What Yds per play offense is

Yards per play: total yards divided by offensive plays. Efficiency rather than volume — it survives differences in tempo and in how often a team has the ball, which total yards do not.

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

In 2019 the Cowboys led at 0.41; the league average was 0.35.

League snapshot — 2019

League leader

DAL · 0.41

League average

0.35

Best to worst

0.12

All 32 teams, higher is better.

Rank	Team	Value	Games
1	DAL	0.41	16
2	KC	0.39	16
3	BAL	0.39	16
4	TEN	0.39	16
5	SF	0.38	16
6	NO	0.38	16
7	LAC	0.37	16
8	TB	0.37	16
9	LV	0.37	16
10	MIN	0.37	16
11	SEA	0.36	16
12	HOU	0.36	16
13	LAR	0.36	16
14	CLE	0.35	16
15	ATL	0.35	16
16	GB	0.35	16
17	ARI	0.35	16
18	DET	0.34	16
19	JAX	0.34	16
20	NYG	0.33	16
21	BUF	0.33	16
22	PHI	0.33	16
23	NE	0.33	16
24	IND	0.33	16
25	CAR	0.32	16
26	DEN	0.32	16
27	CIN	0.31	16
28	WAS	0.31	16
29	MIA	0.31	16
30	PIT	0.30	16
31	CHI	0.29	16
32	NYJ	0.29	16

At a glance — 2019

Where the 32 teams sit on this stat this season.

League leader

DAL · 0.41

League laggard

NYJ · 0.29

League average

0.35

Spread (max − min)

0.12

Rank	Team	Value	Δ vs avg	Percentile
1	DAL	0.41	0.06	100%
2	KC	0.39	0.05	96.8%
3	BAL	0.39	0.05	93.5%
4	TEN	0.39	0.04	90.3%
5	SF	0.38	0.04	87.1%
6	NO	0.38	0.03	83.9%
7	LAC	0.37	0.03	80.6%
8	TB	0.37	0.03	77.4%
9	LV	0.37	0.02	74.2%
10	MIN	0.37	0.02	71%
11	SEA	0.36	0.02	67.7%
12	HOU	0.36	0.01	64.5%
13	LAR	0.36	0.01	61.3%
14	CLE	0.35	0.01	58.1%
15	ATL	0.35	0.00	54.8%
16	GB	0.35	0.00	51.6%
17	ARI	0.35	0.00	48.4%
18	DET	0.34	0.00	45.2%
19	JAX	0.34	-0.01	41.9%
20	NYG	0.33	-0.01	38.7%
21	BUF	0.33	-0.02	35.5%
22	PHI	0.33	-0.02	32.3%
23	NE	0.33	-0.02	29%
24	IND	0.33	-0.02	25.8%
25	CAR	0.32	-0.03	22.6%
26	DEN	0.32	-0.03	19.4%
27	CIN	0.31	-0.03	16.1%
28	WAS	0.31	-0.03	12.9%
29	MIA	0.31	-0.04	9.7%
30	PIT	0.30	-0.05	6.5%
31	CHI	0.29	-0.05	3.2%
32	NYJ	0.29	-0.06	0%

Does Yds per play offense matter against the spread?

Run as a one-stat algorithm against the closing line, this stat went 857–721–37 ATS (54.3%) across 2020–2025, #87 of 296 ranked.

Its best season was 2020 (144–110, 56.7%); its worst 2024 (139–124, 52.9%).

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

Season	Games	ATS record	ATS %
2020	256	144–110–2	56.7%
2021	272	145–125–2	53.7%
2022	271	146–118–7	55.3%
2023	272	140–118–14	54.3%
2024	272	139–124–9	52.9%
2025	272	143–126–3	53.2%

Yds per play offense in 2019 vs 2018

Cowboys lead at 0.41 — they ranked #22 last year. Jets are last at 0.29 — #29 last year.

The league average is 0.35, down 0.01 from 0.35 last year.

Biggest riser: Cowboys, #22 → #1. Biggest faller: Steelers, #6 → #30.

Spread between first and last: 0.12; 20 teams are within 0.03 of the average.

Year-over-year — 2019 vs 2018

Biggest movers from last season.

