Unveiling New NFL Rating Systems, Part Deux

Sure, you can use points for and points against as your only standard to measure offenses and defenses.

But why only use one factor when you can use four or five different standards to evaluate the best and worst NFL teams?

So, here are my offense and defense ratings, along with their formulae.

Offense Ratings

Yards % = (Yards gained ÷ Scrimmage plays - 2.6) ÷ 2

Points % = (Points scored ÷ Scrimmage plays x 20 -1.75) ÷ 4

Third Down % = (Third downs converted ÷ Third down attempts x 60 - 4) ÷ 16

Turnover % = 2.375 - (Turnovers ÷ Scrimmage plays x 37.5)

After each component is calculated, the standard equation with a 2.375-point maximum is used.

NFL Offensive Team Ratings

Team	RATING%	Plays	Yards	Points	3rd Made	3rd Att.	Turnovers	YDS%	PTS%	THIRD%	TO%
New England	125.9	1058	6580	589	92	191	15	1.810	2.346	1.556	1.843
Indianapolis	109.3	1020	5739	450	100	203	19	1.513	1.768	1.597	1.676
Dallas	106.4	975	5851	455	84	199	24	1.701	1.896	1.333	1.452
Green Bay	104.8	985	5931	435	86	202	24	1.711	1.771	1.347	1.461
Jacksonville	102.3	1022	5719	411	100	219	21	1.498	1.573	1.462	1.604
Pittsburgh	98.4	1000	5239	393	103	220	22	1.320	1.528	1.506	1.550
Cleveland	94.8	1004	5621	402	86	204	29	1.499	1.564	1.331	1.292
Cincinnati	94.2	1008	5568	380	96	208	30	1.462	1.447	1.481	1.259
San Diego	93.6	980	5044	412	84	214	24	1.273	1.665	1.222	1.457
New Orleans	92.9	1060	5780	379	99	214	30	1.426	1.350	1.485	1.314
Tampa Bay	90.9	975	5229	334	82	213	20	1.382	1.275	1.194	1.606
Philadelphia	89.2	1047	5729	336	97	229	27	1.436	1.167	1.338	1.408
Seattle	89.1	1056	5583	393	75	215	24	1.343	1.423	1.058	1.523
Houston	88.3	968	5337	379	86	193	38	1.457	1.520	1.421	0.903
Denver	87.8	976	5541	320	80	198	29	1.539	1.202	1.265	1.261
Minnesota	86.6	964	5379	365	69	200	30	1.490	1.456	1.044	1.208
Arizona	85.7	1016	5505	404	75	203	36	1.409	1.551	1.135	1.046
NY Giants	84.3	1041	5302	373	91	219	34	1.247	1.354	1.308	1.150
Washington	83.4	1052	5334	334	92	226	29	1.235	1.150	1.277	1.341
Detroit	78.0	965	5166	346	62	190	36	1.377	1.355	0.974	0.976
Atlanta	76.5	987	4816	259	86	237	24	1.140	0.875	1.111	1.463
Buffalo	76.1	919	4434	252	65	195	21	1.112	0.934	1.000	1.518
Tennessee	75.9	1037	4987	301	89	217	34	1.105	1.014	1.288	1.145
NY Jets	75.5	1011	4715	268	85	226	25	1.032	0.888	1.160	1.448
Miami	72.6	989	4600	267	81	218	29	1.026	0.912	1.143	1.275
Chicago	71.9	1035	4692	334	81	238	34	0.967	1.176	1.026	1.143
Carolina	71.6	989	4559	267	85	235	29	1.005	0.912	1.106	1.275
Oakland	68.6	1000	4717	283	82	229	37	1.059	0.978	1.093	0.988
Baltimore	67.1	1042	4832	275	90	234	40	1.019	0.882	1.192	0.935
St. Louis	66.6	1026	4760	263	81	223	37	1.020	0.844	1.112	1.023
Kansas City	62.8	1001	4429	226	79	232	33	0.912	0.691	1.027	1.139
San Francisco	57.0	925	3797	219	69	220	34	0.752	0.746	0.926	0.997
Totals	85.3	32133	166515	11104	2712	6864	918	1.291	1.290	1.232	1.304

Defense Ratings

Yards % = 1.9 - ((Yards allowed ÷ Scrimmage plays x 1.35 - 3) ÷ 5)

Points % = (Points allowed ÷ Scrimmage plays x 20 - 2) ÷ 5

Third down % = (Opponent 3rd downs missed ÷ 3rd down conversions attempted x 100 - 30) ÷ 20

Takeaway % = (Takeaways ÷ 4 - 3) ÷ 5

Sacks % = Sacks ÷ Scrimmage plays x 25

Unlike previous formulas, the maximum amount for the defensive rating is 1.9. Therefore, the defensive rating equals (max(min(Y,1.9),0) + max(min(P,1.9),0) + max(min(Td,1.9),0) + max(min(Ta,1.9),0) + max(min(S,1.9),0)) x (100 ÷ 6).

