All sports fans have heard the cliche "you are what your record is"; as crude as it may be, it is a fair assessment.
The World Series is all about which team wins four games first— the World Cup boils down to which team puts the ball in the net more than the other team— in the National Football League, any statistical measure or mitigating factor is completely secondary to the ultimate postseason factor: the win total.
Typically, a team's record can be representative of how they line up in the Intelligence Index, a measure combining Scoreability and Benadability. This essentially boils every team down to a simple number that reflects how many points they score and give up per yard gained and allowed.
So, with this in mind, which teams are overachieving, and which ones are not living up to expectations this year? We have the answers.
The Raiders have come back down to Earth since Derek Carr stopped throwing for 400+ yards per game, but they are still 4-2 and second in a loaded AFC West. In contrast to this record, they are down at 20th in the Intelligence Index with a negative differential between Scoreability and Bendability.
Still, they looked solid in their first game post-Jon Gruden and should be a player in the playoff picture at the end of the season.
One spot above the Raiders in the Intelligence Index is the Los Angeles Chargers, the current leaders of the AFC West who are also 4-2. Sophomore quarterback Justin Herbert has dominated the headlines, but digging beneath the surface would reveal that much of this has been smoke and mirrors.
The Green Bay Packers season has gotten off to a flying start, resulting in five wins to just one loss through six weeks; however, they are still only 17th in the Intelligence Index, suggesting that they should be a sub .500 team.
This is both encouraging and discouraging as the team is winning practically in spite of itself, though it is understood that their poor play should come back to haunt them in the future.
As previously discussed by the Cold Hard Football Facts team, the New Orleans Saints are an enigma of a team. They lead all rosters in the Intelligence Index despite only being 3-2 this season, suffering bad losses to the Carolina Panthers and New York Giants.
One explanation for their success in this category is quarterback Jameis Winston, who is tied for the 10th-most passing touchdowns in the league while also being 30th in yards.
The 2014 Super Bowl champions currently rank sixth in the Intelligence Index with only two wins in six attempts this season.
Although their defense is nowhere near the caliber of the Saints, having spent too much money on safety Jamal Adams and been hamstrung by Russell Wilson's contract, they are actually positioned higher in Bendability than they are in Scoreability.
Incredibly, this points to inefficiency on the offensive end as the major plague of the NFC West's worst current team as opposed to the defense.
The New England Patriots find themselves in a similar predicament to the Seahawks, having posted a 2-4 record through six weeks of football; they are also ninth in the Intelligence Index, suggesting they should be winning more games.
Thankfully for them, the AFC East is pretty terrible, and their two-win record is still the second-highest total in the division. If Mac Jones can show progression in his rookie season, and the team keeps performing like one of the top-10 teams in the metric, they could mount a late-season challenge for the playoffs.
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Tanner Kern breaks down the biggest news from the NFL world, discusses fantasy football stategy, and gives his future bets for the 2022 season on the debut of the CHFF Show.