What Defensive TDs (allowed) is

Touchdowns scored by this team's defense — interception and fumble returns. Rare, valuable, and hard to repeat year to year.

Higher is better. It is shown per game, so a team's number does not depend on games played. Source: P + N.

In 2021 the Cowboys led at 0.29; the league average was 0.08.

League snapshot — 2021

League leader

DAL · 0.29

League average

0.08

Best to worst

0.29

All 32 teams, higher is better.

Rank	Team	Value	Games
1	DAL	0.29	17
2	MIA	0.18	17
3	NE	0.18	17
4	ATL	0.12	17
5	GB	0.12	17
6	KC	0.12	17
7	MIN	0.12	17
8	NO	0.12	17
9	PHI	0.12	17
10	SF	0.12	17
11	TB	0.12	17
12	TEN	0.12	17
13	WAS	0.12	17
14	ARI	0.06	17
15	BAL	0.06	17
16	BUF	0.06	17
17	CHI	0.06	17
18	CIN	0.06	17
19	CLE	0.06	17
20	DEN	0.06	17
21	HOU	0.06	17
22	NYG	0.06	17
23	NYJ	0.06	17
24	CAR	0	17
25	DET	0	17
26	IND	0	17
27	JAX	0	17
28	LAC	0	17
29	LAR	0	17
30	LV	0	17
31	PIT	0	17
32	SEA	0	17

At a glance — 2021

Where the 32 teams sit on this stat this season.

League leader

DAL · 0.29

League laggard

SEA · 0

League average

0.08

Spread (max − min)

0.29

Rank	Team	Value	Δ vs avg	Percentile
1	DAL	0.29	0.22	100%
2	MIA	0.18	0.10	96.8%
3	NE	0.18	0.10	93.5%
4	ATL	0.12	0.04	90.3%
5	GB	0.12	0.04	87.1%
6	KC	0.12	0.04	83.9%
7	MIN	0.12	0.04	80.6%
8	NO	0.12	0.04	77.4%
9	PHI	0.12	0.04	74.2%
10	SF	0.12	0.04	71%
11	TB	0.12	0.04	67.7%
12	TEN	0.12	0.04	64.5%
13	WAS	0.12	0.04	61.3%
14	ARI	0.06	-0.02	58.1%
15	BAL	0.06	-0.02	54.8%
16	BUF	0.06	-0.02	51.6%
17	CHI	0.06	-0.02	48.4%
18	CIN	0.06	-0.02	45.2%
19	CLE	0.06	-0.02	41.9%
20	DEN	0.06	-0.02	38.7%
21	HOU	0.06	-0.02	35.5%
22	NYG	0.06	-0.02	32.3%
23	NYJ	0.06	-0.02	29%
24	CAR	0	-0.08	25.8%
25	DET	0	-0.08	22.6%
26	IND	0	-0.08	19.4%
27	JAX	0	-0.08	16.1%
28	LAC	0	-0.08	12.9%
29	LAR	0	-0.08	9.7%
30	LV	0	-0.08	6.5%
31	PIT	0	-0.08	3.2%
32	SEA	0	-0.08	0%

Does Defensive TDs (allowed) matter against the spread?

Run as a one-stat algorithm against the closing line, this stat went 840–738–37 ATS (53.2%) across 2020–2025, #125 of 296 ranked.

Its best season was 2022 (145–119, 54.9%); its worst 2020 (131–123, 51.6%).

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

Season	Games	ATS record	ATS %
2020	256	131–123–2	51.6%
2021	272	146–124–2	54.1%
2022	271	145–119–7	54.9%
2023	272	135–123–14	52.3%
2024	272	143–120–9	54.4%
2025	272	140–129–3	52.0%

Defensive TDs (allowed) in 2021 vs 2020

Cowboys lead at 0.29 — they ranked #25 last year. Seahawks are last at 0 — #31 last year.

The league average is 0.08, up 0.01 from 0.06 last year.

