I’d Like To Understand How ESPN Creates Power Rankings

To preface all this, obviously things like ESPN and NFL.com Power Rankings mean absolutely nothing. The Patriots are the #1 seed in the AFC, clinched the division and a 1st-round bye, and they’re running rampant to Houston. We all know that. These sites and media outlets do things like power rankings to get people talking and generate a little buzz on their platform; smart strategy for a company like ESPN that needs to distract people from the fact that it’s losing exorbitant amounts of money on a daily basis. But anyway, here I am taking the bait, showing you yet another way that ESPN continues to prove that even sports news can’t exist without some bias.

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So, as you can see, ESPN has ranked the Dallas Cowboys as the top team in the league, followed by New England. You can also see that it represents a switch from last week, when Dallas sat at #2 following a road loss to NYG and the Pats were #1 after the win against Baltimore. Fast forward to Week 15; both teams win. The Cowboys by 6 at home against the 8-5 Bucs, and the Patriots by 13 on the road against the 8-5 Broncos. So, for those of you scoring at home, think on this: the opponents had the same record, Dallas won by 6 at home, and New England won by 13 on the road (against the defending Super Bowl Champs, mind you); so Dallas’ win is worth more? That’s the game that proved that they’re the real deal? A game that they trailed after 3 quarters? A game that they were 7-point favorites in, when the Pats were only -3 at kickoff? I’m not even really angry or anything, because who cares about ESPN’s rankings really, I’m just kind of confused. And maybe that makes me a paranoid, bitchy Patriots fan who thinks everyone’s out to get them, but that’s kind of like when you cheat on a girl 3 times and she gets really suspicious about everything you do; it’s not my fault, I’m not crazy, years of torture made me like this. This is who Pats fans need to be right now, because if we’re not, we’ve seen what happens.

PS – I know nothing has been posted on this site for like a week. We’re busy dudes, and finals have been a bitch. Keep checking out RotoStreetJournal, as well as all Reed’s stuff, and we’ll keep TakeZone active when we can.

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