Power Ratings

Welcome to our Postgame Outlet power ratings corner! Here, we break down exactly what our team ratings mean and how you can use them to get a snapshot of the NFL landscape any given week.

In a nutshell, our power ratings tell you how many points better or worse a team is compared to an average NFL team. For example, if Green Bay is rated a plus nine, that means we see them as nine points stronger than a league-average team on a neutral field. If Kansas City is plus eight and a half, then Green Bay would be about half a point better than Kansas City if they met somewhere neutral.

Home field advantage also plays a role. On average, we give about one and a half points for home field, but some places like Green Bay or Seattle are a bit tougher for visiting teams, so we might bump that advantage up to two points. On the flip side, teams like Jacksonville or the Chargers might have a smaller home field bump, maybe just a single point. And we add a little extra half-point edge for prime time games, like Monday Night Football, for that extra intensity.

It’s important to remember these ratings are living numbers. They move up and down as we get new info—like injuries, trades, or just realizing last year’s data isn’t as relevant anymore. For example, a team like the Patriots might be rated very differently this year if they have a new coach and a whole new roster vibe. So we blend a bit of what we knew before with the fresh data we’re seeing now.

One more note: our ratings don’t account for those motivational edges that can come into play. Sometimes a team on a losing streak might come out extra fired up, or a team on a winning streak might be a little more relaxed. We don’t bake those factors into the numbers, so if you’re using these ratings to think about betting lines, just keep that in mind as an extra layer of context.

In short, these power ratings are a fun tool to help you understand the NFL landscape at a glance—and maybe even give you a little edge if you’re thinking about making some picks. But remember, they’re always evolving, just like the game itself