Biggest riser: Dolphins, #29 → #2. Biggest faller: Steelers, #3 → #31.

Spread between first and last: 0.29; 20 teams are within 0.07 of the average.

Year-over-year — 2021 vs 2020

Biggest movers from last season.

Biggest riser

DAL · +0.29

Biggest faller

IND · −0.25

Most consistent

CAR · 0

League trend 2021 vs 2020

▲ 0.01

Rank	Team	2021	2020	Δ
1	DAL	0.29	0	+0.29
2	MIA	0.18	0	+0.18
3	MIN	0.12	0	+0.12
4	TEN	0.12	0	+0.12
5	NE	0.18	0.06	+0.11
6	ARI	0.06	0	+0.06
7	BAL	0.06	0	+0.06
8	CHI	0.06	0	+0.06
9	CIN	0.06	0	+0.06
10	DEN	0.06	0	+0.06
11	ATL	0.12	0.06	+0.06
12	GB	0.12	0.06	+0.06
13	NO	0.12	0.06	+0.06
14	PHI	0.12	0.06	+0.06
15	SF	0.12	0.06	+0.06
16	TB	0.12	0.06	+0.06
17	CAR	0	0	0
18	DET	0	0	0
19	LV	0	0	0
20	SEA	0	0	0
21	HOU	0.06	0.06	−0.00
22	NYG	0.06	0.06	−0.00
23	NYJ	0.06	0.06	−0.00
24	KC	0.12	0.13	−0.01
25	WAS	0.12	0.13	−0.01
26	JAX	0	0.06	−0.06
27	BUF	0.06	0.13	−0.07
28	CLE	0.06	0.13	−0.07
29	LAC	0	0.13	−0.13
30	LAR	0	0.19	−0.19
31	PIT	0	0.19	−0.19
32	IND	0	0.25	−0.25

Multi-year context

7-year window (2020–2026)

Multi-year leader

DAL · 0.10

Multi-year laggard

DET · 0.03

Biggest improver

CAR · +0.03/yr

Biggest decliner

IND · −0.03/yr

Rank	Team	Avg	Slope/yr	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	2026
1	DAL	0.10	−0.01	0	0.29	0	0.29	0.06	0.06	0
2	WAS	0.09	−0.00	0.13	0.12	0.12	0	0.06	0	0.20
3	TB	0.09	+0.01	0.06	0.12	0.06	0.06	0	0.12	0.20
4	IND	0.09	−0.03	0.25	0	0.12	0.18	0	0.06	0
5	CAR	0.09	+0.03	0	0	0.12	0.12	0	0.12	0.25
6	NE	0.08	−0.03	0.06	0.18	0.29	0	0	0.06	0
7	PIT	0.08	+0.00	0.19	0	0.06	0.06	0	0.06	0.20
8	NYG	0.08	+0.01	0.06	0.06	0.06	0.18	0	0	0.20
9	BUF	0.08	−0.01	0.13	0.06	0.06	0.12	0.12	0.06	0
10	CLE	0.08	−0.01	0.13	0.06	0.06	0.12	0	0.18	0
11	ATL	0.08	−0.01	0.06	0.12	0.06	0.06	0.18	0.06	0
12	PHI	0.08	−0.01	0.06	0.12	0.12	0.12	0.06	0.06	0
13	DEN	0.07	+0.03	0	0.06	0	0	0.18	0.06	0.20
14	SF	0.07	−0.01	0.06	0.12	0.12	0.06	0.06	0.06	0
15	LAR	0.06	−0.01	0.19	0	0.06	0	0.12	0.06	0
16	GB	0.06	−0.02	0.06	0.12	0.12	0.06	0.06	0	0
17	JAX	0.06	−0.00	0.06	0	0.12	0.12	0	0.12	0
18	MIA	0.06	−0.01	0	0.18	0	0.24	0	0	0
19	SEA	0.06	+0.01	0	0	0.06	0.18	0.12	0.06	0
20	KC	0.05	−0.03	0.13	0.12	0.12	0	0	0	0
21	NO	0.05	−0.01	0.06	0.12	0.06	0.06	0	0.06	0
22	CHI	0.05	+0.01	0	0.06	0	0.12	0.06	0.12	0
23	HOU	0.04	−0.01	0.06	0.06	0.06	0	0.06	0.06	0
24	BAL	0.04	+0.00	0	0.06	0	0.06	0.12	0.06	0
25	CIN	0.04	+0.00	0	0.06	0	0.06	0.12	0.06	0
26	LV	0.04	0	0	0	0.06	0.18	0.06	0	0
27	MIN	0.04	0	0	0.12	0	0	0.12	0.06	0
28	TEN	0.04	−0.01	0	0.12	0.06	0.06	0	0.06	0
29	LAC	0.03	−0.01	0.13	0	0.06	0	0.06	0	0
30	NYJ	0.03	−0.01	0.06	0.06	0	0.12	0	0	0
31	ARI	0.03	−0.01	0	0.06	0.18	0	0	0	0
32	DET	0.03	+0.00	0	0	0.06	0.06	0.06	0	0