Biggest riser

ARI · +0.08

Biggest faller

PIT · −0.09

Most consistent

WAS · −0.00

League trend 2019 vs 2018

▼ -0.01

Rank	Team	2019	2018	Δ
1	ARI	0.35	0.27	+0.08
2	DAL	0.41	0.34	+0.07
3	BAL	0.39	0.34	+0.06
4	TEN	0.39	0.34	+0.06
5	JAX	0.34	0.30	+0.03
6	BUF	0.33	0.30	+0.03
7	LV	0.37	0.34	+0.03
8	MIN	0.37	0.35	+0.02
9	DET	0.34	0.32	+0.02
10	SF	0.38	0.36	+0.02
11	HOU	0.36	0.35	+0.01
12	SEA	0.36	0.36	+0.01
13	WAS	0.31	0.31	−0.00
14	NO	0.38	0.38	−0.00
15	CLE	0.35	0.36	−0.01
16	GB	0.35	0.36	−0.02
17	CIN	0.31	0.33	−0.02
18	NYJ	0.29	0.31	−0.02
19	LAC	0.37	0.40	−0.02
20	TB	0.37	0.40	−0.02
21	NYG	0.33	0.36	−0.03
22	PHI	0.33	0.36	−0.03
23	MIA	0.31	0.33	−0.03
24	DEN	0.32	0.35	−0.03
25	KC	0.39	0.43	−0.04
26	ATL	0.35	0.39	−0.04
27	IND	0.33	0.37	−0.04
28	LAR	0.36	0.40	−0.05
29	NE	0.33	0.37	−0.05
30	CHI	0.29	0.34	−0.05
31	CAR	0.32	0.37	−0.06
32	PIT	0.30	0.39	−0.09

Multi-year context

7-year window (2020–2026)

Multi-year leader

KC · 0.53

Multi-year laggard

NYJ · 0.39

Biggest improver

KC · +0.13/yr

Biggest decliner

TEN · +0.05/yr

Rank	Team	Avg	Slope/yr	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	2026
1	KC	0.53	+0.13	0.40	0.36	0.38	0.33	0.31	0.31	1.65
2	BUF	0.50	+0.10	0.39	0.34	0.39	0.34	0.36	0.35	1.35
3	SF	0.50	+0.10	0.36	0.36	0.35	0.40	0.37	0.33	1.32
4	BAL	0.49	+0.10	0.37	0.32	0.33	0.35	0.41	0.35	1.30
5	CAR	0.47	+0.13	0.36	0.27	0.32	0.24	0.30	0.30	1.53
6	DET	0.47	+0.09	0.36	0.31	0.35	0.35	0.37	0.36	1.19
7	GB	0.46	+0.08	0.40	0.35	0.33	0.33	0.36	0.33	1.14
8	LAR	0.46	+0.10	0.35	0.36	0.28	0.33	0.32	0.37	1.22
9	SEA	0.45	+0.08	0.37	0.34	0.34	0.33	0.33	0.35	1.12
10	DAL	0.45	+0.09	0.33	0.36	0.32	0.34	0.30	0.36	1.14
11	ATL	0.45	+0.09	0.34	0.30	0.32	0.31	0.34	0.32	1.18
12	NE	0.45	+0.09	0.34	0.34	0.32	0.27	0.29	0.37	1.19
13	CIN	0.44	+0.08	0.31	0.35	0.35	0.31	0.34	0.31	1.11
14	JAX	0.44	+0.09	0.33	0.30	0.34	0.31	0.31	0.31	1.16
15	TB	0.43	+0.07	0.39	0.36	0.30	0.30	0.37	0.30	1.02
16	MIA	0.43	+0.07	0.34	0.28	0.37	0.39	0.30	0.32	1.02
17	HOU	0.43	+0.08	0.40	0.28	0.28	0.32	0.31	0.30	1.10
18	MIN	0.42	+0.06	0.38	0.34	0.32	0.33	0.34	0.29	0.95
19	LV	0.42	+0.07	0.37	0.34	0.34	0.29	0.29	0.26	1.06
20	CHI	0.42	+0.08	0.32	0.29	0.31	0.30	0.27	0.34	1.09
21	PIT	0.41	+0.08	0.33	0.29	0.29	0.30	0.30	0.31	1.07
22	LAC	0.41	+0.06	0.34	0.35	0.32	0.30	0.32	0.31	0.95
23	WAS	0.41	+0.08	0.30	0.30	0.29	0.30	0.34	0.33	1.03
24	PHI	0.41	+0.06	0.31	0.34	0.35	0.32	0.34	0.31	0.91
25	IND	0.41	+0.06	0.37	0.33	0.28	0.31	0.32	0.34	0.92
26	NO	0.41	+0.06	0.37	0.29	0.33	0.31	0.31	0.29	0.96
27	ARI	0.41	+0.06	0.36	0.34	0.28	0.30	0.35	0.30	0.92
28	DEN	0.40	+0.07	0.33	0.32	0.30	0.30	0.31	0.32	0.94
29	CLE	0.40	+0.06	0.37	0.33	0.32	0.28	0.27	0.25	0.95
30	TEN	0.39	+0.05	0.39	0.31	0.30	0.29	0.30	0.26	0.90
31	NYG	0.39	+0.07	0.32	0.28	0.31	0.27	0.28	0.31	0.95
32	NYJ	0.39	+0.07	0.30	0.30	0.30	0.26	0.31	0.26	0.98

