2017 Week 1 NFL Power Rankings and Picks

Prior to the 2013 NFL season, I researched the factors that determine the best fantasy kickers.  The study unmistakably showed that kickers playing for teams that win and score a lot of points have the most fantasy success.  (See the August 2013 post.)  I analyzed the study again later that year to see if a real-world correlation truly existed to back up the research.  Clearly I was on to something.  Through the first eight weeks of the 2013 season, the accuracy of Football Weblog’s kicker rankings were handily outperforming other recognized fantasy football experts.  (See the November 2013 post.)

Football Weblog continues to use this same method to rank kickers on our little known but significant cheatsheets.  In fact, these research results have become such an important consideration that I now incorporate them into the ranking of other positions as well.  Further, I’ve recently realized that winning and scoring a lot of points is also a great indicator of the best NFL teams – a power ranking per se.

Football Weblog’s 2017 Week 1 NFL Power Rankings

That got me to thinking.  Could Football Weblog’s findings be used to predict upcoming football games?  Let’s have some fun and find out!  Over the course of the season, I’ll use Football Weblog’s Power Rankings to compete with the NFL Vegas odds.  There will be a lot of differences, so it will be exciting to see how things stack up.

Now, I have no grand illusions that I’ve stumbled upon a method that can out-perform professional football handicappers and sports betting experts, but I thought it would be an interesting experiment and fun to try.  Just keep in mind that the purpose of Football Weblog’s power rankings are to enhance the reliability of our cheatsheets – not to compete with Las Vegas!

Without further ado, here are the NFL picks for week 1!

2017 Week 1 NFL Picks

Featured image by Jack Kurzenknabe.  Free of known copyright restrictions.