NHL power rankings for mid-January

By Rick Morris

NOTES: Rankings from start of season are in parentheses.

TOP TIER

1 Tampa Bay (1-1-1)

SECOND TIER

2 Vegas (7-9-2)

3 Winnipeg (8-2-3)

4 Washington (10-11-4)

THIRD TIER

5 Boston (27-22-8)

6 Calgary (14-15-17)

7 Nashville (12-7-7)

8 Minnesota (26-17-19)

9 Dallas (24-16-12)

10 Toronto (3-4-9)

11 Los Angeles (4-13-6)

12 San Jose (13-14-11)

13 Columbus (11-3-10)

14 St. Louis (2-8-13)

15 New York Rangers (15-12-14)

16 Colorado (25-23-23)

17 Anaheim (23-24-20)

18 Florida (30-27-21)

19 Pittsburgh (6-6-22)

20 Chicago (21-21-18)

21 Philadelphia (20-29-24)

22 New Jersey (5-5-5)

23 New York Islanders (16-10-15)

24 Carolina (18-19-16)

25 Detroit (22-25-25)

26 Montreal (19-20-27)

27 Edmonton (29-28-26)

28 Ottawa (9-26-29)

29 Vancouver (17-18-28)

FOURTH TIER

30 Buffalo (28-31-30)

FIFTH TIER

31 Arizona (31-30-31)

BIGGEST RISERS: Calgary and Minnesota (11 spots), Colorado (7 spots),

Anaheim, Boston, Dallas, Florida, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh (3 spots)

BIGGEST FALLERS: New Jersey (17 spots), Carolina and New York Islanders (8 spots), Los Angeles (5 spots), Columbus (3 spots)

RANKINGS BY DIVISION – 1 POINT PER RANKING SPOT FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL TEAM, DIVIDED BY THE NUMBER OF TEAMS, LOWEST SCORE IS BEST

1 CENTRAL 8.14

2 METROPOLITAN 17.63

3 ATLANTIC 17.88

4 PACIFIC 18.13

RANKINGS BY CONFERENCE

1 WEST 26.27

2 EAST 35.51

NBA power rankings for mid-January

By Rick Morris

NOTES: Rankings from start of season are in parentheses.

TOP TIER

1 Golden State (1-1-1)

2 Boston (2-4-2)

3 Houston (3-3-3)

4 San Antonio (6-5-5)

5 Toronto (9-7-6)

6 Cleveland (5-2-4)

7 Minnesota (7-14-7)

SECOND TIER

8 Miami (20-18-11)

9 Washington (8-12-9)

10 Detroit (4-6-8)

11 Oklahoma City (18-19-10)

12 Denver (10-9-12)

13 Portland (13-8-13)

14 New Orleans (12-15-15)

15 Milwaukee (16-11-14)

16 LA Clippers (24-23-19)

17 Philadelphia (15-10-17)

18 Indiana (22-16-18)

THIRD TIER

19 Phoenix (25-24-22)

20 Dallas (29-29-23)

21 Chicago (27-30-21)

22 New York (17-17-16)

23 Utah (19-13-20)

24 Charlotte (23-22-24)

25 Brooklyn (26-25-25)

26 Memphis (14-27-27)

27 LA Lakers (21-21-29)

28 Sacramento (28-26-26)

FOURTH TIER

29 Orlando (11-20-28)

30 Atlanta (30-28-30)

BIGGEST RISERS: Dallas, Miami, LA Clippers and Phoenix (3 spots)

BIGGEST FALLERS: New York (6 spots), Utah (3 spots)

RANKINGS BY CONFERENCE – 1 POINT PER RANKING SPOT FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL TEAM, LOWEST SCORE IS BEST

1 WEST 224

2 EAST 240

2017 NFL rankings for impressiveness of victories

By Rick Morris

NOTE: These rankings are based on our final NFL power rankings for the 2017 season and our strength of schedule rankings.  The highest scores are the best ones.  Each number is composed by adding the strength of schedule rating to a stat strictly based on the number of victories attained by each team.  Playoff teams are denoted with an X.  It should be noted that the totality of Cleveland’s number comes from their strength of schedule, as obviously they accrued nothing on the win side of the ledger.