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
KC	0.40	0.36	0.38	0.33	0.31	0.31	1.65
CAR	0.36	0.27	0.32	0.24	0.30	0.30	1.53
BUF	0.39	0.34	0.39	0.34	0.36	0.35	1.35
SF	0.36	0.36	0.35	0.40	0.37	0.33	1.32
BAL	0.37	0.32	0.33	0.35	0.41	0.35	1.30
LAR	0.35	0.36	0.28	0.33	0.32	0.37	1.22
DET	0.36	0.31	0.35	0.35	0.37	0.36	1.19
NE	0.34	0.34	0.32	0.27	0.29	0.37	1.19
ATL	0.34	0.30	0.32	0.31	0.34	0.32	1.18
JAX	0.33	0.30	0.34	0.31	0.31	0.31	1.16
DAL	0.33	0.36	0.32	0.34	0.30	0.36	1.14
GB	0.40	0.35	0.33	0.33	0.36	0.33	1.14
SEA	0.37	0.34	0.34	0.33	0.33	0.35	1.12
CIN	0.31	0.35	0.35	0.31	0.34	0.31	1.11
HOU	0.40	0.28	0.28	0.32	0.31	0.30	1.10
CHI	0.32	0.29	0.31	0.30	0.27	0.34	1.09
PIT	0.33	0.29	0.29	0.30	0.30	0.31	1.07
LV	0.37	0.34	0.34	0.29	0.29	0.26	1.06
WAS	0.30	0.30	0.29	0.30	0.34	0.33	1.03
MIA	0.34	0.28	0.37	0.39	0.30	0.32	1.02
TB	0.39	0.36	0.30	0.30	0.37	0.30	1.02
NYJ	0.30	0.30	0.30	0.26	0.31	0.26	0.98
NO	0.37	0.29	0.33	0.31	0.31	0.29	0.96
NYG	0.32	0.28	0.31	0.27	0.28	0.31	0.95
LAC	0.34	0.35	0.32	0.30	0.32	0.31	0.95
MIN	0.38	0.34	0.32	0.33	0.34	0.29	0.95
CLE	0.37	0.33	0.32	0.28	0.27	0.25	0.95
DEN	0.33	0.32	0.30	0.30	0.31	0.32	0.94
IND	0.37	0.33	0.28	0.31	0.32	0.34	0.92
ARI	0.36	0.34	0.28	0.30	0.35	0.30	0.92
PHI	0.31	0.34	0.35	0.32	0.34	0.31	0.91
TEN	0.39	0.31	0.30	0.29	0.30	0.26	0.90

Yds per play offense since 2018

Leaders since 2018: 2018 Chiefs (0.43), 2019 Cowboys (0.41).

The best season on record is Chiefs 2018 at 0.43; the worst Cardinals 2018 at 0.27.

Distribution

How the 32 teams cluster for 2019.

About this stat

Stat ID: off_team_stats_yds_per_play_offense
Side: offensive
Family: Team Stats
Data source: P + N
Polarity: higher is better (or neutral)
Display grain: count
Algorithm eligibility: Algorithm-eligible: this stat can be picked in the Algorithm Builder.