The Most Surprising Team in the Top 5 NFL Offenses
Last year, Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs had an offensive explosion that nearly got them into the Super Bowl. While the Chiefs are still one of the league’s best offenses, they’re joined by a few others in the top five. Some of those teams involve the usual suspects, while others are a bit more surprising. Who is the most surprising team in the NFL’s top five offenses this year?
The top five offenses in the NFL so far
It’s not easy to ascertain the best offense in the NFL as there are multiple metrics to judge them by. However, one incredibly valuable metric is yardage per game. This shows how successful those offenses are at moving the ball up and down the field on a consistent basis. When it comes to yardage per game this season, here are the top five so far:
- Baltimore Ravens – 450.7
- Dallas Cowboys – 443.7
- Kansas City Chiefs – 422
- San Francisco 49ers – 408
- Seattle Seahawks – 399
Scoring is another valuable metric. After all, the objective of an NFL offense is to put the ball in the end zone or through the uprights. Points per game show how successful they are at doing just that. The top five scoring offenses and their points per game averages are:
- New England Patriots – 31.7
- Baltimore Ravens – 30.7
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers – 28.8
- Kansas City Chiefs – 28.7
- Carolina Panthers – 27.7
Who is the most surprising offense in the NFL’s top five?
When it comes to yardage, no one would bat an eye at the Dallas Cowboys or the Kansas City Chiefs in the top five. The Cowboys move the ball effortlessly through their running game, while Mahomes can seemingly throw downfield at will.
And when it comes to scoring average, the New England Patriots leading the league isn’t surprising at all. They still have the greatest quarterback to ever play the game under center and Bill Belichick on the sideline.
But the team that appears on both lists, first in yardage and second in points per game, is the Baltimore Ravens. That has to be considered at least a little surprising.
Their quarterback, Lamar Jackson, showed a lot of promise last season. It’s safe to say no one expected the team’s offense to take off at this level, however. Jackson has been phenomenal this year. Through six games he has 11 touchdowns to five interceptions, 1,507 yards passing, and 460 rushing yards. It’s his dual-threat capability that makes Jackson such a dangerous weapon for Baltimore.
The team leads the league in rushing yards per game with 205. While this is in large part due to Jackson, 2019 free-agent addition Mark Ingram has helped with 424 yards rushing as well.
How the rest of the season will look for the Baltimore Ravens offense
There’s no question the Ravens hope Jackson continues to run as well as he has. While Jackson claims to want to pass the ball more, he’s been devastatingly effective running it. In week six, Jackson had a record-setting day against the Bengals.
“Jackson completed 21 of 33 pass attempts for 236 yards and led the Ravens in rushing with 152 yards and a touchdown on 19 attempts. His effort marks the first time a player in the Super Bowl era has passed for 200 yards and run for 150 in a regular-season game.”
The only major issue is that scrambling quarterbacks can place themselves at a higher risk for an injury. If Jackson can stay healthy, continue to improve as a passer, and keep using his legs to move the ball, the Ravens will have no trouble keeping up this pace.
