Offensive Efficiency (Possible boring stats and comparison inside) (1 Viewer)

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Alaina

Alaina

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When comparing Saints vs Chiefs vs Rams, let's look at a few stats that are being buried. Let's look at 1) % of drives ending in a score, 2) Average points per drive scored, and then 3) Drives per TD. Short and sweet breakdowns:

% of drives ending in a score:
Saints: 61.3%
KC: 54.8%
LAR: 52.3%
And for comparison the next up is ATL with a little more realistic 45.7%

Average points per drive:
Saints: 3.47
KC: 3.22
LAR: 2.89
#4 is Atlanta at 2.61

Offensive drives per TD (Lower is more efficient):
Saints: 2.44
KC: 2.53
LAR: 3.02
(I'm not going through all 32 teams to figure out who is #4)

NOTE: understand that the Chiefs have had 2 defensive TD's and 1 special teams TD. Saints had 1 defensive TD. Rams had 1 defensive TD and 1 ST TD. These are NOT factored into these stats. The drives that are typically considered junk (maintaining a lead / kneeling at the end of the game) ARE included in these stats.

On a per drive basis, the Saints are leading the league in scoring. It's clear they are the most highly efficient offense in the league. By comparison, the 2011 Saints scored on 51.4% of their offensive drives and scored an average of 2.96 points per drive. Offensive drives per TD was at 2.82. The vaunted 2013 Broncos (when Manning broke Brees' season yardage record) was 47.5%, 2.83, and 2.84 respectively.

Based on these numbers, the 2018 New Orleans Saints appear to be not only the most efficient offense in the league, but could also shape out to be the most efficient offense in at least the last 10 years, and possibly of all time. For the record, the 2001 LA Rams (Greatest Show on Turf) are nowhere close to the numbers that the Saints and Chiefs are putting up. They're even considerably less efficient than the 2011 Saints.
 
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Alaina said:
When comparing Saints vs Chiefs vs Rams, let's look at a few stats that are being buried. Let's look at 1) % of drives ending in a score, 2) Average points per drive scored, and then 3) Drives per TD. Short and sweet breakdowns:

% of drives ending in a score:
Saints: 61.3%
KC: 54.8%
LAR: 52.3%
And for comparison the next up is ATL with a little more realistic 45.7%

Average points per drive:
Saints: 3.47
KC: 3.22
LAR: 2.89
#4 is Atlanta at 2.61

Offensive drives per TD (Lower is more efficient):
Saints: 2.44
KC: 2.53
LAR: 3.02
(I'm not going through all 32 teams to figure out who is #4)

NOTE: understand that the Chiefs have had 2 defensive TD's and 1 special teams TD. Saints had 1 defensive TD. Rams had 1 defensive TD and 1 ST TD. These are NOT factored into these stats. The drives that are typically considered junk (maintaining a lead / kneeling at the end of the game) ARE included in these stats.

On a per drive basis, the Saints are leading the league in scoring. It's clear they are the most highly efficient offense in the league. By comparison, the 2011 Saints scored on 51.4% of their offensive drives and scored an average of 2.96 points per drive. Offensive drives per TD was at 2.82. The vaunted 2013 Broncos (when Manning broke Brees' season yardage record) was 47.5%, 2.83, and 2.84 respectively.

Based on these numbers, the 2018 New Orleans Saints appear to be not only the most efficient offense in the league, but could also shape out to be the most efficient offense in at least the last 10 years, and possibly of all time. For the record, the 2001 LA Rams (Greatest Show on Turf) are nowhere close to the numbers that the Saints and Chiefs are putting up. They're even considerably less efficient than the 2011 Saints.
Click to expand...

Third in the league in total points scored (other two haven't had a bye), last in the league in number of drives. That's pretty impressive.
 
This Saints offense is one of the best in the history of the league. Wish we had Ginn though cause it would be even better.

