With the 2017 season in the books, I wanted to review the top offenses and defenses from the regular season. Today we will look at how each team did in the four major categories: passing offense, rushing offense, passing defense, and rushing defense.

Passing Offense

The base stat we use to measure passing offenses is Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt, but if we want to be even more precise, we should incorporate first downs. As a result, the formula is:

(Passing Yards (net of sack yards lost) + Passing Touchdowns * 11 + First Downs * 9 – Interceptions * 45) divided by (Attempts + Sacks)

In the table below, we are using team passing yards, which already deducts sack yards lost. And since every touchdown is automatically a first down, this means that all touchdowns are worth 20 adjusted yards. But to not make them worth 29 yards, we have to only credit each touchdown with 11 yards.

Drew Brees and the Saints had the top passing offense by this measure, although the Patriots and Chargers passing attacks weren’t far behind. The Browns were, by a large margin, the worst passing offense in the NFL, with the Broncos and Packers joining them in the bottom three.

Rushing offense

You won’t be surprised to learn that the Saints running back duo of Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram led the most efficient rushing attack in 2017.  New Orleans ranked 2nd in yards per carry this year, but that’s misleading: New Orleans had 20 kneel downs, while the 1st-ranked Chiefs had just 9; remove kneels, and the Saints led the NFL in yards per carry. Given that New Orleans also led the NFL in rushing touchdowns and was third in first downs, you can make the case that the Saints passing attack was the inferior part of the team’s offense.

To measure rushing efficiency, I used the following formula:

(Rushing Yards + Rushing TDs * 11 + Rushing First Downs * 9 + Kneel Yards Lost) divided by (Rushing Attempts – Kneels)

Because kneels are included in rushing data, we need to add back in kneel yards lost to the numerator and subtract kneels from the denominator. The Saints and Cowboys are the top two rushing attacks in the NFL, with the Packers, Chiefs, and Browns rounding out the top five. The Cardinals, Lions, and Redskins ranked in the bottom three.  Brett Hundley obviously helped the Packers running game, but Green Bay still ranked 4th in first downs per carry. Without Aaron Rodgers, the Packers were a bottom three passing team and a top three rushing team.

Pass Defense

The Jaguars, unsurprisingly, ranked as the best pass defense in the NFL. We use the same formula to measure pass offenses and pass defenses, and Jacksonville’s pass defense was a full adjusted yard per dropback than any other team. The Chargers, Vikings, and Ravens were all in a tightly packed window as the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th best pass defenses. It’s remarkable that the Chargers had a top-3 passing offense, a top-3 passing defense, and still missed the playoffs. The Packers, meanwhile, had the worst pass defense in the league, followed by the Raiders, Colts, Bucs, and Texans. Among playoff teams, the Chiefs, Patriots, and Titans had the worst pass defenses.

Rush Defense

We will use the same formula for rushing defense as we did for rushing offense. Here, the Broncos lead the way, while the Bills, Chargers, and Patriots had the worst three rushing defenses.

Team Strength

With grades for each four units, we can now put together team grades. You can use whatever weights you want, but here’s what I did. To come up with team offense grades, I used 60% of the passing efficiency grade and 40% of the rushing efficiency grade. I used the same ratios for defense, and then for overall team strength, I weighted offense and defense equally, and subtracted the team defensive efficiency rating from the team offensive efficiency rating.

By this measure, the Saints were the best team in the NFL this year, on the strength of the best offense in the NFL and a defense that just snuck into the top ten. The Browns, of course, were 32nd.

What do you think?