What Plays per drive is

Plays per drive: offensive plays divided by drives. Long, sustained possessions show up here before they show up on the scoreboard.

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

In 2018 the Ravens led at 6.27; the league average was 5.51.

League snapshot — 2018

League leader

BAL · 6.27

League average

5.51

Best to worst

1.56

All 32 teams, higher is better.

Rank	Team	Value	Games
1	BAL	6.27	16
2	ATL	5.96	16
3	DAL	5.93	16
4	NO	5.86	16
5	PHI	5.81	16
6	DET	5.76	16
7	CAR	5.74	16
8	PIT	5.72	16
9	KC	5.69	16
10	NE	5.69	16
11	GB	5.67	16
12	IND	5.67	16
13	TB	5.67	16
14	LAR	5.64	16
15	TEN	5.60	16
16	JAX	5.53	16
17	LAC	5.52	16
18	LV	5.49	16
19	NYG	5.47	16
20	CHI	5.46	16
21	SEA	5.46	16
22	CIN	5.46	16
23	WAS	5.45	16
24	SF	5.43	16
25	DEN	5.41	16
26	HOU	5.37	16
27	MIN	5.27	16
28	BUF	5.19	16
29	CLE	4.98	16
30	NYJ	4.81	16
31	ARI	4.77	16
32	MIA	4.71	16

Where the 32 teams sit on this stat this season.

League leader

BAL · 6.27

League laggard

MIA · 4.71

League average

5.51

Spread (max − min)

1.56

Rank	Team	Value	Δ vs avg	Percentile
1	BAL	6.27	0.76	100%
2	ATL	5.96	0.45	96.8%
3	DAL	5.93	0.41	93.5%
4	NO	5.86	0.35	90.3%
5	PHI	5.81	0.29	87.1%
6	DET	5.76	0.25	83.9%
7	CAR	5.74	0.22	80.6%
8	PIT	5.72	0.20	77.4%
9	KC	5.69	0.18	74.2%
10	NE	5.69	0.17	71%
11	GB	5.67	0.16	67.7%
12	IND	5.67	0.16	64.5%
13	TB	5.67	0.16	61.3%
14	LAR	5.64	0.12	58.1%
15	TEN	5.60	0.09	54.8%
16	JAX	5.53	0.02	51.6%
17	LAC	5.52	0.01	48.4%
18	LV	5.49	-0.02	45.2%
19	NYG	5.47	-0.04	41.9%
20	CHI	5.46	-0.05	38.7%
21	SEA	5.46	-0.05	35.5%
22	CIN	5.46	-0.06	32.3%
23	WAS	5.45	-0.07	29%
24	SF	5.43	-0.09	25.8%
25	DEN	5.41	-0.10	22.6%
26	HOU	5.37	-0.15	19.4%
27	MIN	5.27	-0.24	16.1%
28	BUF	5.19	-0.33	12.9%
29	CLE	4.98	-0.53	9.7%
30	NYJ	4.81	-0.70	6.5%
31	ARI	4.77	-0.75	3.2%
32	MIA	4.71	-0.81	0%

Run as a one-stat algorithm against the closing line, this stat went 815–763–37 ATS (51.6%) across 2020–2025, #196 of 296 ranked.

Its best season was 2022 (152–112, 57.6%); its worst 2021 (131–139, 48.5%).

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

Season	Games	ATS record	ATS %
2020	256	128–126–2	50.4%
2021	272	131–139–2	48.5%
2022	271	152–112–7	57.6%
2023	272	134–124–14	51.9%
2024	272	128–135–9	48.7%
2025	272	142–127–3	52.8%

7-year window (2020–2026)

Multi-year leader

KC · 6.13

Multi-year laggard

SEA · 5.28

Biggest improver

NO · +0.13/yr

Biggest decliner

CLE · −0.19/yr

Rank	Team	Avg	Slope/yr	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	2026
1	KC	6.13	−0.09	6.32	6.56	5.99	5.89	6.29	6.16	5.66
2	DAL	6.10	+0.09	6.10	5.92	5.65	6.42	5.70	6.23	6.67
3	ARI	6.05	−0.01	5.97	6.18	6.11	5.92	6.10	6.21	5.88
4	DET	5.93	+0.03	5.71	5.90	6.11	5.94	6.04	5.61	6.23
5	CHI	5.92	+0.10	5.78	5.96	5.44	5.89	5.79	5.89	6.67
6	LAC	5.87	−0.17	6.35	6.34	5.98	5.74	5.45	6.14	5.12
7	BUF	5.86	−0.03	5.79	5.95	5.88	6.04	5.81	6.09	5.43
8	LAR	5.84	+0.06	5.82	5.67	5.58	5.90	6.01	5.83	6.09
9	PHI	5.83	−0.06	5.66	6.10	5.94	6.17	5.97	5.56	5.42
10	CIN	5.79	+0.09	5.72	5.46	5.84	5.49	5.87	5.83	6.29
11	NYG	5.77	+0.09	5.62	5.48	6.02	5.25	5.65	6.27	6.09
12	ATL	5.76	−0.06	6.11	5.58	5.88	5.50	6.24	5.63	5.39
13	GB	5.76	−0.09	5.87	6.01	5.79	5.98	5.62	5.95	5.09
14	JAX	5.73	+0.00	5.75	5.69	5.89	5.65	5.60	5.68	5.88
15	WAS	5.73	−0.02	5.69	5.89	5.76	5.33	6.16	5.86	5.41
16	NO	5.70	+0.13	5.69	5.25	5.40	5.62	5.61	6.05	6.30
17	TB	5.70	+0.01	5.45	5.75	5.88	5.62	5.92	5.82	5.47
18	CAR	5.69	+0.00	6.02	5.64	5.06	6.08	5.28	5.96	5.76
19	IND	5.68	−0.01	5.84	5.80	5.61	5.52	5.33	5.84	5.82
20	SF	5.67	+0.03	5.68	5.52	5.54	5.56	5.73	6.23	5.43
21	NE	5.65	−0.01	6.13	5.93	5.14	4.98	5.70	5.77	5.91
22	MIA	5.64	+0.01	5.54	5.77	5.53	5.57	5.91	5.32	5.83
23	LV	5.61	−0.11	5.95	5.64	6.06	5.57	5.52	5.18	5.37
24	BAL	5.59	−0.07	5.63	6.01	5.69	5.37	5.65	5.37	5.43
25	TEN	5.58	−0.09	6.10	6.05	5.13	5.44	5.34	5.44	5.59
26	CLE	5.55	−0.19	6.05	5.79	6.07	5.27	5.58	5.27	4.82
27	DEN	5.53	−0.03	5.43	6.14	5.32	5.27	5.46	5.68	5.40
28	PIT	5.50	−0.03	5.41	5.45	6.08	5.20	5.61	5.48	5.30
29	MIN	5.50	−0.08	5.79	5.43	5.51	5.94	5.36	5.13	5.32
30	HOU	5.47	+0.03	5.68	5.27	5.11	5.59	5.42	5.59	5.65
31	NYJ	5.43	+0.03	5.28	5.51	5.45	5.00	5.79	5.48	5.47
32	SEA	5.28	−0.07	5.56	4.98	5.52	5.50	5.36	5.33	4.74

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: off_drives_plays_per_drive
Side: offensive
Family: Drive Averages
Data source: P + N
Polarity: higher is better (or neutral)
Display grain: rate
Algorithm eligibility: Algorithm-eligible: this stat can be picked in the Algorithm Builder.