Remaining Strength Of Schedule For All 32 Teams Based On Vegas Super Bowl Odds

Traditional strength of schedule calculations add up the record of a team’s 16 opponents to get a cumulative win percentage for all 16 opponents. That exercise can also be done mid-season to get a feel for the remaining strength of schedule (SOS) each team faces.

For example, the Colts' nine remaining opponents (counting division opponents twice) have a 31-21 W/L record so far this season, so the Colts have an SOS of .596, the highest of any team in the NFL.

Another way to look at remaining SOS is to use the Vegas Super Bowl odds as a proxy for team strength. Odds aren't an exact science of course, but looking at odds has an advantage of looking at W/L records: Odds are an attempt at predicting future performance, while W/L records are simply a snapshot of past performance.

To calculate the odds-based remaining SOS, I used the latest, post-Week 7 Super Bowl odds from bookmaker.eu, and assigned each team points based on their Super Bowl odds.

The Patriots (+270) are currently favored to win Super Bowl LI, so they received one point. The Seahawks (+700), Vikings (+850), Packers (+1000), and Cowboys (+1300), were assigned two, three, four, and five points respectively. The 49ers (+500000) and Browns (+1000000) have the worst odds, and were assigned 31 and 32 points.

I then calculated the average points for each team's remaining schedule, with a lower number meaning a tougher schedule.

Using the odds-based method, the Eagles have the toughest remaining SOS. Their 10 remaining opponents (including Cowboys twice, Packers, and Seahawks), show an average odds-based ranking of 9.8.

Here is what the remaining SOS based on Super Bowl odds looks like for all 32 teams entering Week 8. For your convenience, the table is sortable (just click on the blue column headers).

For the Cowboys, both calculations place them somewhere around average. They have the 15th toughest schedule by opponent win percentage and the 18th toughest schedule by opponent Super Bowl odds.

The calculations also don't do much for the Eagles either way, they have the 2nd toughest remaining SOS by opponent win percentage and the toughest remaining SOS by opponent Super Bowl odds.

But the Redskins and Giants make big jumps. The Redskins jump from 13th (Opp Win %) to 2nd overall (Odds-based SOS), while the Giants jump from 22nd to 15th, an indication that their remaining opponents could be a lot tougher than those opponents' records currently indicate.

For reference, here are the latest Super Bolw odds per bookmaker.eu: