Week 12

Well the Browns have done it.  With the win against the Steelers the Browns have catapulted out of the 30th spot where they've languished for weeks and landed five spots higher at 25th.

This major jump this late in the year can be explained by a few things.

 First all of the teams in the lower twenties are clustered together with very similar statistical results.  They are all about the same amount of bad.  So slight tweaks in the record can move teams up and down quickly.

Also this would imply that the Browns are a stronger statistic team than they play.  When a team plays better or worse than their record a change in fortune seems to push these team up or down quickly.  In this case the Browns were playing at a higher level than the record would indicate. 

Finally the Browns did have a solid game all around on paper against a tough Steeler defense.

This week the Browns actually get to be the favorite against a sorry 30th ranked Oakland team with the absolute no-doubt-about-it worst defense in the league.  Another win could push the team up just a little more.

		RANK W/OUT WEIGHT		OFFENSE RANK	DEFENSE RANK		RECORD	SS
1	HOUSTON	1		3	7		10-1-0	27
2	ATLANTA	2		9	12		10-1-0	29
3	SAN FRANCISCO	4		10	2		8-2-1	20
4	DENVER	5		6	3		8-3-0	12
5	NEW ENGLAND	3		1	20		8-3-0	30
6	NY GIANTS	6		7	10		7-4-0	15
7	CHICAGO	7		27	1		8-3-0	20
8	BALTIMORE	8		12	11		9-2-0	25
9	GREEN BAY	9		8	19		7-4-0	5
10	PITTSBURGH	10		22	5		6-5-0	28
11	SEATTLE	13		23	4		6-5-0	18
12	TAMPA BAY	12		11	18		6-5-0	24
13	CINCINNATI	11		13	17		6-5-0	26
14	MINNESOTA	14		15	22		6-5-0	18
15	DETROIT	16		2	26		4-7-0	10
16	WASHINGTON	17		5	24		5-6-0	8
17	NEW ORLEANS	19		4	31		5-6-0	17
18	INDIANAPOLIS	15		16	29		7-4-0	31
19	DALLAS	21		14	14		5-6-0	2
20	CAROLINA	22		21	9		3-8-0	1
21	SAN DIEGO	20		28	6		4-7-0	23
22	MIAMI	18		25	21		5-6-0	31
23	ST LOUIS	24		18	15		4-6-1	6
24	ARIZONA	23		30	8		4-7-0	10
25	CLEVELAND	26		26	13		3-8-0	14
26	NY JETS	25		31	16		4-7-0	3
27	TENNESSEE	28		20	27		4-7-0	15
28	PHILADELPHIA	29		24	25		3-8-0	6
29	BUFFALO	27		19	30		4-7-0	22
30	OAKLAND	30		17	32		3-8-0	13
31	KANSAS CITY	31		32	23		1-10-0	9
32	JACKSONVILLE	32		29	28		2-9-0	4