NFL Power Rankings Week 3: Expert Ranks Which Teams Were the Luckiest?

NFL Power Rankings Week 3: Expert Ranks Which Teams Were the Luckiest? article feature image
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Action Network/Getty Images. Pictured: Bo Nix (left), Patrick Mahomes (center) and Baker Mayfield.

Action Network's NFL Luck Rankings — a betting-focused version of NFL Power Rankings developed by Action Network’s Predictive Analytics team — are out for Week 3!

These rankings are designed to help you identify which teams’ results have been luckier — or unluckier — than their on-field performance indicates.

For more on how the Luck Rankings work, check out this detailed concept overview. You can also check out our season primer to understand how to use it to bet on the NFL.

An NFL game must qualify for one of the following three criteria to be considered a "Luck Game."

  1. A difference of at least 24 places in our weekly NFL Luck Rankings.
  2. A Luck% difference of at least 50% between two opposing teams at any point in the season.
  3. A Luck% difference of at least 30% between two opposing teams in Week 13 or later.

The unlucky team in matchups that fit one of those criteria is 115-63-5 (64.2%) against the spread (ATS) in the regular season other than the last week of the season when using closing lines — the hardest line to beat.

In Week 2, the four Luck Matchups went 2-2-0 (50%) ATS with the two road unlucky teams covering and the two home unlucky teams failing to cover, which matched trends from previous years.

Here's how our NFL Luck Rankings shake out for Week 3.

NFL Week 3 Luck Rankings

Note: Luck % represents the win probability swing between a team’s expected winning percentage from their on-field performance and their actual winning percentage. Lucky teams may regress and could be overvalued by betting markets.