AIKMAN RATINGS
Through Week 8
In their narrow win over the Panthers, the Bears faltered a bit. They still retain their top spot in Aikman Defense for the sixth straight week (by a huge margin of 10.1), but their Aikman Combined Rating dropped 5.3 points.
In their London romp over St. Louis, the Patriots upped their Aikman Offense Rating to 98.8, good for first place for the fifth straight week. They also advanced some on defense as well, for an Aikman Combined improvement of 5.7 points.
As a result, New England has moved past the idle Texans and displaced the Bears as the leaders in the Aikman Combined through Week 8.
At the halfway point of their season, New England’s offense may have to be evaluated on a historic scale. The best season-long mark in the Aikman data base, that goes back to 1995, is the 99.0 mark of the Patriots in 2007. Last year’s Saints came in just off that mark at 98.8.
The scale has slid to the offensive side of the Aikmans in recent years. Designed for 75 to be average on both sides of the ball, the game has changed to where 80.0 is this year’s offensive average (78.9 in 2011 was a league-wide season record that could be broken this year).
Thus for the Bears defense to stand at 91.6, or 21 points above the league average, would be the equivalent league differential of 101.6 or so on offense.
Aikman Combined Ratings Through Week 8, 2012
--------- Aikman -------- ------- NFL --------
Rank Record Team Combined Off Def Off Def Combined
1 5-3 Patriots 172.2 98.8 73.4 1 23 24
2 6-1 Texans 171.8 90.3 81.5 9 3 12
3 6-1 Bears 170.8 79.1 91.6 26 7 33
4 6-2 49ers 170.0 88.8 81.2 11 1 12
5 6-2 Giants 163.5 86.7 76.8 4 24 28
6 7-0 Falcons 162.5 91.0 71.6 13 20 33
7 3-4 Buccaneers 160.7 84.5 76.2 15 27 42
8 5-3 Packers 157.7 88.9 68.8 21 13 34
9 4-3 Steelers 157.4 88.2 69.2 10 2 12
10 4-3 Dolphins 157.1 75.8 81.3 23 22 45
11 4-3 Broncos 156.6 88.4 68.3 3 8 11
12 3-4 Lions 153.6 81.6 72.0 2 9 11
13 5-2 Ravens 152.5 84.0 68.5 16 28 44
14 5-3 Vikings 149.9 79.6 70.3 22 11 33
15 3-5 Redskins 149.6 85.3 64.3 6 29 35
16 4-4 Seahawks 149.0 72.4 76.6 30 5 35
17 3-4 Cowboys 147.7 74.6 73.1 7 4 11
18 3-4 Eagles 147.0 73.3 73.8 14 12 26
19 3-4 Chargers 146.5 76.7 69.8 25 10 35
20 4-4 Cardinals 146.0 66.7 79.3 31 6 37
21 2-5 Saints 144.3 89.3 55.0 5 32 37
22 2-6 Browns 143.4 70.6 72.9 29 26 55
23 1-6 Panthers 142.9 74.1 68.8 20 15 35
24 3-5 Jets 139.2 73.6 65.6 27 16 43
25 3-4 Raiders 139.1 73.3 65.7 18 17 35
26 3-4 Bengals 137.8 73.5 64.3 17 21 38
27 3-5 Rams 137.1 70.5 66.6 28 14 42
28 1-6 Jaguars 135.4 68.2 67.2 32 25 57
29 3-5 Titans 134.8 79.3 55.6 24 30 54
30 4-3 Colts 133.3 76.4 56.9 8 19 27
31 3-4 Bills 130.9 79.6 51.3 19 31 50
32 1-6 Chiefs 130.7 66.1 64.6 12 18 30
Aikman Offense Ratings Through Week 8, 2012
Aik NFL Team AER
1 1 Patriots 98.8
2 13 Falcons 91.0
3 9 Texans 90.3
4 5 Saints 89.3
5 21 Packers 88.9
6 11 49ers 88.8
7 3 Broncos 88.4
8 10 Steelers 88.2
9 4 Giants 86.7
10 6 Redskins 85.3
11 15 Buccaneers 84.5
12 16 Ravens 84.0
13 2 Lions 81.6
14 22 Vikings 79.6
15 19 Bills 79.6
16 24 Titans 79.3
17 26 Bears 79.1
18 25 Chargers 76.7
19 8 Colts 76.4
20 23 Dolphins 75.8
21 7 Cowboys 74.6
22 20 Panthers 74.1
23 27 Jets 73.6
24 17 Bengals 73.5
25 18 Raiders 73.3
26 14 Eagles 73.3
27 30 Seahawks 72.4
28 29 Browns 70.6
29 28 Rams 70.5
30 32 Jaguars 68.2
31 31 Cardinals 66.7
32 12 Chiefs 66.1
NFL Average 80.0
Aikman Defense Ratings Through Week 8, 2012
Aik NFL Team AER
1 7 Bears 91.6
2 3 Texans 81.5
3 22 Dolphins 81.3
4 1 49ers 81.2
5 6 Cardinals 79.3
6 24 Giants 76.8
7 5 Seahawks 76.6
8 27 Buccaneers 76.2
9 12 Eagles 73.8
10 23 Patriots 73.4
11 4 Cowboys 73.1
12 26 Browns 72.9
13 9 Lions 72.0
14 20 Falcons 71.6
15 11 Vikings 70.3
16 10 Chargers 69.8
17 2 Steelers 69.2
18 13 Packers 68.8
19 15 Panthers 68.8
20 28 Ravens 68.5
21 8 Broncos 68.3
22 25 Jaguars 67.2
23 14 Rams 66.6
24 17 Raiders 65.7
25 16 Jets 65.6
26 18 Chiefs 64.6
27 29 Redskins 64.3
28 21 Bengals 64.3
29 19 Colts 56.9
30 30 Titans 55.6
31 32 Saints 55.0
32 31 Bills 51.3
NFL Average 70.0
Ratings Courtesy of STATS LLC