FootballOutsiders week 8 DVOA Ratings

Football Outsiders

The Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Rams remain 1-2 on top of the Football Outsiders DVOA ratings this week. Both teams dropped slightly in DVOA after close wins, but there's still a sizeable gap between these top two teams and the rest of the league.

The big change this week is not at the top of the DVOA ratings but at the top of the playoff odds report...With the preseason forecast now only 10 percent of DAVE ratings, this week the Chiefs move ahead of the Rams. And that means the Chiefs also move ahead of the Rams as our Super Bowl favorites for the first time. Our latest simulation has Kansas City winning the Super Bowl 28.0 percent of the time, and the Rams winning 27.5 percent of the time.

What's the difference between Kansas City and Los Angeles? It's almost entirely about strength of schedule. The unadjusted VOA numbers have the Rams significantly ahead of the Chiefs. But the Rams have played the No. 21 toughest schedule based on average DVOA of opponent, and the Chiefs have played the No. 5 toughest schedule. The difference isn't in playing the good teams but rather playing the bad teams. Kansas City has played four games against teams in our top ten (including Denver twice) and only one game against a team ranked lower than 20th in DVOA (San Francisco, 30th). The Rams have played three games against teams in our top ten but also three games against teams in the bottom five (San Francisco, Oakland, and Arizona).

Los Angeles Rams
Overall Rank: 2nd
Offense: 2nd
Defense: 12th
Special Teams: 11th

Passing offense: 3rd
Rushing offense: 3rd

Pass Defense: 6th
Run Defense: 25th

Special Teams
FG/XP: 29th
Kick coverage: 17th
Kick return: 6th
Punt coverage: 17th
Punt return: 2nd

Offensive Line
Run blocking: 1st
Pass protection: 14th

Defensive Line
Run defense: 22nd
Pass rush: 18th

Player Rankings
QB Jared Goff: 4th among 34 ranked QBs
RB Todd Gurley: 1st among 37 ranked RBs rushing; 9th among 38 RBs receiving
WR Robert Woods: 6th among 69 ranked WRs
WR Brandin Cooks: 8th among 69 ranked WRs
WR Cooper Kupp: 18th among 69 ranked WRs
TE Gerald Everett: 32nd among 40 ranked TEs
TE Tyler Higbee: unranked (fewer than 16 targets)