NFL Defensive Team Ratings

Team	RATING%	Total Yds	Pts Allowed	3rd Stopped %	Takeaways	Sacks	YDS%	PTS%	THIRD%	TO%	SACK%
San Diego	100.5	5124	284	0.61	48	42	1.134	0.721	1.227	1.850	1.099
New England	95.5	4613	274	0.66	31	47	1.165	0.775	1.452	1.000	1.335
NY Giants	95.5	4880	351	0.65	25	53	1.161	1.027	1.416	0.700	1.427
Chicago	93.4	5675	348	0.67	33	41	1.021	0.944	1.491	1.100	1.049
Seattle	91.1	5149	291	0.62	34	45	1.157	0.725	1.283	1.150	1.152
Dallas	90.1	4922	325	0.61	29	46	1.182	0.890	1.226	0.900	1.209
Tennessee	89.6	4665	297	0.58	34	40	1.212	0.815	1.113	1.150	1.084
Detroit	88.6	6042	444	0.54	35	37	0.999	1.234	0.978	1.200	0.902
Arizona	88.5	5283	399	0.60	29	36	1.092	1.176	1.204	0.900	0.942
St. Louis	87.5	5457	438	0.61	27	31	1.025	1.354	1.248	0.800	0.822
Tampa Bay	87.1	4454	270	0.59	35	33	1.269	0.705	1.157	1.200	0.895
Green Bay	86.6	5013	291	0.67	28	36	1.138	0.771	1.479	0.850	0.960
Denver	86.0	5376	409	0.57	29	33	1.037	1.249	1.091	0.900	0.882
Baltimore	85.9	4825	384	0.63	23	32	1.154	1.187	1.336	0.600	0.876
Kansas City	86.0	5111	335	0.69	22	37	1.092	0.967	1.550	0.550	1.001
Jacksonville	84.6	5021	304	0.60	29	37	1.102	0.854	1.208	0.900	1.011
Minnesota	83.9	5410	311	0.60	31	38	1.126	0.770	1.193	1.000	0.947
Indianapolis	83.1	4475	262	0.55	37	28	1.267	0.669	0.992	1.300	0.757
Atlanta	82.8	5688	414	0.63	27	25	1.026	1.189	1.314	0.800	0.636
Oakland	82.7	5466	398	0.61	26	27	0.950	1.272	1.238	0.750	0.752
Cincinnati	82.5	5580	385	0.57	34	22	1.010	1.123	1.089	1.150	0.577
Pittsburgh	82.1	4262	269	0.60	25	36	1.267	0.753	1.181	0.700	1.023
Cleveland	81.7	5753	382	0.63	27	28	1.043	1.033	1.330	0.800	0.696
Washington	81.6	4884	310	0.64	24	33	1.215	0.809	1.369	0.650	0.852
Houston	80.0	5507	384	0.58	25	31	1.004	1.145	1.123	0.700	0.826
New Orleans	79.3	5570	388	0.58	23	32	0.940	1.210	1.130	0.600	0.880
Carolina	78.8	5197	347	0.58	30	23	1.140	0.945	1.101	0.950	0.591
Philadelphia	77.8	4982	300	0.63	19	37	1.126	0.826	1.314	0.400	1.002
Miami	77.5	5475	437	0.53	22	30	0.996	1.378	0.915	0.550	0.809
Buffalo	76.0	5807	354	0.55	30	26	1.002	0.952	0.996	0.950	0.658
San Francisco	75.3	5539	364	0.60	21	31	1.113	0.951	1.190	0.500	0.762
NY Jets	74.3	5310	355	0.58	21	29	1.089	0.998	1.113	0.500	0.756
Average	84.8	5203.6	347	0.60	28.5	34.4	1.102	0.982	1.220	0.877	0.909

And finally, here's the averaged ratings of both the offense and defense team ratings.

Overall Team Ratings

Team	Average Rating
New England	110.7
Dallas	98.2
San Diego	97.1
Indianapolis	96.2
Green Bay	95.7
Jacksonville	93.4
Pittsburgh	90.2
Seattle	90.1
NY Giants	89.9
Tampa Bay	89.0
Cincinnati	88.3
Cleveland	88.2
Arizona	87.1
Denver	86.9
New Orleans	86.1
Minnesota	85.3
Houston	84.2
Philadelphia	83.5
Detroit	83.3
Tennessee	82.7
Chicago	82.6
Washington	82.5
Atlanta	79.6
St. Louis	77.1
Baltimore	76.5
Buffalo	76.0
Oakland	75.7
Carolina	75.2
Miami	75.0
NY Jets	74.9
Kansas City	74.4
San Francisco	66.1

A couple of notes:

• St. Louis and Atlanta clearly outplayed their bottom-three finishes, while San Francisco and their No. 9-from-the-bottom finish were lucky, for lack of a better word.
• Cleveland isn’t “for real,” in my personal opinion.
• Cincinnati was the highest-ranked, non-playoff team and Tennessee was the worst-ranked playoff team among all AFC teams, while Arizona and Washington were the highest non-playoff and lowest playoff team, respectively, in the NFC.