2018 season · All 32 teams, offense and defense

Team Success Rate and Explosive Play Rate Leaders

Team Success Rate and Explosive Play Rate — 2018 NFL leaders, updated Aug 13, 2026. Los Angeles Rams led the league in success rate at 50.7%, ahead of 31 other qualifying teams. Based on verified 2018 play-by-play data (nflverse); Half-PPR scoring. Through the 2018 season.

These are the two halves of moving the ball, and a team can be excellent at one and poor at the other. Success rate counts the share of snaps that gained positive expected points — staying on schedule, second and four instead of second and nine — with no extra credit for how far the play went. Explosive rate counts the share that went 20 yards or more. An offense high in success and low in explosives grinds and rarely scores from distance; the reverse is the boom-bust offense that punts a lot and then scores from the far 40. Both columns appear twice, because a defense is measured on the same two questions with the signs reversed: the best defenses here are the ones lowest in both.

Team Success Rate and Explosive Play Rate, 2018 NFL season
#TeamOff Succ%Off Expl%Def Succ%Def Expl%Off Plays
1Los Angeles Rams50.7%8.0%43.6%8.0%1,043
2Kansas City Chiefs49.8%9.6%47.8%6.8%985
3New Orleans Saints49.5%6.9%43.4%6.6%991
4Indianapolis Colts48.4%5.9%45.6%5.3%1,049
5Carolina Panthers47.8%6.7%43.0%7.3%998
6Los Angeles Chargers47.3%8.1%44.1%6.4%939
7Pittsburgh Steelers47.3%6.9%42.5%6.4%1,046
8New England Patriots47.0%6.3%42.3%6.8%1,052
9Atlanta Falcons46.2%6.9%47.1%5.8%1,008
10Philadelphia Eagles46.1%5.7%43.9%7.4%1,028
11Chicago Bears45.7%6.3%39.7%4.6%1,000
12Green Bay Packers45.4%6.6%44.3%6.4%1,021
13Baltimore Ravens45.3%5.1%39.1%5.2%1,116
14Las Vegas Raiders45.1%6.1%45.3%7.4%978
15Tampa Bay Buccaneers44.9%7.2%48.8%7.5%1,049
16Seattle Seahawks44.1%6.5%44.7%7.6%989
17Dallas Cowboys43.8%5.1%44.0%5.4%1,008
18San Francisco 49ers43.5%7.7%43.4%6.0%993
19Denver Broncos43.4%6.5%44.5%7.1%1,007
20Houston Texans43.3%5.8%40.5%5.7%1,025
21Minnesota Vikings43.2%6.0%41.7%5.1%996
22Tennessee Titans42.6%5.1%43.5%5.6%930
23Cincinnati Bengals42.3%7.4%50.3%7.0%933
24Washington Commanders42.3%4.9%45.3%5.9%959
25Cleveland Browns42.1%7.7%45.4%6.2%1,016
26Jacksonville Jaguars40.7%5.0%39.3%5.0%1,001
27Detroit Lions40.3%5.3%43.2%6.3%1,014
28New York Giants40.1%7.7%44.3%7.1%985
29Miami Dolphins40.1%5.3%45.2%7.8%866
30Buffalo Bills37.7%5.7%42.5%5.0%1,001
31New York Jets37.1%5.7%44.1%7.8%958
32Arizona Cardinals34.6%4.1%46.7%5.5%896

The two defensive columns rank lowest-first, so a defense at the top of them is the best in the league rather than the worst. Explosive is 20 or more yards and success is expected points added above zero — the same two definitions the weekly team episodes use, so a board and an episode describing the same unit cannot disagree.

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