What Plays per drive (allowed) is

Plays per drive allowed: opponent plays divided by opponent drives. Long, sustained possessions against this defense show up here.

Lower is better. It is a rate, so a team's number does not grow with games played. Source: P + N.

In 2018 the Bills led at 4.89; the league average was 5.43.

League snapshot — 2018

League leader

BUF · 4.89

League average

5.43

Best to worst

1.29

All 32 teams, lower is better.

Rank	Team	Value	Games
1	BUF	4.89	16
2	JAX	5.05	16
3	NYJ	5.08	16
4	MIN	5.17	16
5	PIT	5.21	16
6	TB	5.22	16
7	SEA	5.22	16
8	DET	5.24	16
9	DEN	5.28	16
10	BAL	5.30	16
11	LAR	5.31	16
12	LV	5.31	16
13	NE	5.32	16
14	CHI	5.33	16
15	HOU	5.38	16
16	SF	5.39	16
17	MIA	5.41	16
18	GB	5.42	16
19	CLE	5.44	16
20	CAR	5.45	16
21	NYG	5.52	16
22	IND	5.52	16
23	ARI	5.54	16
24	WAS	5.57	16
25	PHI	5.61	16
26	LAC	5.61	16
27	TEN	5.63	16
28	DAL	5.71	16
29	ATL	5.78	16
30	NO	5.81	16
31	CIN	5.93	16
32	KC	6.18	16

Where the 32 teams sit on this stat this season.

League leader

BUF · 4.89

League laggard

KC · 6.18

League average

5.43

Spread (max − min)

1.29

Rank	Team	Value	Δ vs avg	Percentile
1	BUF	4.89	-0.54	100%
2	JAX	5.05	-0.38	96.8%
3	NYJ	5.08	-0.35	93.5%
4	MIN	5.17	-0.26	90.3%
5	PIT	5.21	-0.22	87.1%
6	TB	5.22	-0.21	83.9%
7	SEA	5.22	-0.21	80.6%
8	DET	5.24	-0.19	77.4%
9	DEN	5.28	-0.15	74.2%
10	BAL	5.30	-0.14	71%
11	LAR	5.31	-0.13	67.7%
12	LV	5.31	-0.13	64.5%
13	NE	5.32	-0.11	61.3%
14	CHI	5.33	-0.10	58.1%
15	HOU	5.38	-0.06	54.8%
16	SF	5.39	-0.04	51.6%
17	MIA	5.41	-0.02	48.4%
18	GB	5.42	-0.02	45.2%
19	CLE	5.44	0.01	41.9%
20	CAR	5.45	0.02	38.7%
21	NYG	5.52	0.08	35.5%
22	IND	5.52	0.09	32.3%
23	ARI	5.54	0.11	29%
24	WAS	5.57	0.14	25.8%
25	PHI	5.61	0.18	22.6%
26	LAC	5.61	0.18	19.4%
27	TEN	5.63	0.20	16.1%
28	DAL	5.71	0.27	12.9%
29	ATL	5.78	0.35	9.7%
30	NO	5.81	0.38	6.5%
31	CIN	5.93	0.50	3.2%
32	KC	6.18	0.75	0%

Run as a one-stat algorithm against the closing line, this stat went 773–805–37 ATS (49.0%) across 2020–2025, #269 of 296 ranked.

Its best season was 2020 (133–121, 52.4%); its worst 2024 (123–140, 46.8%).

For picks, this is noise. One stat is not a recipe — the algorithms combine many.