Drew Brees is one of the best to ever play it and now he has his best receiver ever, the best running back/offensive weapon in the game, & one of his best, if not the best offensive line ever. Then throw in Ingram, Watson, Hill, & Smith as well. And now we may just have the best read option QB in the game that also runs trick plays, pass routes, blocks, and does many other things not on offense.

You can’t tell me this isn’t one of the best offenses EVER!! BUT with the rules, it has made where u can’t even compare them to say the 80s 9ers, 2000s Rams, or any other great offense before the rule changes.
 
Stats schmatz. I already know we're like totally awesome and totally the best
 
Offensive records already don't mean what they used to. Watch how many 5,000 yard passing seasons start to occur. I wish the league would help tilt the balance back toward the defenses a little, but I don't see that happening. And it's not like these offenses wouldn't still be having a monster year, just not as monstrous.

Thanks for compiling those stats Alaina. Very interesting read. Appreciate the effort.
 
WhoDat_SB44 said:
You can’t tell me this isn’t one of the best offenses EVER!! BUT with the rules, it has made where u can’t even compare them to say the 80s 9ers, 2000s Rams, or any other great offense before the rule changes.
Click to expand...

The Saints and Chiefs are by far and beyond standouts when compared with offenses of previous eras. The Rams are comparable in their stats with other historic offenses. However, that's kind of where the line cuts off and the offenses start to look similar to offenses of a typical historic offense. I think the 2018 year is an outlier for offense, or maybe even the start of a trend where offense is much more valued past defense. Rules may have changed that, but I don't think rules can account for such a dramatic shift in just 1 years time for 3 teams. Coaching scheme and QB efficiency along with ridiculously stacked offenses of the 3 teams are probably more the culprit of these gaudy numbers put up by the Saints, Chiefs, and Rams.
 
you stated, the "Rams had 1 defensive TD and 1 ST TD. "

If they have an ST TD, do they need to go to the doctor for that?
 
Direct correlation with Brees playing with the most efficiency of his career. Here's hoping it keeps up
 
dutar76 said:
would love to see the same #'s with our defense... (if you're bored)
Click to expand...
% of drives ending in a score: 41.3% (25th)
Points per drive: 2.46 (28th)
Drives til TD: 3.28 (No idea on rank, Bengals are at 3.06, Tampa is at a 3.00)

Bengals are last in the league in % of drives ending in a score at 50% and points per drive at 2.81

But you know what? If the Saints are scoring 1 full point per drive more than the opponent vs them are, that's winning football.
 
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Alaina said:
But you know what? If the Saints are scoring 1 full point per drive more than the opponent vs them are, that's winning football.
Click to expand...

This is the truth. We tend to get all caught up in the rankings on defense. But at the end of the day, football isn't about giving up as few stats as possible. It's about scoring more points than your opponent... what a novel thought!
 
Stalwart385 said:
https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/drivestats2018
Based on football outsiders numbers (which aren't updated) plus the last game's results it would be:

Points allowed per drive - 2.48 (28th)
Points scored per drive - 3.67 (1st)
Net points per drive - 1.19 (1st)

Rankings based on last week's numbers.
Click to expand...
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2018/

With the updated stats. For TD's per drive I was manually subtracting non-offensive TD's from total TD's and using that number to divide into total number of drives to get number of drives required for a TD. I assume they used points per drive, because when you take the number of drives (93) and divide it into the total points from (330), you get a slightly higher number than what they've listed.
 
Alaina said:
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2018/

With the updated stats. For TD's per drive I was manually subtracting non-offensive TD's from total TD's and using that number to divide into total number of drives to get number of drives required for a TD. I assume they used points per drive, because when you take the number of drives (93) and divide it into the total points from (330), you get a slightly higher number than what they've listed.
Click to expand...

Yeah not exactly sure how they are handling non-offensive points scored. You should account for them somewhere imo. Maybe subtract it from points allowed. Another thing to consider is end of game (or half) kneeling drives. Not sure if they count them or not. I went ahead and counted it as a drive in my updated numbers.

Edit: Those TDs wouldn't help the offense anyway. Only 1 non-offensive TD. KC has 3. The Rams have 2.
 
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