Strength of Schedule

I did some quick calculations on the strength of schedules to remove each teams influence on its own SOS and saw that it doesn't chance it dramatically especially at the top. A couple teams makes serious jumps or falls but overall it stay about the same. The schedule does seem to have a profound effect on a teams playoffs chances. Here's the newer numbers I came up with with their original ranking to the left.
1 Seahawks 0.445833333
2 Panthers 0.458333333
3 Bucs 0.458333333
4 Dolphins 0.458333333
5 Bears 0.466666667
9 Rams 0.475
6 Colts 0.479166667
7 Jaguars 0.479166667
8 Bengals 0.4875
10 Vikings 0.4875
14 Bills 0.4875
11 Falcons 0.491666667
16 Lions 0.491666667
18 Cardinals 0.495833333
21 Titans 0.495833333
19 Browns 0.5
12 Steelers 0.504166667
13 Giants 0.504166667
22 Saints 0.504166667
17 Chiefs 0.5125
25 Jets 0.5125
28 Texans 0.5125
20 Patriots 0.516666667
23 Ravens 0.516666667
26 Packers 0.516666667
15 Broncos 0.520833333
27 Eagles 0.525
29 Raiders 0.525
30 49ers 0.525
24 Cowboys 0.529166667
31 Redskins 0.55
32 Chargers 0.566666667

One more thing after looking at the numbers some more. The Skins and the Chargers clearly had the toughest schedules this year and I think that should give us some hope. The charges barely missed the playoffs after being considered a pretty good team all year and we barely made it after putting together a late season rally but both teams played schedules far harder than any other playoff team.

I found it interesting to note that the Skins had the second-toughest schedule this season, based on the post-season strength of schedule rankings. Also, only one other playoff had opponents that finished over .500 (the Pats at .508) and the Broncos finished with opponents at .500.

All of the other playoff teams finished within the top 15 for ease of schedule, including the Seahawks who finished with the easiest schedule (and a L at the hands of our Skins).

Not that any of this means much, but its pretty damn interesting to me that we played a harsh schedule and came out looking good in every game except the first Giants game. We played a lot of tough teams real tough, and I hope we get a second crack at them in the playoffs...

Here are the rankings:

Seahawks 0.43
Panthers 0.449
Bucs 0.449
Dolphins 0.457
Bears 0.457
Colts 0.457
Jaguars 0.465
Bengals 0.477
Rams 0.484
Vikings 0.484
Falcons 0.492
Steelers 0.492
Giants 0.492
Bills 0.5
Broncos 0.5
Lions 0.504
Chiefs 0.504
Cardinals 0.508
Browns 0.508
Patriots 0.508
Titans 0.512
Saints 0.523
Ravens 0.523
Cowboys 0.523
Jets 0.527
Packers 0.531
Eagles 0.531
Texans 0.535
Raiders 0.539
49ers 0.539
Redskins 0.539
Chargers 0.559

Nice post, great info. Note the Patriots and Redskins are the only two playoff teams whose opponents were above .500.

Now if that isn't a testament to the two best coaches in the NFL, Belichik and Gibbs, I don't know what is.