NFL Power Rankings Week 7
by Robert Ferringo - 10/15/2019

There is any number of explanations for why underdogs are crushing it at the window each week. Quarterback play, league-wide, has regressed, and that's made everything more topsy-turvy. The sportsbooks have the most difficulty projecting teams early in the season. Defense has become en vogue in the NFL again, and that's led to lower-scoring games. Take your pick of the reason. But the reasons why don't matter. All that matters is that right now the only way to bet the NFL is to take road teams, underdogs and, when possible, road underdogs.

NFL Power Rankings Week 6
by Robert Ferringo - 10/8/2019

I don't know if I have ever seen a wider disparity between the top and the bottom of the NFL. There is still a clear, muddled middle class in the league right now. That's the forced parity that the league loves and the fuel for all of the weekly surprises on the field and at the window. However, if you look at the top eight and the bottom eight teams in the league right now, the variance is stark.

NFL Power Rankings Week 5
by Robert Ferringo - 10/1/2019

After last year's scoring explosion, in which teams combined to average 46.6 points per game, scoring has reverted back down to levels that we've seen only once this decade. With just 44.4 points per game, this season is on pace to be the second-lowest scoring year of the decade. However, this doesn't account to the fact that we are still in the early portion of the season.

NFL Power Rankings Week 4
by Robert Ferringo - 9/24/2019

The week after the season opener is the Overreaction Week. But now we are getting into Hype Week. Despite an extremely limited sample size and some outlier results, it appears that the bobblehead media is ready to make (more) wild, unsubstantiated claims on everything from Buffalo's viability in the AFC East race to Daniel Jones' Hall of Fame prospects.

NFL Power Rankings Week 3
by Robert Ferringo - 9/17/2019

Never forget that football is a war of attrition. It is battle. Football is sport. And it reflects the realities of nature. Football is two male rams smashing horns. It is two rhinos fighting for territory or male lions wrestling for command of the pride. It's primal and brutal.

NFL Power Rankings Week 2
by Robert Ferringo - 9/10/2019

Obviously, the Patriots are going to win another Super Bowl, beating the Cowboys next February. Miami is going to go 0-16 and get the No. 1 overall pick, and Kyler Murray is going to win the Offensive Rookie of the Year Award. Everything has already been determined after just one week, so we can all just save ourselves some time.

NFL Power Rankings Week 1
by Robert Ferringo - 9/3/2019

There is a storm on the horizon. A storm of ritualized violence, presented by global telecommunications giants and the insurance industry, is about to make landfall. And it brings with it a hail of gambling and brutality and has helped define the sport of football as America's True National Pastime, a weekly ceremony of our own collective bloodlust and a measure of our national hedonism.

NFL Power Rankings Week 17
by Robert Ferringo - 12/26/2018

Well, this is it. Another NFL regular season is about to settle into the books. This week is the dreaded Week 17 of the NFL season. For some teams, like the Titans and Colts, the playoffs start on Sunday. For others, this week is the last hurdle between their players and an offseason of recreation and recovery.

NFL Power Rankings Week 16
by Robert Ferringo - 12/18/2018

How do you gauge the most valuable player in a given sport? For some, the MVP should simply be the best player. Period. If that is the case, then Patrick Mahomes should easily win the MVP this season. He is set to throw for more than 5,000 yards and 50 touchdowns passes - both by far the top numbers in the league - while leading the Chiefs to a potential No. 1 seed in the AFC. Mahomes has done all this while making any number of jaw-dropping throws, and the kid clearly looks like the Next Big Thing in NFL quarterbacking.

NFL Power Rankings Week 15
by Robert Ferringo - 12/11/2018

I love futures betting. But I am not at all a fan of betting on teams to win the Super Bowl. It is really such an arbitrary thing, when you think about it, and the odds for teams to hoist the Lombardi Trophy never come close to reflecting how difficult the task really is.

