AIKMAN RATINGS
Through Week 10
The leaders remain unchanged after 10 weeks in the three major categories of the Aikman Ratings. The Patriots in Aikman Offense and the Bears in Aikman Defense have been atop those categories since September, while the Texans lead the Aikman Combined for the second straight week after their victory over Chicago.
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The Aikman Combined has been identifying the Buccaneers as a team to watch for several weeks now. Tampa Bay, winner of three straight, has moved up to 6th in the Aikman Combined, slightly ahead of the 8-1 Falcons, as well as the Packers, Steelers, Giants and Broncos. The Buccaneers have two games remaining with Atlanta. Is it possible they could still having something to say about the NFC South title?
On the other hand, the Aikman Combined is not so kind to 6-3 Indianapolis. Indianapolis stand just 25th at the moment, but part of that might be that nine of the bottom 10 teams are in the AFC. Houston and New England represent the AFC at the top of the Aikman Combined, but 11 of the next 14 clubs are from the NFC.
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Troy Aikman conceived of the Aikman Ratings after noticing that quite often a team would dominate an opponent on both sides of the ball, score a convincing victory – and still falter in the NFL’s official “yards only” ranking of offense and defense.
There were several striking examples of that in Week 10, with the Ravens, Bengals and Cowboys scoring double-digit wins on the scoreboard while outgained in yardage. Among the games played to a decision, teams with more yards were only 6-7 on the week and are at just 58.2% for the year.
On the other hand, teams with a higher Aikman Game Score went 12-1 on the week and have won 80% of the games to date.
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The NFL’s “yards only” rankings would have you believe that the Eagles (8th) have a better offense than the Packers (19th) among others. The Aikman Ratings put Green Bay’s offense 5th and Philadelphia in 27th. Which offense do you think NFL defensive coordinators find more challenging to keep out of the end zone?
Aikman Combined Ratings Through Week 10, 2012
--------- Aikman -------- ------- NFL --------
Rank Record Team Combined Off Def Off Def Combined
1 8-1 Texans 172.8 87.2 85.7 15 2 17
2 6-3 Patriots 171.2 99.9 71.3 1 25 26
3 7-2 Bears 167.4 76.0 91.3 28 5 33
4 6-2-1 49ers 167.2 89.3 77.9 11 3 14
5 7-2 Ravens 160.6 87.7 72.9 16.5 27 43.5
6 5-4 Buccaneers 160.3 87.7 72.6 12.5 30 42.5
7 8-1 Falcons 159.7 90.0 69.6 6 20 26
8 6-3 Packers 158.4 88.3 70.1 19 14 33
9 6-3 Steelers 157.9 85.1 72.8 16.5 1 17.5
10 6-4 Giants 156.9 82.5 74.3 10 21 31
11 6-3 Broncos 156.2 86.8 69.4 3 6 9
12 4-5 Lions 155.8 85.5 70.3 2 10 12
13 6-4 Seahawks 155.5 77.1 78.4 27 4 31
14 4-5 Saints 149.0 89.9 59.0 4 32 36
15 6-4 Vikings 148.6 80.9 67.7 21 13 34
16 4-5 Cowboys 147.3 75.4 71.9 9 8 17
17 4-5 Dolphins 147.2 72.9 74.3 26 22 48
18 3-6 Redskins 147.0 83.8 63.2 7 28 35
19 4-5 Chargers 146.9 77.9 69.0 22 7 29
20 2-7 Panthers 146.2 76.1 70.2 23 16 39
21 3-6 Eagles 144.9 72.5 72.4 8 12 20
22 4-5 Cardinals 144.9 66.9 78.0 31 9 40
23 4-5 Bengals 143.0 76.4 66.7 20 19 39
24 4-6 Titans 141.3 80.0 61.3 25 29 54
25 6-3 Colts 139.9 79.1 60.8 5 18 23
26 2-7 Browns 139.8 68.7 71.0 29 24 53
27 3-5-1 Rams 138.9 73.5 65.4 24 15 39
28 3-6 Jets 135.2 70.2 65.0 30 17 47
29 1-8 Jaguars 134.1 69.4 64.6 32 26 58
30 3-6 Raiders 133.8 73.4 60.4 12.5 23 35.5
31 1-8 Chiefs 133.8 66.0 67.8 18 11 29
32 3-6 Bills 130.3 78.9 51.3 14 31 45
Aikman Offense Ratings Through Week 10, 2012
Aik NFL Team AER
1 1 Patriots 99.9
2 6 Falcons 90.0
3 4 Saints 89.9
4 11 49ers 89.3
5 19 Packers 88.3
6 12.5 Buccaneers 87.7
7 16.5 Ravens 87.7
8 15 Texans 87.2
9 3 Broncos 86.8
10 2 Lions 85.5
11 16.5 Steelers 85.1
12 7 Redskins 83.8
13 10 Giants 82.5
14 21 Vikings 80.9
15 25 Titans 80.0
16 5 Colts 79.1
17 14 Bills 78.9
18 22 Chargers 77.9
19 27 Seahawks 77.1
20 20 Bengals 76.4
21 23 Panthers 76.1
22 28 Bears 76.0
23 9 Cowboys 75.4
24 24 Rams 73.5
25 12.5 Raiders 73.4
26 26 Dolphins 72.9
27 8 Eagles 72.5
28 30 Jets 70.2
29 32 Jaguars 69.4
30 29 Browns 68.7
31 31 Cardinals 66.9
32 18 Chiefs 66.0
NFL Average 80.1
Aikman Defense Ratings Through Week 10, 2012
Aik NFL Team AER
1 5 Bears 91.3
2 2 Texans 85.7
3 4 Seahawks 78.4
4 9 Cardinals 78.0
5 3 49ers 77.9
6 22 Dolphins 74.3
7 21 Giants 74.3
8 27 Ravens 72.9
9 1 Steelers 72.8
10 30 Buccaneers 72.6
11 12 Eagles 72.4
12 8 Cowboys 71.9
13 25 Patriots 71.3
14 24 Browns 71.0
15 10 Lions 70.3
16 16 Panthers 70.2
17 14 Packers 70.1
18 20 Falcons 69.6
19 6 Broncos 69.4
20 7 Chargers 69.0
21 11 Chiefs 67.8
22 13 Vikings 67.7
23 19 Bengals 66.7
24 15 Rams 65.4
25 17 Jets 65.0
26 26 Jaguars 64.6
27 28 Redskins 63.2
28 29 Titans 61.3
29 18 Colts 60.8
30 23 Raiders 60.4
31 32 Saints 59.0
32 31 Bills 51.3
NFL Average 69.9
Ratings Courtesy of STATS LLC