USA TODAY International Edition
Home is where the victories are
Home cooking tastes better than ever in the NFL.
Through seven weeks of the season, home teams are winning by a margin of nearly 2 to 1 — a .656 clip on pace to mark the best homewinning percentage for a season in the league since the 1970 merger.
Last season, home teams won 57% of the time. The highest home winning percentage was .643 in 1985.
“ I’m a little surprised” by the increase, says CBS analyst Phil Simms. “ It tells you that the talent level iss o even in the league, with so many equal parts and so many close games, that something like crowd noise can be the difference.”
Of the 102 games played through Monday night, home teams won 67 times. That includesth e New York Giants’ Week 2 victory against the New Orleans Saints, when the league switched the site to Giants Stadium from the Louisiana Superdome in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and billed it a “ home game” for the Saints.
The advantage has an obvious in 9 uence on the standings, where all seven of the NFL teams that are unbeaten at home thiss eason lead or are tied for 7 rst place in their divisions.
For this weekend’s games, just one road team is favored: the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ( 5- 1), who are visiting the 1- 5 San Francisco 49ers.
Meanwhile, the Giants, hosting Washington on Sunday with a share of the NFC East lead at stake, are 4-0 on their home 7 eld and 0- 2 away from the Meadowlands.
The other team tied for 7 rst in the NFC East, Philadelphia, isu nbeaten at home but 1- 2 on the road. The Eagles play Sunday at the AFC West- leading Denver Broncos, who are 4-0 at home.
The Chicago Bears ( playing at Detroit) and Buffalo Bills ( at New England) can claim the lead in the NFC North and AFC East, respectively, with victories on Sunday. But neither team hasye t to win a road game thiss eason. Safe haven: Eli Manning, Giants are 4-0 at home.