New England continues an ugly trend

[DZA]

As much as I hate the PATS, they did not fall apart,  come on 11-5  neck to neck in the AFC east.  If the Fins had lost to the Pats in OCT,  miami wud have been out the playoffs.    Next season will be a test for either team in the AFC East.

[Defense54]

^^^ Nah..........granted they had a good season considering the way it started. But they are a Team on the way down while we are on the way up. Unless the Bills do a big turnaround we will own the AFC East for the near future.

[StL FinFan]

^^^ Nah..........granted they had a good season considering the way it started. But they are a Team on the way down while we are on the way up. Unless the Bills do a big turnaround we will own the AFC East for the near future.

I doubt the Pats will far very far or very fast before they are right back up there again.

[Tepop84]

Just for fun I decided to look up strength of schedule for this season - despite it being just a rough indicator. The Patriots had the, by FAR, easiest schedule this year. 99 wins was all their opponents could muster. And that's despite playing against the Jets and the Dolphins who accumulated 11 wins because of insanely easy schedules themselves. For the record, Dolphins opponents managed 119 wins and Jets opponents 117.

your math is lacking

[fyo]

your math is lacking

There is no math of mine in there. If you actually read my post, even just the part you quoted, you'll see that I wrote "I decided to look up...".

The numbers, however, are wrong. Well, misleading, anyway. Despite being taken from a context of playoff tiebreakers, the numbers are for the start of the season (so, e.g., the Patriots' opponents had 99 wins LAST year). Not really a good indicator of anything considering the magnitude of changes year-to-year. I've subsequently tried to find the "right" numbers, but have been unable - and, no, I don't feel like compiling them myself (which would involve math, and - if I made a mistake - you could claim my math (skills) to be lacking). Considering that, as I wrote, strength of schedule is only a rough indicator, it's simply not worth the time.

[Tepop84]

There is no math of mine in there. If you actually read my post, even just the part you quoted, you'll see that I wrote "I decided to look up...".

The numbers, however, are wrong. Well, misleading, anyway. Despite being taken from a context of playoff tiebreakers, the numbers are for the start of the season (so, e.g., the Patriots' opponents had 99 wins LAST year). Not really a good indicator of anything considering the magnitude of changes year-to-year. I've subsequently tried to find the "right" numbers, but have been unable - and, no, I don't feel like compiling them myself (which would involve math, and - if I made a mistake - you could claim my math (skills) to be lacking). Considering that, as I wrote, strength of schedule is only a rough indicator, it's simply not worth the time.

so the second part of you first statement is wrong.

Just for fun I decided to look up strength of schedule for this season - despite it being just a rough indicator. The Patriots had the, by FAR, easiest schedule this year. 99 wins was all their opponents could muster. And that's despite playing against the Jets and the Dolphins who accumulated 11 wins because of insanely easy schedules themselves. For the record, Dolphins opponents managed 119 wins and Jets opponents 117.

[fyo]

so the second part of you first statement is wrong.

Yes.

(no math included, though)

As I said, the numbers appeared within the context of playoff tiebreakers (for this year), so I assumed they were the current numbers. As the saying goes about assuming...

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Just for fun I decided to look up strength of schedule for this season - despite it being just a rough indicator. The Patriots had the, by FAR, easiest schedule this year.

Based on 2007 records, NE had the easiest 2008 SOS.  However based on 2008 records NE SOS was tied for 10th easiest with Tampa.  SF had the easiest SOS.  Browns had the hardest.  Mia  SOS was easier than NE's and the 6th easiest in the NFL. 

Data can be found at http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d80dc0fdd&template=with-video-with-comments&confirm=true

I copied it into excel and sorted here is the order from easiest to hardest.

San Francisco 49ers
Buffalo Bills
Denver Broncos
* Atlanta Falcons
* Tennessee Titans
* Miami Dolphins
New York Jets
Chicago Bears
Washington Redskins
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
New England Patriots
* Arizona Cardinals
* Philadelphia Eagles (from Carolina)
New Orleans Saints
Seattle Seahawks
Detroit Lions (from Dallas)
* Indianapolis Colts
* New York Giants
Green Bay Packers
* Minnesota Vikings
* Philadelphia Eagles
* San Diego Chargers
Houston Texans
Oakland Raiders
Baltimore Ravens
* Pittsburgh Steelers
St. Louis Rams
Kansas City Chiefs
Jacksonville Jaguars
Cincinnati Bengals
Detroit Lions
Cleveland Browns