AN ATLAS PUBLICATION
TheSecond LevelReporting, numbers, and perspective from The Simulation League.
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Standings paths, playoff pressure, and leverage moving week to week.
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Most Points, Least Leverage
The reward for owning the highest-scoring offense in the league is supposed to be separation. New England leads all thirty-two teams in points per game and total yards, and what sits next to that résumé is a No.
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A Number-One Offense, Seeded Fifth
The Patriots have the best offense in the league, and it has bought them a wild-card address. New England ranks first in total yards and first in scoring, and the reward sitting next to that résumé is the AFC's No.
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The Perfect Record With the Fifth-Best Margin
One line in the AFC still reads clean: Cincinnati, 7-0, the only club in the league that hasn't tasted a loss. The zero is real, and the zero is worth something.
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The Unbeaten Team With the Thinnest Cushion
The prize at the top of the AFC is a first-round bye, and for now it belongs to the one club that hasn't lost. Cincinnati sits at 7-0, the No. 1 seed, the only perfect record left in the league.
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The Offense Pays Cash, the Defense Runs a Tab
Six teams in this league own a winning record and surrender 21 points a game or fewer. Then there are the Patriots, who put up more points than anyone alive and still find a way to make every Sunday a referendum on…