End of the "Dalton Scale"?

[*Nately120*]

(05-21-2015, 07:49 AM)SHRacerX Wrote: Let's not forget that this "more talented team" was projected by many to have ZERO wins the year the quitter left.  Coming off a 4-12 season and in the best division in football, the Bengals were 9-7 in his rookie season.

I don't think there was a big a difference between the talent level of the 2010 and the 2011 teams as the 5-win differential would suggest. Both teams only managed to beat a single team with a winning record and I have my doubts the 2011 squad could have fared much better against a schedule featuring 11 games against winning teams, with 8 of those being against 11+ win teams.

14-2
12-4
10-6
13-3
12-4
10-6
11-5
11-5
12-4
9-7
12-4

I knew going into 2010 that the schedule was going to sink the team, but lordy loo what a slate that was. Don't get me wrong, they followed up on the 2011 season's relative success and built on it, but the 2011 team would have been lucky to go 4-12 against the 2010 schedule, too. Of course, that's just conjecture, but it's an educated guess based on some statistical this-n-thats.