Editorial standard · Model 2026-07-28
How 20-0 Works
Historical statistics, 20-0 ratings, projected records, and simulated results are different things. This page explains each one, publishes the current game constants, and records material corrections.
1. Historical facts
A player's displayed season identifies the historical season we use as a reference. Passing yards, touchdowns, interceptions, sacks, and similar fields provide historical context for the game. Player ratings and simulation outcomes do not derive from the displayed stat fields.
Our verification standard uses official league and team records, Pro Football Hall of Fame material, and season pages from established statistical references. A link is a fact-checking reference, not a claim that the referenced publisher sponsors 20-0 or licenses every part of its website for reuse.
If a displayed fact differs from a published record, readers can use the correction process below. We review material corrections and record confirmed changes.
2. Player ratings are editorial
The 0-100 score beside a player is a 20-0 game value, not an NFL, team, Hall of Fame, or third-party rating. Editors weigh peak-season production, position-relative dominance, awards, postseason impact, and era context. The score is then reviewed against players at the same position so it works as a draft decision rather than a claim of objective historical truth.
Cross-era comparison is inherently uncertain. Rules, schedules, stat definitions, and positional responsibilities changed over time. We therefore treat a one-point difference as a game-balancing choice, not proof that one player had a better career.
3. Roster and season calculation
The lineup has six offensive and six defensive slots. Each side is the arithmetic mean of its six player contributions. An empty or skipped slot contributes 50. If malformed shared data places a player on the wrong side, only 70% of that player's rating counts.
A regular-season opponent is sampled between 74 and 90. The three playoff rounds add 6, 12, and 18 rating points. For each game, the win chance is:
1 / (1 + exp(-(our rating - opponent rating) / 6))The draft preview averages 200 quick simulated seasons to estimate wins and perfect-season odds. The final 20-game record is a separate seeded simulation: the same saved lineup and seed reproduce the same schedule and result. Generated opponent names and box-score flavor are fictional and do not represent actual NFL games.
4. Grades and leaderboard score
| Grade | Minimum wins |
|---|---|
| S | 20 |
| A+ | 19 |
| A | 18 |
| B+ | 17 |
| B | 15 |
| C | 12 |
| D | 8 |
| F | 0 |
The leaderboard score is rounded to the nearest whole number:
wins × 50 + offense × 1.5 + defense × 1.5Wins dominate the ranking; offense and defense break close results. Classic and Gridiron IQ use the same season model but maintain separate leaderboards.
5. Gridiron IQ Scout Report
The Scout Report does not compare raw player scores. For every round with at least two eligible choices, it measures where the selected player ranked among the available candidates. Best available earns 100% for that decision, worst earns 0%, and the final Scout Rating is the average. Forced choices and skipped rounds are excluded.
- PERFECT EYE: 100+
- ELITE EYE: 90+
- SHARP SCOUT: 78+
- GUT CALLER: 60+
- COIN FLIP: 0+
6. Sources, names, and brand boundaries
20-0 uses player, team, and league names as plain text to identify the historical subjects being discussed. We do not use official team or league logos, player photographs, or claim affiliation, sponsorship, or endorsement. Generated avatars are fictional game artwork, are not intended to depict real player likenesses, and use no official visual assets. Simulated opponents are fictional as well.
Historical facts can be independently stated, while a publisher's original prose, images, selection, arrangement, and database access terms remain separate rights. Our operating rule is to verify and restate facts, link readers to references, and avoid bulk copying or scraping restricted sources.
- Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co. (Cornell Legal Information Institute) — U.S. Supreme Court decision distinguishing facts from protectable selection and arrangement.
- NFL.com Terms and Conditions (National Football League) — NFL.com's content, database presentation, logos, and trademarks remain subject to its terms and rights.
- Trademark scope of protection (United States Patent and Trademark Office) — Background on trademarks as source identifiers for particular goods and services.
- Terms of Use (Sports Reference) — Explains permitted page-level data use and restrictions on scraping or recreating a competing database.
- C.B.C. Distribution and Marketing v. MLB Advanced Media (U.S. Court of Appeals via GovInfo) — Fantasy-sports decision involving public player names and statistics; relevant context, not a universal license.
7. Corrections
Send a suspected error to [email protected] with the player or article, season, field in question, your proposed correction, and a public reference. We check material corrections against more than one source where possible, update the affected page, and record the change here.
| Date | Correction |
|---|---|
| 2026-07-28 | Corrected the 1972 Dolphins guide: Super Bowl VII's 14-7 score remained the lowest-scoring Super Bowl only until New England's 13-3 win in Super Bowl LIII. |
| 2026-07-28 | Published the scoring model, source policy, guide-level references, and correction process. |
What to read next
See the product-specific analysis in our guides, or contact us with a correction.