Mile High Report
Last week I wrote about how points scored and allowed can be used to determine if an offense or a defense is elite (20% better than average). The same approach can be taken with yards per play (YPP).
The average play in the NFL last season gained 5.42 yards. The best YPP offense in the league was Baltimore. They gained 6.85 yards per play, or 26% better than average, this was the second best all-time. The best defense in the league, Philadelphia, allowed 4.74 YPP, which was 13% better than average.
I have defined elite as 10% better than average for YPP. Notice this is half of the percent better than average for points that I used last week. By this definition there were five elite offenses in 2024 and only one elite defense (PHI). Unlike points where there have only been a handful of years with more elite defenses than offenses, if you look at YPP, that split is about even. I give the upper hand to defense if there is a tie.
Best 20 YPP defenses in SB era
Best 20 YPP offenses in the SB era
The were five elite defenses in 2023 and four elite offenses – remember I’m using 10% better than average as my definition of elite. It is fairly common for there to be an even number of both, but it is rare for there to be more elite defenses than offenses. Before 2023 the last time that happened was 1989.
In the Super Bowl Era there have only been seven seasons with more elite defenses than elite offenses and the only one this century was 2023. By using this definition of 10% better than average in YPP, there have been 248 elite offenses and 177 elite defenses.
The most elite offenses that there have ever been was eight in 1966. The most recently was seven in 2009, but there were 6 in 2013. The five elite defense in 2023 was the most since 1985. I remember some of those 1985 defenses. Most folks remember the 1985 Bears, but few remember that the Bears were not the best YPP defense that season, the Giants were. The Bears gave up 85 fewer points than the Giants, but the Giants allowed the lowest YPP in the league that season. The Raiders gave up 120 more points and yet were close to the Bears in YPP.
Best YPP defenses of 1985
The most elite defenses that we have had in a season by YPP was seven in 1968. There were also seven elite offenses that season. The Baltimore Colts had the best offense AND defense in the NFL in terms of YPP that season. It’s no wonder than the world thought that they would run roughshod over the Jets in the Super Bowl (they lost).
The 68 Colts gained 5.50 yards per play on offense and only allowed 3.96 on defense. That difference of 1.54 is pretty astounding. More on this later The average play gained...
