Wednesday, September 19, 2007

It is just too early to talk about an undefeated season

People are already talking about the possibility of an undefeated season for the New England Patriots. It is simply too early. I agree they are the best team in the NFL, but undefeated is still a stretch. My current power ratings have them expected to win 13.21 games this year, with a 3.6% chance of winning every game. 3.6% is really high to expect a team to go undefeated, but it is still almost a 30-1 shot. Maybe the 3.6% should go be a bit higher if NE shows they are even better than people expect. But they killed both their opponents in the last two weeks - two playoff teams - so it is that much less likely that they are underestimated at this point.

Here are my winning percentages that I've pegged for NE in their remaining 14 games:

95% vs BUF
67% at CIN
95% vs CLE
64% at DAL
81% at MIA
92% vs WAS
53% at IND
84% at BUF
84% vs PHI
62% at BAl
75% vs PIT
93% vs NYJ
95% vs MIA
81% at NYG

Talking about 16-0 is way too early. Let's wait until after the IND game in week 9.