Through six weeks of the NFL season, road teams are winning more often than home teams.
Teams playing on the road have compiled a 46-45 record through the first 91 games of the season.
According to Barry Wilner of the Associated Press, road teams haven’t been able to be more successful than home teams over the course of an entire season since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970.
Road teams were particularly dominant in Week 5 with 10 of 14 road teams able to grab victories away from home. Only the Indianapolis Colts, Cincinnati Bengals, Philadelphia Eagles and Miami Dolphins managed to survive being beaten in their own stadiums that weekend. Additionally road teams have won at least seven games in five of the six weeks this season. The only exception was in Week 3 when home teams went 11-5 for the week.
Home teams were 149-107 last season, 138-118 in 2015, 146-110 in 2014 and 154-102 in 2013. That’s an average of 37.5 games over .500 for home teams over the previous four seasons. If recent history is an indication, a law of averages would seem to indicate home teams should start to pile up more victories as the season progresses to get closer to the recent precedent.
Or maybe that won’t happen and 2017 will continue to be an unpredictable season in the NFL. Kansas City will have a chance to add to the road team victory tally Thursday night in Oakland against the Raiders to kick off Week 7.