Atlanta Falcons Offense Remains No. 1 in NFL POP Score Rankings

The Atlanta Falcons defeated Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos 27-20 on Monday Night Football and in the process also retained their No. 1 ranking in the weekly NFL POP Score Rankings for offensive efficiency.

After Week 2 of the NFL season, the Falcons have a league-leading POP score of 3.0, the San Diego Chargers are second in the rankings with a 2.7 POP score and the Tennessee Titans are the 32nd ranked offense with a 1.05 POP Score.

POP score is based on the simple premise that it is the offensive team’s objective to score a touchdown (or at the least, kick a field goal) in each possession. POP score stands for Points per Offensive Possession.

Here’s how it works: The Falcons in Week 1 had nine possessions in their game. On four of the possessions, they scored a touchdown. On four of their possessions they kicked a field goal. They punted once. They scored 24 points on their four TDs (extra points are not included in Pop score); 12 points on their four field goals.

The Atlanta offense scored 36 points on nine possessions. By dividing the 36 points by the nine possessions, you get a POP score of 4.0. Maximum POP score is 6.0, which would indicate that a team scored a touchdown every time they had an offensive possession.

Following are the POP scores for each team through the first two weeks of the season. Also noted in parentheses is the number of scores (field goals or touchdowns by the offense) and the number of offensive possessions.

1. Atlanta 3.0 (13 scores in 20 possessions)

2. San Diego 2.7 (12 scores in 20 possessions)

3. San Francisco 2.68 (11 scores in 19 possessions)

4. Pittsburgh 2.67 (9 score in 17 possessions)

5. New York Giants 2.43 (11 scores in 21 possessions)

6. Buffalo 2.4 (8 scores in 20 possessions)

7tie. Baltimore 2.35 (12 scores in 23 possessions)

7tie. Washington 2.35 (11 scores in 23 possessions)

9. Houston 2.22 (11 scores in 23 possessions)

10. New York Jets 2.17 (8 score sin 18 possessions)

11. Detroit 2.1 (10 scores in 20 possessions)

12. Denver 2.05 (7 scores in 19 possessions)

13. Minnesota 2.0 (10 scores in 21 possessions)

14. New Orleans 1.96 (9 scores in 23 possessions)

15. New England 1.91 (10 scores in 22 possessions)

16. Chicago 1.88 (9 scores in 24 possessions)

17. Cincinnati 1.8 (8 scores in 20 possessions)

18. Tampa Bay 1.77 (9 scores in 22 possessions)

19. St. Louis 1.71 (9 scores in 21 possessions)

20. Carolina 1.65 (6 scores in 20 possessions)

21. Kansas City 1.64 (7 scores in 22 possessions)

22. Dallas 1.59 (5 scores in 17 possessions)

23tie. Arizona 1.57 (8 scores in 23 possessions)

23tie. Seattle 1.57 (8 scores in 21 possessions)

25tie. Green Bay 1.5 (7 scores in 22 possessions)

25tie. Indianapolis 1.5 (7 scores in 22 possessions)

27. Miami 1.43 (6 scores in 23 possessions)

28. Philadelphia (7 scores in 27 possessions)

29. Cleveland 1.32 (8 scores in 25 possessions)

30. Jacksonville 1.23 (6 scores in 22 possessions)

31. Oakland 1.09 (6 scores in 22 possessions)

32. Tennessee 1.05 (5 scores in 20 possessions)

Biggest gainers this week: New York Giants (up 13 spots); Carolina (up 10 spots); Pittsburgh (up 10 spots)

Biggest losers this week: Dallas (down 13 spots); Jacksonville (down 13 spots); Chicago (down 12 posts)

NFL POP Score league average through Week 2: 1.87

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