NFL Tiebreaking Procedures

[Infiniti2000]

I'm trying to figure out exactly how the NFL tiebreaking procedures work. The issue I have is that I'm not 100% what "strength of victory" means and how to compute the strength of schedule. I can guess that strength of schedule could be the total won-lost-tied percentage of your opponents, but strength of victory doesn't help much. Is it merely the difference in points between you and your opponent's, but only for victories?

I did a lot of web-searching, but clearer definitions were not found.

 

[loki44]

The issue I have is that I'm not 100% what "strength of victory" means

Good question, here's one definition I found:

"Definition: A part of the NFL's tiebreaking proceedure, strength of victory is figured by calculating the combined winning percentage of the opponents a team has beaten."

"Examples: If two teams end with identical records, combine the records of the opponents in each of the team's wins and calculate the total winning percentage. The team whose opponents have the higher winning percentage wins the tiebreaker."

 

[Infiniti2000]

Ah, so it's like strength of schedule, but only vs. the teams you beat.

I was curious while looking at the preseason standings in the AFC East, regarding Miami and NE.

Tiebreaking Procedures
1. head-to-head (they didn't play)
2. division (none for either)
3. common games (none)
4. conference (miami was 0-1-0, NE was 0-0-0, 0% or undefined)
5. strength of victory (miami's defeated opponents were 2-6, NE's were also 2-6)
6. strength of schedule (miami's opponents were 9-7, NE's were 8-8)

And that's where we can stop. Because Miami lost to better teams, they win the division (preseason of course, just as an example). I think the strength of schedule should be moved down the list of tiebreaking.

 

[Gansk]

I think the strength of schedule should be moved down the list of tiebreaking.

If the strength of victory is tied, shouldn't the next logical step be to analyze why the two tied teams lost?

I prefer win-loss analysis to points scored. IMO, the last thing the NFL needs is a rule to encourage teams to run up the score, like in college.

 

[Infiniti2000]

If the strength of victory is tied, shouldn't the next logical step be to analyze why the two tied teams lost?

But it really has nothing to do with how well each team played. Your question is valid, but the implementation on strength of schedule is lacking. Both teams lost the same number of games to different opponents. Getting barely beat by a bad team is worse than getting blown out by a team that is one win better than the bad team. This rule is saying something to the effect of, "You better beat the teams you are supposed to beat and it's okay to lose against the teams that are good."

I prefer win-loss analysis to points scored. IMO, the last thing the NFL needs is a rule to encourage teams to run up the score, like in college.

Well, the rules encouraging running up the score are in there, but with #1-6 tiebreakers, they will not likely be used in a full season. The thing about using the points, however, is something that the teams can actively control and monitor. It's also something fans can easily figure out. Even with only 4 games in preseason, it was not a simple lookup for this analysis (a series of lookups, but it took a few minutes).