Additional Thoughts On The 2016 Falcons Offense

by Chase Stuart on January 10, 2017

Atlanta had “only” 175 drives on offense this year, tied with Washington for the fifth fewest drives in the NFL. That’s partially because the offense was so good — Atlanta had the 2nd fewest number of drives end in a 3-and-out, behind only New Orleans — but also because the defense was below average, keeping the offense off the field.

Despite that, Atlanta scored a whopping 540 points. But here’s another way to think about it: the Falcons had just 11 turnovers and 48 punts, meaning just 59 drives ended in a punt or a turnover. That’s the fewest in modern history, one fewer than the 2007 Patriots (who had just 167 drives). And Atlanta scored 58 offensive touchdowns, meaning the offense had nearly as many drives end in a touchdown as a punt or turnover. And that’s just, well, crazy:

Rk	Team	Pass TD	Rush TD	Off TD	Punt	Fum Lost	Int	TOs + Punt	Off TD:(TO+P)
1	Falcons	38	20	58	48	4	7	59	98.3%
2	Packers	40	11	51	56	9	8	73	69.9%
3	Saints	38	17	55	57	9	15	81	67.9%
4	Cowboys	25	24	49	59	9	6	74	66.2%
5	Patriots	32	19	51	72	9	2	83	61.4%
6	Redskins	25	17	42	49	9	12	70	60%
7	Colts	32	13	45	56	7	15	78	57.7%
8	Steelers	33	13	46	69	3	15	87	52.9%
9	Bills	17	29	46	75	5	7	87	52.9%
10	Raiders	29	17	46	81	7	7	95	48.4%
11	Titans	29	16	45	77	7	11	95	47.4%
12	Chargers	33	10	43	59	14	21	94	45.7%
13	Cardinals	28	20	48	80	11	17	108	44.4%
14	Lions	24	9	33	62	5	10	77	42.9%
15	Seahawks	23	13	36	72	6	12	90	40%
16	Eagles	16	16	32	63	6	14	83	38.6%
17	Buccaneers	29	8	37	70	9	18	97	38.1%
18	Bengals	18	17	35	78	9	8	95	36.8%
19	Chiefs	19	15	34	76	9	8	93	36.6%
20	Dolphins	27	14	41	90	8	15	113	36.3%
21	Panthers	21	16	37	76	10	19	105	35.2%
22	Vikings	20	9	29	74	11	5	90	32.2%
23	Jaguars	24	8	32	77	13	16	106	30.2%
24	Bears	19	10	29	68	12	19	99	29.3%
25	Ravens	20	10	30	80	7	16	103	29.1%
26	49ers	21	15	36	100	15	10	125	28.8%
27	Broncos	20	11	31	89	14	11	114	27.2%
28	Giants	26	6	32	93	11	16	120	26.7%
29	Browns	15	13	28	83	11	14	108	25.9%
30	Jets	16	10	27	76	9	25	110	24.5%
31	Texans	15	8	23	72	8	16	96	24%
32	Rams	14	9	23	98	9	20	127	18.1%

How does that compare historically? I looked at all offenses since realignment in 2002. Just 19 of them had even two-thirds as many offensive drives end in touchdowns as they did in punts:

Rk	Year	Team	Pass TD	Rush TD	Off TD	Punt	Fum Lost	Int	TOs + Punt	Off TD/(TO+P)
1	2007	Patriots	50	17	67	45	6	9	60	111.7%
2	2016	Falcons	38	20	58	48	4	7	59	98.3%
3	2011	Saints	46	16	62	47	5	14	66	93.9%
4	2011	Packers	51	12	63	55	5	8	68	92.6%
5	2004	Colts	51	10	61	54	7	10	71	85.9%
6	2010	Patriots	37	19	56	58	5	5	68	82.4%
7	2014	Packers	38	14	52	51	7	6	64	81.3%
8	2012	Patriots	34	25	60	61	7	9	77	77.9%
9	2013	Broncos	55	16	71	66	16	10	92	77.2%
10	2011	Patriots	39	18	57	57	5	12	74	77%
11	2007	Colts	32	19	51	52	5	14	71	71.8%
12	2006	Colts	31	17	48	48	10	9	67	71.6%
13	2004	Chiefs	27	31	58	55	10	17	82	70.7%
14	2016	Packers	40	11	51	56	9	8	73	69.9%
15	2005	Colts	31	18	49	52	8	11	71	69%
16	2008	Saints	34	20	54	53	8	18	79	68.4%
17	2016	Saints	38	17	55	57	9	15	81	67.9%
18	2009	Chargers	29	17	46	52	7	10	69	66.7%
19	2006	Chargers	24	32	56	69	6	9	84	66.7%

The Falcons also scored a bunch on field goals. Over half of all Atlanta drives ended in scores — 52.6%, to be exact — making them just the third team since 2002 to reach that mark. The 2007 Patriots were at 52.7%, and the 2011 Saints at 51.4%. The 2016 season was tilted towards offense more than the ’07 or ’11 seasons were, but there’s no question that this is a historically great offense. Atlanta’s offense ranked 1st in points, turnovers, and net yards per attempt, 2nd in yards, passing touchdowns, and first downs, 3rd in passing yards and rushing touchdowns, and 5th in rushing yards and yards per attempt.

Tagged as: Falcons

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