NFL Power Rankings Week 14
by Robert Ferringo - 12/4/2018

Some weeks things just aren't going to go the way they were supposed to. And last week was that week for me. The Saints laid their first egg in three months. Three college football teams blew double-digit leads. The Bears threw up on themselves against the hapless Giants.

NFL Power Rankings Week 13
by Robert Ferringo - 11/29/2018

Right now one of the most misleading statistics in the NFL is wins and losses. Since we can delineate the good teams from the bad having an understanding of strength of schedule and its impact on the relativity of teams and their records and rankings. Generally, you don't hear about NFL strength of schedule with the random exception of a couple random times throughout the offseason (like when next year's schedules are released).

NFL Power Rankings Week 12
by Robert Ferringo - 11/20/2018

It is Thanksgiving week, so I am doing an abridged version of my NFL Power Rankings. But I do want to take this opportunity to point out again that I will be releasing my football selections on Wednesday this week to accommodate the holiday. That goes for all of Doc's football handicappers, and we want to get our action in early so we can sit back and enjoy an orgy of alcohol, eating and gambling this weekend that would make the Romans blush.

NFL Power Rankings Week 11
by Robert Ferringo - 11/13/2018

The Saints are pretty clearly the best team in football. I still think that there is a razor thin margin between the top five teams. There is, however, a massive gap between the top eight or nine teams, which are legitimate title contenders, and the second tier in the league. Those teams in the middle of the pack are the ones that are causing bettors the most anxiety each week. And the most difficult

NFL Power Rankings Week 10
by Robert Ferringo - 11/6/2018

Don't forget to check the weather. We've been treated to the highest scoring first nine weeks of football in NFL history. Yet as we move into November, the weather is going to start getting colder and harsher. The cold has a way of slowing everything down, making everything just a little bit harder. The wind will start to become a factor as well. And we're only a few weeks away from our first snow bowl.

NFL Power Rankings Week 9
by Robert Ferringo - 10/30/2018

The NFL trade deadline is this week. And rumors have been swirling about some significant deals, potentially involving Pro Bowl players. However, if you're looking for a league-wide shakeup, like we see annually at the MLB and NBA trade deadlines, I wouldn't hold your breath.

NFL Power Rankings Week 8
by Robert Ferringo - 10/23/2018

If you watched the Monday Night Football game between Atlanta and the New York Giants, you were treated to a moment, late in that game, where the Old School met the New School. And the results, as often is the case when previous firmly-held beliefs are challenged, were both uncomfortable and hilarious.

NFL Power Rankings Week 7
by Robert Ferringo - 10/16/2018

The NFL wanted more scoring and more offense. It got more scoring and more offense. The 4,489 points scored through Week 6 are the most in NFL history to this point in the season. Teams have combined to score 504 total touchdowns, with an average of 48.1 points per game. There have already been an incredible 328 touchdown passes, an average of 55 per week.

NFL Power Rankings Week 6
by Robert Ferringo - 10/9/2018

The four rookie starting quarterbacks combined to go 4-0 straight up and against the spread last week. It was the first time in NFL history that four rookie signal callers won on the same day. In the meantime, five of the most successful and consequential quarterbacks of the past 15 years - Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, Joe Flacco, Aaron Rodgers and Alex Smith - all threw up on themselves, combing to go 1-4 straight up and 2-3 against the spread.

NFL Power Rankings Week 5
by Robert Ferringo - 10/2/2018

The NFL absolutely has to do something about its overtime rules. Because right now the whole setup is ridiculous. And the constant specter of ties is taking some of the fun out of what should be exciting late-game scenarios. Three more games went to overtime this week, and several others (Seattle-Arizona, Kansas City-Denver, Cincinnati-Atlanta) were on the verge. Fortunately, there were no ties this week. But the only reason that was the case was a comically-bad decision by Frank Reich in the Houston-Indianapolis game. Had that game ended as it should have it would've marked three ties in four weeks.