How Much Is A Win Worth?
It’s a question athletes, general managers, coaches, players, media personnel and fans ask themselves all the time. Yet, it’s a question that can’t easily be answered. We always hear the term “must win game” thrown around but unless it’s a do-or-die situation any team can lose a “must win” game and still be fine.
The way stats have revolutionized the world of sports in recent times has made it that much easier to determine a value of some sort on wins and losses though. We no longer have to look at the standings to see that the Giants defeating the Cowboys this past Sunday night vaulted them to a first place record of 7-6 in the NFC East and knocked the Cowboys down to second in the division with an exact same record of 7-6.
That victory for the Giants was huge and meant a lot to their playoff hopes. How much? Well, according to stats from NFL.-Forecast.com, the Giants have now been given a 63.23% chance of making it to the post-season, which is up from their starting percentage playoff probability of 36.3% going into Sunday night’s game.
That’s a difference of 26.93 percentage points! The Giants’ chances of making the playoffs went up by almost a 1/3 just because of one victory. That win over the rival Cowboys put the Giants in the driver’s seat of taking home the division and securing a playoff spot as it looks like only one team will be making it out of the NFC east this season. The Giants and Cowboys head into their Week 17 showdown at MetLife Stadium with the Giants holding all the cards, which should make for one heck of a football game!
NFL.-Forecast.com uses its own software in conjunction with game predictions and team efficiency ratings from Advanced NFL Stats to determine playoff probabilities. Give each site a look if you want to see what the rest of the NFL’s playoff chances are.
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