas Raiders 0.69
14 Buffalo Bills 1.22 30 Cincinnati Bengals 0.56
15 Jacksonville Jaguars 1.16 31 Cleveland Browns 0.56
16 Pittsburgh Steelers 1.11 32 Tennessee Titans 0.52

At the end of the season the strongest team will earn about 2 points on offense for each point allowd. Divisional leaders will be near 1.5 points for each D point given up. And cellar-dwellers will earn only one point for each two points on D (a ratio of 0.5-to-1). The average team will score as many points as their D allows, earning a ratio of 1-to-1. This spells a won/lost recored near 8-8. In 2006 this balance-of-power stat corellated 97% with the scoring differential (winning margin) and in 2005, 98%. This offensive-defensive scoring balance of power is a most reliable Killer Stat.