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Analysis

I used to just love the long drawn out discussions about what was the best analysis technique for deciding (homerism was, unfortunately, not one of them) which was the best team. So, I thought I would attempt to stir things up, again. Turnovers and TOP seemed to be the top contenders. One that always seemed to be discounted or ignored, for some reason, was net points. Maybe it's because it doesn't have a good acronym. Anywyays,, I think the evidence is pretty clear, from last season, that is is about as accurate a predicter as can be found.

If you look at the 2013 season, five of the eight divisions are in lock step between win-loss record and Net Points Earned (oooo, there's an acronym. NPE!!!). The AFC west and North and the NFC east, west, and south are all in lock step between win-loss record and net points. The AFC East only has one outlier but it's big, the one with the second best w-l record had the worst net points record. The AFC South (Indy is in the South division??!?! How weird) was not so blatant. 3rd and 4th position were flipped. The NFC North was just a mess but, well, the NFC North was just a mess. The Lions were clear leader in net points and the w-l record was just neck and neck. But, the bottom of the trough - Minnesota - was so in both categories. So, to me, the Lions look like the team to watch in that division.

So, anyways, I always thought that TOP was a good indicator of something, I've just never figured out what. And, TO's were just a good idea, period. But, when it comes to figuring out which team is kicking teams around the block and owning the best chance of going to and winning the Superbowl, net points just can't be touched.

By the way, the two Superbowl participants? The two teams with the highest net points. Playoffs? Almost in lock step with NPE. If I were a betting man, disregarding any other overrriding factor, I'd be betting NPE.

This FanPost was written by a reader and member of Canal Street Chronicles. It does not necessarily reflect the views of CSC and its staff or editors.

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