NFL 2023 – Team Play Selection & Best Play Type Option

Ideally, NFL teams would choose their most effective play type a majority of the time.  When they do not select their best plays, they are basically their own worst enemy.   With that in mind, let’s take a look at the play types each team has run through week 17 and the results of each type of play.

NFL Team Play Selection

The data is limited to the data from pro-football-reference.com regarding play type splits so it may not be perfect or include every type of play.  Here are the type of plays that have been broken out:

1. Non Play Action or RPO Pass
2. Play Action Pass
3. RPO Pass
4. RPO Rush
5. Non RPO Rush

In the chart above the color coding is by column.  Thus it is highlighting which teams choose the most or least of each type of play.  The ranking for each team is next to the data.

NFL Team Play Type Results

In the chart above, the color coding is by row, except for the last column.  Thus the color coding is telling us which option is best for each team.  The averages for each stat are at the bottom so you can still compare the value to the average, but this chart is trying to point out which type of pass/run each team is best at executing, and hence, which is their best option regarding play selection.

Here are the columns and groups:

First 5 Columns – Passing

First Two Columns – Thinking about passing?  Should the team go traditional passing options or RPO?

Last 3 Columns – Results of Drop Back passes. Play Action passes, & RPO passes.  Shows the best option for each team.

Last 3 Columns – Rushing

First Two Rush Columns – RPO Rush results vs traditional rush attempts.  Shows the better option.

Last Rush Column – The average rush regardless of type of rush.  This column is the only one sorted vertically to show highest and lowest rush averages among the 32 teams.

What Is Wrong With The Philadelphia Eagles?

Clearly a couple of charts cannot uncovered all the ills of the Eagles this year, but it does give us some insight as to why they may be struggling.

Philadelphia has called 158 RPO plays.  82 ended up being an RPO pass, 76 ended up being an  RPO run.

Eagles Ranks For RPO Play Calls

RPO Calls 1st (158)
RPO Pass 3rd (82)
RPO Run 1st (76)

• The team that has called the 2nd most RPOs is the Chargers with 123.  Thus the Eagles call roughly 30% more RPOs than the next highest team.
• The team with the highest amount of RPO pass calls are the Colts with 93, followed by Miami with 92.  The Eagles sit 3rd with 82.
• The team with the second highest amount of RPO runs are the Seahawks with 56.  The Eagles call about 35% more RPO runs than the next highest team.

Eagles Performance On RPO Play Calls Rankings

RPO Calls 28th (4.87 yard/att)
RPO Pass plays 25th (5.83 yards/att)
RPO Run plays 26th (3.83 yards/att)

• The Dolphins average 10.09 per RPO play call, more than twice what the Eagles average.
• The 49ers average 11.10 yards/RPO pass, almost twice what the Eagles average.
• The Colts average 7.42 yards / RPO run, almost twice what the Eagles average.

Non-RPO or Playaction Pass Attempts

Dropback Pass calls 24th (361)
Dropback Pass plays 3rd (7.07 yards/Att)

The Eagles Are Their Own Worst Enemy

Basically you have a team that calls the most RPO plays being inneffective in running RPO plays.  The stats clearly show that the Eagles would be better off running traditional paases and runs as opposed to RPO plays in 2023.  However, the Eagles coaching staff continues to get in the team’s way by calling plays it doesn’t execute well.  Some of this may be due to the injuries Hurts has been nursing seemingly all season, but surely the coaches have noted this but haven’t seemingly baked it in to their play selections.

What’s Right With The Baltimore Ravens

Clearly a couple of charts cannot uncovered all the ills of the Eagles this year, but it does give us some insight as to why they may be struggling.

Balitmore has called 119 RPO plays.  73 ended up being an RPO pass, 46 ended up being an  RPO run.

Ravens Ranks For RPO Play Calls

RPO Calls 3rd (119)
RPO Pass 5th (73)
RPO Run 4th (46)

Ravens Performance On RPO Play Calls Rankings

RPO Calls 3rd (8.38 yard/att)
RPO Pass plays 3rd (9.58 yards/att)
RPO Run plays 2nd (6.48 yards/att)

Ravens Non-RPO Rushing Calls

Non-RPO Rush calls 470 (2nd)
Non-Rpo Rush plays 3rd (4.80 yards/att)
Any Rush play 2nd (4.95 yards/att)

The Ravens Help Themselves With Playcalling

Here you have the team the Eagles want to be.  The Ravens excel at running the ball and RPO plays.  The rank 2nd in non-RPO rush plays, 3rd in non-RPO rush average, 3rd in RPO plays called, 3rd in RPO play performance(RPO Pass 3rd RPO Run 2nd).

Baltimore’s weakness offensively is non Playaction or RPO passes(Drop backs), but they rank 29th in these amount type of play calls.  The Ravens know what they do well, and they keep doing it.

What’s Wrong With The Cincinnati Bengals?

Cincinnati has called 109 RPO plays, 5th most in the league.  72 ended up being an RPO pass, 37 ended up being an  RPO run.

Bengals Ranks For RPO Play Calls

RPO Calls 5th (109)
RPO Pass 6rd (72)
RPO Run 9th (37)

Bengals Performance On RPO Play Calls Rankings

RPO Calls 29th (4.84 yard/att)
RPO Pass plays 27th (5.49 yards/att)
RPO Run plays 28th (3.859 yards/att)

Bengals On Play Action Pass

Play Action Pass Calls 30th (68)
Play Action pass Plays 1st (10.68 Yards / Att)

The Bengals Are Their Own Worst Enemy

Cincinatti is worse than the Eagles at everything RPO related yet they call RPO plays 5th most in the league.  They aren’t good at either side of the RPO equation, they stink at both RPO Pass & RPO Run.

Meanwhile the Bengals rank 1st in Play Action Pass avg at 10.68 yards/att.  The only problem is they are 30th in the league at calling play action, doing so only 68 times all season.

Hello?  Is anyone self scouting or have access to analytics in Cincinnati?  Surely recognizing this issue and adjusting the play calling to suit could have made the difference in 1 or 2 games this year….Which is the difference between playoff football in January and golfing in January.

What’s Right With The Lions?

San Francisco has called 119 RPO plays.  73 ended up being an RPO pass, 46 ended up being an  RPO run.

Lions Ranks For Play Action Pass Calls

Play Action pass Calls 2nd (142)
Play Action pass plays 14th (8.41)

Lions Non-RPO Rushing Calls

Non-RPO Rush calls 460 (4th)
Non-Rpo Rush plays 5th (4.69 yards/att)
Any Rush play 5th (4.70 yards/att)

Lions RPO Plays

RPO Play calls 34 (28th)
RPO plays 18th (6.35)
RPO Pass calls 30th (17)
RPO Run calls 23rd (17)

The Lions Help Themselves With Playcalling

The Lions can run the ball, by handoff or RPO(though RPO runs are rare with just 17 all year).  This makes their play action extremely effectively and they take advantage of that by calling it often, 2nd most in the league.

Detroit stays away from RPOs in general, calling only 34 so far(evenly split pass/run 17/17).  The RPO option is always the worse option for Detroit and the coaching staff understands this by evidence of the play calling.  Play action pass average of 8.41 may only be 14th in the league, but if you look across Detroit’s line, that is their best passing option by far.

You can use the two charts to check out if your team is helping or hurting themselves with their play selection and execution.  Enjoy the last week of the regular season.  See you in the playoffs!