Football Outsiders Unit Ranks

in my offseason review post, i noted the football outsiders ranks for each offensive, defensive, and special teams unit -- they ranked the for all 32 teams heading into the 2007 season for fox.com. to recap, here's how they assessed the eagles units:

QB	RB	WR	OL	DL	LB	DB	ST
3	7	21	7	8	24	2	18

looking at all teams, here is how things break down if we average the ranks of the 4 offensive units (QB, RB, WR, OL):

Rank	Team	Off Avg
1	Bengals	4.8
2	Chargers	5.0
3	Patriots	5.5
4	Colts	6.3
5	Eagles	9.5
6	Rams	9.5
7	Ravens	10.3
8	Cowboys	10.8
9	Saints	11.0
10	Jaguars	11.3
11	Seahawks	11.3
12	Steelers	13.0
13	Broncos	13.8
14	49ers	14.3
15	Bears	15.5
16	Redskins	17.0
17	Cardinals	17.3
18	Jets	17.5
19	Chiefs	17.8
20	Vikings	18.8
21	Panthers	19.8
22	Giants	22.0
23	Lions	22.3
24	Dolphins	22.5
25	Falcons	22.5
26	Browns	23.5
27	Packers	24.0
28	Titans	24.8
29	Bills	25.0
30	Buccaneers	25.5
31	Raiders	28.0
32	Texans	28.5

same thing for the three defensive units (DL, LB, DB):

Rank	Team	Def Avg
1	Ravens	4.3
2	Bears	5.0
3	Jaguars	6.0
4	Patriots	6.3
5	Steelers	8.3
6	Cowboys	9.7
7	Chargers	10.7
8	Eagles	11.3
9	Packers	11.3
10	Raiders	11.7
11	Seahawks	13.7
12	Panthers	13.7
13	Dolphins	14.0
14	Vikings	14.3
15	Broncos	16.3
16	Browns	17.3
17	Redskins	18.0
18	Titans	18.0
19	Giants	18.7
20	Buccaneers	19.7
21	49ers	20.0
22	Saints	20.3
23	Bills	20.7
24	Bengals	21.3
25	Chiefs	21.3
26	Colts	22.7
27	Falcons	22.7
28	Cardinals	23.0
29	Texans	25.3
30	Jets	25.7
31	Rams	27.3
32	Lions	29.3

it's certainly not scientific, but heading into the season it appears that FO has the birds at tied for 5th best offense and tied for 8th best defense. seems about right.

doing a straight average of all 8 categories (ST is the 8th), the birds end up ranked 7th, behind the patriots, chargers, ravens, jaguars, bears, and cowboys. of course this is based on talent only and doesn't factor coaching which should clearly drop the chargers, jaguars, and cowboys in those rankings -- with norv turner, jack del rio, and wade phillips coaching those teams.