Season	Games	ATS record	ATS %
2020	256	133–121–2	52.4%
2021	272	131–139–2	48.5%
2022	271	130–134–7	49.2%
2023	272	121–137–14	46.9%
2024	272	123–140–9	46.8%
2025	272	135–134–3	50.2%

7-year window (2020–2026)

Multi-year leader

CLE · 5.26

Multi-year laggard

KC · 5.87

Biggest improver

SEA · −0.20/yr

Biggest decliner

SF · +0.15/yr

Rank	Team	Avg	Slope/yr	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	2026
1	CLE	5.26	−0.14	6.16	5.72	5.42	4.31	4.72	4.90	5.60
2	CHI	5.38	−0.07	5.48	5.42	5.62	5.39	5.46	5.49	4.81
3	LAC	5.45	−0.11	5.55	5.96	5.20	5.70	5.64	5.28	4.85
4	TB	5.49	−0.07	5.61	5.62	5.36	5.82	5.69	5.38	4.96
5	NO	5.51	+0.03	5.45	5.31	5.63	5.26	5.90	5.59	5.42
6	DAL	5.55	+0.08	5.62	5.19	5.43	5.57	5.17	5.77	6.06
7	DEN	5.55	+0.00	5.43	5.89	5.25	5.67	5.47	5.47	5.67
8	NE	5.56	−0.07	6.04	5.55	5.47	5.11	5.96	5.52	5.28
9	WAS	5.57	+0.09	5.18	5.77	4.94	5.69	5.80	6.27	5.36
10	MIA	5.58	+0.09	5.31	5.47	5.68	5.39	5.43	5.71	6.04
11	PIT	5.58	+0.04	5.24	5.60	5.63	5.61	5.60	6.13	5.23
12	MIN	5.58	−0.11	5.83	5.79	5.65	5.68	5.65	5.44	5.00
13	CAR	5.59	−0.01	6.11	5.06	5.53	5.22	6.01	5.87	5.34
14	IND	5.59	+0.01	5.64	5.67	5.35	5.45	5.47	6.19	5.39
15	CIN	5.60	+0.04	5.53	5.51	5.48	5.55	5.75	5.59	5.77
16	HOU	5.61	−0.08	6.19	5.72	5.49	5.48	5.39	5.20	5.78
17	NYJ	5.67	−0.00	5.87	5.90	5.50	4.97	5.93	5.63	5.89
18	SF	5.67	+0.15	5.12	5.52	5.44	5.91	5.62	5.99	6.10
19	NYG	5.67	−0.13	6.25	5.96	5.78	5.28	5.49	5.61	5.33
20	BAL	5.68	+0.02	5.90	5.17	5.87	5.58	5.63	5.91	5.67
21	TEN	5.70	−0.07	6.29	5.46	5.69	6.05	5.20	5.24	5.94
22	LAR	5.70	+0.02	5.19	5.94	5.86	5.57	6.06	5.87	5.40
23	LV	5.70	−0.10	6.05	5.85	5.79	5.73	5.43	5.82	5.26
24	ARI	5.72	−0.02	5.88	5.63	5.46	5.82	6.04	5.75	5.46
25	SEA	5.72	−0.20	6.22	6.17	5.80	6.14	5.31	5.45	5.00
26	PHI	5.76	+0.06	5.26	5.79	5.80	6.22	5.54	5.83	5.89
27	BUF	5.78	+0.06	6.04	5.33	5.75	5.47	6.01	5.37	6.48
28	JAX	5.81	+0.02	5.66	5.93	6.02	5.39	6.13	5.42	6.15
29	DET	5.83	+0.02	6.03	5.79	5.93	5.46	5.54	5.50	6.57
30	ATL	5.85	−0.05	5.76	6.12	6.29	5.44	5.91	5.75	5.68
31	GB	5.85	+0.01	5.96	5.82	5.49	6.01	5.61	6.48	5.59
32	KC	5.87	−0.02	5.88	6.09	5.83	5.64	6.03	5.75	5.86

32 teams across 7 seasons. Cells colored by quintile within each season; click a column header to jump to that year.

How the 32 teams cluster for 2018.

About this stat

Stat ID: def_drives_plays_per_drive
Side: defensive
Family: Drive Averages
Data source: P + N
Polarity: lower is better
Display grain: rate
Algorithm eligibility: Algorithm-eligible: this stat can be picked in the Algorithm Builder.