|
Troll report: Fearsome Foursome update
Cold, Hard Football Facts for September 27, 2007
Cold, Hard Football Facts reader Mike Stickles is one of our most knowledgeable and fact-filled e-mailers (we hope to post some more of his research soon ... great stuff). He's from the Gridiron Breadbasket and our spiritual football home of Pennsylvania, roots for the Steelers "and then whoever is playing against the Ravens."
 He wrote last week with a follow-up to our look at the Fearsome Foursome who rule the NFL and essentially prove that parity is dead, or at least not as vibrant as the "pundits" would lead you to believe. Like others, Stickles questioned the inclusion of Denver among the elite with Indy, New England and Pittsburgh, who pretty much stand undisputed.
With Denver facing Indy on Sunday in the first match of the year pitting two members of the Fearsome Foursome, we thought it was a good time to dive into the subject.
The Cold, Hard Football Facts show that the Broncos still belong in this elite group because they:
- haven't had a losing season since 1999 (the other three have all had losing seasons this decade)
- hosted the AFC title game as recently as 2005
- will probably win an AFC West this year that's as poor as it's ever been
- have mixed it up plenty of times in the playoffs over the past decade with the other members of the Fearsome Fourseome
- Have proved to be the only team in football that consistently beats the team of the decade from New England
That spells elite in our book.
O.K., sure maybe Denver isn't right up there at the top. But they're closer than anybody else. And recent research by Stickles confirms it. We asked him to take a look at the performance of the Fearsome Foursome against the rest of the NFL and then against each other.
We thought he'd find that all four dominated the rest of the league, then cannibalized each other. His research proved this assessment was dead on.
The difference between performances of the Fearsome Foursome against each other and the rest of the league "was pretty dramatic," said Stickles.
- All four have a winning percentage of greater than .612 this decade against the rest of the league
- Only New England and Denver have a winning record against the Fearsome Foursome, and just barely
Wrote Stickles: "I also checked Philadelphia (the dominant team of the NFC this decade) and that comparison confirmed that they don't belong in the same class. The Fearsome Foursome has owned Philly this decade. The Eagles have lost six straight games to Fearsome Foursome teams since they beat Pittsburgh in overtime back in 2000. Baltimore is the only other NFL team that's close to the Fearsome Foursome, but I did a quick comparison and they don't quite belong in the same level."
Here's a look at how the Fearsome Foursome stack up, naturally, from four different perspectives this decade:
- vs. all opponents
- vs. each other
- vs. the rest of the NFL
- vs. Quality Opponents
Several patterns do emerge:
As expected, the Fearsome Foursome utterly dominate the rest of the league. All have a winning percentage of .612 or better against the rest of the NFL.
The Fearsome Foursome cannibalizes each other. New England, for example, has lost just 39 games since 2000. More than a quarter of those losses (10) have come against Denver, Indy and Pittsburgh.
The Patriots top every list. No surprise the team of the decade has the highest winning percentage in every single category listed below.
But the Colts are nipping at their heels. There's a reason Indy-New England is the best rivalry in sports today. They're the two winningest teams in football by almost every measure, and the differences between the two are negligible.
Denver is on the fringe. Stickles' research confirms that the Broncos probably belong in the Fearsome Foursome, but also confirms that the many doubts readers had about including them were justified. With the exception of their .529 winning percentage against the rest of the group, the Broncos are at the bottom of all four lists ... but still outpacing the rest of the league.
Here's how the Fearsome Foursome stacks up this decade (all numbers include all playoff games and all three games of 2007).
DEN, INDY, NE & PITT vs. ALL OPPONENTS (since 2000)
|
Team |
W |
L |
T |
Pct. |
|
New England |
90 |
39 |
0 |
.698 |
|
Indianapolis |
86 |
41 |
0 |
.677 |
|
Pittsburgh |
82 |
42 |
1 |
.660 |
|
Denver |
72 |
48 |
0 |
.600 |
|
Total |
330 |
170 |
1 |
.660 |
DEN, INDY, NE & PITT vs. EACH OTHER (since 2000)
|
Team |
W |
L |
T |
Pct. |
|
New England |
13 |
10 |
0 |
.565 |
|
Denver |
9 |
8 |
0 |
.529 |
|
Indianapolis |
10 |
11 |
0 |
.476 |
|
Pittsburgh |
4 |
7 |
0 |
.364 |
|
Total |
36 |
36 |
0 |
.500 |
DEN, INDY, NE & PITT vs. REST of NFL (since 2000)
|
Team |
W |
L |
T |
Pct. |
|
New England |
77 |
29 |
0 |
.726 |
|
Indianapolis |
76 |
30 |
0 |
.717 |
|
Pittsburgh |
78 |
35 |
1 |
.689 |
|
Denver |
63 |
40 |
0 |
.612 |
|
Total |
294 |
134 |
1 |
.686 |
DEN, INDY, NE & PITT vs. QUALITY OPPONENTS (since 2000)
|
Team |
W |
L |
T |
Pct. |
|
New England |
36 |
32 |
0 |
.529 |
|
Indianapolis |
33 |
32 |
0 |
.508 |
|
Pittsburgh |
26 |
28 |
1 |
.482 |
|
Denver |
25 |
29 |
0 |
.463 |
|
Total |
120 |
121 |
1 |
.498 |
|