1 X-New England 176

2 X-Carolina 174

3 X-Atlanta 168

4 Miami 169

5 X-New Orleans 165

6 X-Minnesota 152

7T X-Los Angeles Rams 151

7T New York Jets 151

9 Green Bay 150

10 X-Buffalo 146

11 Tampa Bay 143

12 X-Philadelphia 140

13 Washington 137

14 Arizona 124

15T Dallas 122

15T Seattle 122

17 X-Pittsburgh 120

18 San Francisco 117

19 Detroit 115

20 Chicago 113

21 Houston 109

22 Oakland 102

23 X-Kansas City 101

24 X-Jacksonville 98

25 New York Giants 90

26T Indianapolis 88

26T Los Angeles Chargers 88

28T X-Tennessee 83

28T Denver 81

30 Baltimore 73

31 Cincinnati 71

32 Cleveland 43

2017 NFL strength of schedule rankings

By Rick Morris

 

NOTE: These rankings are based on our final NFL power rankings for the 2017 season, with the lowest scores representing the toughest schedules.  Playoff teams are denoted with an X.

1 Miami 197

2 New York Jets 207

3 Tampa Bay 215

4 Green Bay 224

5 X-Atlanta 230

6 X-Carolina 232

7 Washington 237

8T Houston 241

8T X-New Orleans 241

10 X-Buffalo 244

11 Chicago 245

12 X-New England 246

13 San Francisco 249

14 New York Giants 252

15 X-Los Angeles Rams 255

16 Arizona 258

17 Indianapolis 262

18 Oakland 264

19T Dallas 268

19T Seattle 268

21 X-Minnesota 270

22T Cleveland 275

22T Detroit 275

24 Denver 277

25 X-Philadelphia 282

26 X-Kansas City 297

27 X-Jacksonville 300

28T Los Angeles Chargers 302

28T X-Pittsburgh 302

30 Cincinnati 303

31 X-Tennessee 307

32 Baltimore 318

Final 2017 NFL power rankings

By Rick Morris

NOTE: Rankings from start of season are in parentheses.

TOP TIER

1 New England (1-1-1-6-5-4-3-3-2-2-2-2-2-2-1-1)

2 Los Angeles Rams (16-19-19-9-11-9-8-8-6-4-5-4-4-4-3-3)

3 New Orleans (21-22-21-21-21-10-6-6-4-3-3-5-5-1-2-2)

4 Minnesota (11-11-9-13-10-8-7-7-7-5-4-3-3-3-4-4)

5 Carolina (14-16-16-14-6-10-10-9-8-8-8-8-5-5-5)

6 Pittsburgh (7-6-6-3-9-5-4-4-3-6-6-6-6-6-6-6)

7 Philadelphia (15-17-17-8-6-2-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-7-7-7)

8 Atlanta (3-2-2-2-2-3-9-9-13-11-7-7-9-8-8-9)

SECOND TIER

9 Seattle (6-7-10-11-8-7-5-5-8-9-10-9-7-11-11-8)

10 Kansas City (4-3-3-1-1-1-2-2-5-7-12-15-19-15-13-11)

11 Los Angeles Chargers (20-21-26-27-27-27-16-16-19-19-14-11-11-10-10-12)

12 Jacksonville (23-24-23-26-13-14-13-13-11-10-9-12-12-9-9-10)

13 Tennessee (13-12-8-17-18-17-22-21-16-13-11-10-10-12-15-14)

14 Buffalo (26-26-20-10-12-12-12-11-14-14-18-16-16-16-16-15)

15 Baltimore (9-9-11-18-15-20-25-15-17-17-13-13-13-13-12-13)

THIRD TIER

16 San Francisco (31-31-32-31-31-31-31-31-31-30-30-30-30-30-24-18)

17 Detroit (18-14-14-12-14-13-15-17-18-18-15-18-22-20-19-21)

18 Dallas (8-15-15-19-22-22-14-12-10-16-19-19-15-14-14-16)

19 Arizona (22-20-24-24-26-24-28-28-28-28-28-28-28-23-23-22)

20 Washington (24-18-18-20-20-16-21-22-15-15-17-17-21-22-20-19)

21 Cincinnati (28-28-27-22-23-21-27-27-26-27-25-25-23-25-26-24)

22 Miami (17-13-13-25-24-19-17-24-25-26-26-26-18-17-17-17)

23 Oakland (5-4-5-7-16-26-11-14-12-12-16-14-14-18-18-20)

24 Chicago (19-23-22-23-25-23-23-23-22-23-24-24-26-24-25-23)

25 New York Jets (32-32-29-29-28-28-26-25-20-22-22-22-17-21-22-25)

26 Green Bay (2-5-4-4-3-15-19-19-21-20-23-23-20-19-21-26)

27 Tampa Bay (12-10-12-16-17-25-24-26-27-21-20-20-24-28-29-29)

FOURTH TIER

28 Denver (10-8-7-5-4-11-20-20-24-25-27-27-27-27-27-27)

29 Houston (25-25-25-15-19-18-18-18-23-24-21-21-25-26-28-28)

30 Indianapolis (30-30-30-30-30-30-30-30-30-29-29-29-29-29-30-30)

31 New York Giants (27-27-28-28-29-29-29-29-29-31-31-31-31-31-31-31)

FIFTH TIER

32 Cleveland (29-29-31-32-32-32-32-32-32-32-32-32-32-32-32-32)

BIGGEST RISERS: Detroit (4 spots), Arizona (3 spots), Cincinnati (3 spots)