Multi-year heatmap

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

Team	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	2026
DAL	0	0.29	0	0.29	0.06	0.06	0
MIA	0	0.18	0	0.24	0	0	0
NE	0.06	0.18	0.29	0	0	0.06	0
ATL	0.06	0.12	0.06	0.06	0.18	0.06	0
GB	0.06	0.12	0.12	0.06	0.06	0	0
KC	0.13	0.12	0.12	0	0	0	0
MIN	0	0.12	0	0	0.12	0.06	0
NO	0.06	0.12	0.06	0.06	0	0.06	0
PHI	0.06	0.12	0.12	0.12	0.06	0.06	0
SF	0.06	0.12	0.12	0.06	0.06	0.06	0
TB	0.06	0.12	0.06	0.06	0	0.12	0.20
TEN	0	0.12	0.06	0.06	0	0.06	0
WAS	0.13	0.12	0.12	0	0.06	0	0.20
ARI	0	0.06	0.18	0	0	0	0
BAL	0	0.06	0	0.06	0.12	0.06	0
BUF	0.13	0.06	0.06	0.12	0.12	0.06	0
CHI	0	0.06	0	0.12	0.06	0.12	0
CIN	0	0.06	0	0.06	0.12	0.06	0
CLE	0.13	0.06	0.06	0.12	0	0.18	0
DEN	0	0.06	0	0	0.18	0.06	0.20
HOU	0.06	0.06	0.06	0	0.06	0.06	0
NYG	0.06	0.06	0.06	0.18	0	0	0.20
NYJ	0.06	0.06	0	0.12	0	0	0
CAR	0	0	0.12	0.12	0	0.12	0.25
DET	0	0	0.06	0.06	0.06	0	0
IND	0.25	0	0.12	0.18	0	0.06	0
JAX	0.06	0	0.12	0.12	0	0.12	0
LV	0	0	0.06	0.18	0.06	0	0
LAC	0.13	0	0.06	0	0.06	0	0
LAR	0.19	0	0.06	0	0.12	0.06	0
PIT	0.19	0	0.06	0.06	0	0.06	0.20
SEA	0	0	0.06	0.18	0.12	0.06	0

Defensive TDs (allowed) since 2018

Leaders since 2018: 2018 Bears (0.31), 2019 Patriots (0.19), 2020 Colts (0.25), 2021 Cowboys (0.29).

The best season on record is Bears 2018 at 0.31; the worst Commanders 2018 at 0.

The league average has fallen from 0.09 in 2018 to 0.08 in 2021.

Distribution

How the 32 teams cluster for 2021.

About this stat

Stat ID: def_team_scoring_def_tds_scored
Side: defensive
Family: Scoring
Data source: P + N
Polarity: higher is better (or neutral)
Display grain: count
Algorithm eligibility: Stat-page only: this stat is not available in the Algorithm Builder.