Offensive Rankings-Part 1

Feb 22, 2008, 3:13:43 AM by Bob Gretz - FAQ

While it may have surprised fans that the 2007 Chiefs defense tied for the second best unit in the league, it will not come as a shock that the Chiefs offense was among the league’s worst attacks.

In fact, they finished as the second least productive group in the NFL, as only the San Francisco 49ers were worse in our rankings. The Chiefs and Niners were the only two offenses to rack up more than 200 points in our ratings.

Just like the defenses, the offenses are ranked with eight statistical categories that reflect the overall play of a unit: the league rankings for touchdowns scored, fewest sacks per passing plays, giveaways, yards gained, rushing yards, passing yards, third down offense and red zone offense.

Each category has 528 points (1 through 32), for a total of 4,224 points in the rankings. Ties are split by the number of teams with the same total. For instance, two teams tied for 12th in giveaways each get 12.5 points (12 + 13 = 25 ~ 2 = 12.5.) If three teams tied at 20th in third down offense each gets 21 points (20+21+22=63 ~ 3 = 21.)

The lower the point total, the better the offense. In 2007, that was the New England Patriots. They were first or second in six of the eight categories, leading the league in scoring, yards, passing yards and fewest giveaways. They were second in third down and red zone offensive production.

The total domination by the New England offense was the engine behind their unbeaten regular season. But they were unable to handle the pass rush of the New York Giants and that cost them the Super Bowl victory. There was no sense of that from the regular season, where the Patriots pass protection was ranked fifth in the league, giving up a sack every 28.9 passing plays. The Giants averaged a sack once every 9.6 passing plays.

The top four offenses in ‘07 belonged to teams that made the playoffs: Indianapolis, Green Bay and Jacksonville. The Super Bowl champion Giants were tied for the No. 14 offense with Arizona. That middle of the road ranking was due largely to their poor season with turnovers, where New York was minus-9, due largely to Eli Manning’s 20 interceptions. That’s a problem he fixed in the playoffs.

Tennessee had the lowest ranked offense that made the playoffs, as the Titans finished 20th in the numbers and excelled only in running the football, averaging 131.8 yards per game to finish fifth in the league. They finished in the top half of the league in only two other categories: third downs (13th) and pass protection (16th.)

New Orleans had the highest ranked offense that did not make the post-season. The Saints were hurt by a lack of a consistent running game and too many turnovers, including 18 interceptions thrown by Drew Brees.

Maybe the biggest surprise in the rankings was Jacksonville. The Jaguars opened the season with a change at starting quarterback, as head coach Jack Del Rio released former starter Byron Leftwich and replaced him with David Garrard. Jacksonville was in the top 10 in rushing yards (2nd), touchdowns (4th), third downs (6th), total yards (7th) and red zone (9th).

Here are the rankings for the 2007 season:

The opinions offered in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the Kansas City Chiefs.

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A former beat reporter who covered the Pittsburgh Steelers during their glory years, Gretz covered the Chiefs for the Kansas City Star for nine years. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Board of Selectors. He has been the senior columnist for the Chiefs web site since its inception.