BIGGEST FALLERS: Miami (5 spots), Oakland (3 spots)

RANKINGS BY DIVISION – 1 POINT PER RANKING SPOT FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL TEAM

1 NFC SOUTH 43

2 NFC WEST 46

3 AFC EAST 62

4 NFC NORTH 71

5 AFC WEST 72

6 AFC NORTH 74

7 NFC EAST 76

8 AFC SOUTH 84

RANKINGS BY CONFERENCE

1 NFC 236

2 AFC 292

NBA power rankings for start of January

By Rick Morris

NOTES: Rankings from start of season are in parentheses.

TOP TIER

1 Golden State (1-1)

2 Boston (2-4)

3 Houston (3-3)

4 Cleveland (5-2)

5 San Antonio (6-5)

6 Toronto (9-7)

SECOND TIER

7 Minnesota (7-14)

THIRD TIER

8 Detroit (4-6)

9 Washington (8-12)

10 Oklahoma City (18-19)

11 Miami (20-18)

12 Denver (10-9)

13 Portland (13-8)

14 Milwaukee (16-11)

15 New Orleans (12-15)

16 New York (17-17)

17 Philadelphia (15-10)

18 Indiana (22-16)

19 LA Clippers (24-23)

20 Utah (19-13)

FOURTH TIER

21 Chicago (27-30)

22 Phoenix (25-24)

23 Dallas (29-29)

24 Charlotte (23-22)

25 Brooklyn (26-25)

26 Sacramento (28-26)

27 Memphis (14-27)

28 Orlando (11-20)

29 LA Lakers (21-21)

FIFTH TIER

30 Atlanta (30-28)

BIGGEST RISERS: Chicago and Oklahoma City (9 spots), Miami and Minnesota (7 spots), Dallas (6 spots), LA Clippers (4 spots), Washington (3 spots)

BIGGEST FALLERS: LA Lakers and Orlando (8 spots), Philadelphia and Utah (7 spots), Portland (5 spots), Denver and Milwaukee (3 spots)

RANKINGS BY CONFERENCE – 1 POINT PER RANKING SPOT FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL TEAM, LOWEST SCORE IS BEST

1 WEST 232

2 EAST 253

NHL power rankings for start of January

By Rick Morris

NOTES: Rankings from start of season are in parentheses.

TOP TIER

1 Tampa Bay (1-1)

SECOND TIER

2 Vegas (7-9)

3 Winnipeg (8-2)

4 Washington (10-11)

5 New Jersey (5-5)

6 Los Angeles (4-13)

7 Nashville (12-7)

8 Boston (27-22)

9 Toronto (3-4)

10 Columbus (11-3)

11 San Jose (13-14)

12 Dallas (24-16)

13 St. Louis (2-8)

14 New York Rangers (15-12)

15 New York Islanders (16-10)

16 Carolina (18-19)

17 Calgary (14-15)

18 Chicago (21-21)

19 Minnesota (26-17)

20 Anaheim (23-24)

21 Florida (30-27)

22 Pittsburgh (6-6)

23 Colorado (25-23)

24 Philadelphia (20-29)

25 Detroit (22-25)

26 Edmonton (29-28)

27 Montreal (19-20)

28 Vancouver (17-18)

THIRD TIER

29 Ottawa (9-26)

FOURTH TIER

30 Buffalo (28-31)

FIFTH TIER

31 Arizona (31-30)

BIGGEST RISERS: Boston (14 spots), Los Angeles, Vegas and Washington (7 spots), Florida (6 spots), Philadelphia (5 spots), Anaheim and Dallas (4 spots), Carolina, Chicago and San Jose (3 spots)

BIGGEST FALLERS: Pittsburgh (16 spots), Vancouver (10 spots), Columbus and Montreal (7 spots), New York Islanders, St. Louis and Toronto (5 spots), Ottawa (3 spots)

RANKINGS BY DIVISION – 1 POINT PER RANKING SPOT FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL TEAM, DIVIDED BY THE NUMBER OF TEAMS, LOWEST SCORE IS BEST

1 CENTRAL 13.57

2 METROPOLITAN 13.75

3 PACIFIC 17.63

4 ATLANTIC 18.75

RANKINGS BY CONFERENCE

1 WEST 31.2

2 EAST 32.5