Seahawks Were Among The League’s Best At Turning Drives Into Points

It’s time for the third installment of my look into the efficiency and overall quality of the 32 offensive units from 2012. We’ve already looked at the pace used by each offense and each team’s efficiency at turning plays into points. This time, we’ll be taking a look into how those factors effect the number of drives for each team, as well as the overall success rate of those drives.

Teams like Seattle and New England deliberately control the pace of games in order to assert as much influence as possible over the number of offensive possessions within a game. The very fast pace the Patriots use is designed to generate more possessions for their offense, while the slow pace of the Seahawks is intended to limit the number of possessions by the opposing team.

Based on the number of drives that each team had, the plan seemed to work for the Seahawks. It wasn’t quite as successful for the Patriots.

RkTeamDrivesRkTeamplays/dr1Arizona Cardinals2071Arizona Cardinals4.922Detroit Lions1962Tennessee Titans5.203Houston Texans1943Jacksonville Jaguars5.204Jacksonville Jaguars1914Tampa Bay Buccaneers5.315Tampa Bay Buccaneers1905Chicago Bears5.316New York Jets1896Cleveland Browns5.347Chicago Bears1887Buffalo Bills5.348Cleveland Browns1878Cincinnati Bengals5.469Oakland Raiders1879New York Jets5.4710Cincinnati Bengals18610Oakland Raiders5.5211Baltimore Ravens18511Pittsburgh Steelers5.5612Buffalo Bills18412Miami Dolphins5.5713Pittsburgh Steelers18413Kansas City Chiefs5.6114Tennessee Titans18414Houston Texans5.6215New Orleans Saints181

15

Seattle Seahawks

5.63

16Kansas City Chiefs18116Baltimore Ravens5.6317New England Patriots18017Washington Redskins5.6518Green Bay Packers18018Minnesota Vikings5.6619Philadelphia Eagles18019New York Giants5.7320Denver Broncos17720Carolina Panthers5.7821Minnesota Vikings17721San Diego Chargers5.7822Washington Redskins17622Green Bay Packers5.7923Indianapolis Colts17623St. Louis Rams5.7924Miami Dolphins17624Atlanta Falcons5.8725Atlanta Falcons17425New Orleans Saints5.90

26

Seattle Seahawks

173

26Detroit Lions5.9227St. Louis Rams17327San Francisco 49ers5.9828Dallas Cowboys17228Philadelphia Eagles5.9929Carolina Panthers17129Dallas Cowboys6.1030San Diego Chargers17130Denver Broncos6.1631New York Giants16931Indianapolis Colts6.3032San Francisco 49ers16232New England Patriots6.62

In the second set of data you can see why the strategy worked better for Seattle. The Patriots ran more plays per drive than any other team in the league. More plays means more time, so even though the Patriots use the least amount of time per play, the more plays per drive on average meant they still ended up in the middle of the pack in terms of number of drives.

It should be noted that having a large number of drives isn’t necessarily a good thing. Most of the teams at the top of the list were genuinely bad offensive teams. It turns out the total number of drives correlates higher to the number of 3-and-outs, than to the pace at which teams operate. The pace does matter, just not as much other factors.

One way to separate those two variables is to look at the time for each drive, since that combines plays per drive with time per play.

RkTeamsec/driveRkTeampts/drive1San Francisco 49ers1881New England Patriots3.092San Diego Chargers1772Denver Broncos2.72

3

Seattle Seahawks

177

3New Orleans Saints2.554Dallas Cowboys1734New York Giants2.545Atlanta Falcons1705Washington Redskins2.486Washington Redskins1706San Francisco 49ers2.457Denver Broncos1707Atlanta Falcons2.418Pittsburgh Steelers1688Green Bay Packers2.419Indianapolis Colts168

9

Seattle Seahawks

2.38

10Carolina Panthers16810Dallas Cowboys2.1911Houston Texans16711Baltimore Ravens2.1512New York Giants16612Houston Texans2.1413St. Louis Rams16513Minnesota Vikings2.1414New England Patriots16514Cincinnati Bengals2.1015Chicago Bears16215Carolina Panthers2.0916Green Bay Packers16216Tampa Bay Buccaneers2.0517Kansas City Chiefs16117San Diego Chargers2.0518Philadelphia Eagles15918Indianapolis Colts2.0319Miami Dolphins15819Chicago Bears1.9920Buffalo Bills15720Detroit Lions1.9021Detroit Lions15721Buffalo Bills1.8722Cincinnati Bengals15722Pittsburgh Steelers1.8323Minnesota Vikings15623Tennessee Titans1.7924New York Jets15524St. Louis Rams1.7325New Orleans Saints15425Miami Dolphins1.6426Tampa Bay Buccaneers15326Cleveland Browns1.6127Oakland Raiders15127Philadelphia Eagles1.5628Baltimore Ravens14928Oakland Raiders1.5529Cleveland Browns14529New York Jets1.4930Tennessee Titans14430Jacksonville Jaguars1.3431Jacksonville Jaguars14131Arizona Cardinals1.2132Arizona Cardinals13632Kansas City Chiefs1.17

As you can see, the Seahawks are back near the top of the list. They had the second slowest pace and were middle of the road on plays per drive. All together that means that the Seahawks did a good job of not giving the ball back to the other team.

Ultimately, any time I start looking at stats like this, I have to see how it relates to points. The second chart shows the points per drive for each team.  If you’ve been following this series, you shouldn’t be surprised to see the Seahawks offense near the top of the list.