2021 season · All 32 teams, offense and defense

Team Success Rate and Explosive Play Rate Leaders

Team Success Rate and Explosive Play Rate — 2021 NFL leaders, updated Nov 12, 2026. Kansas City Chiefs led the league in success rate at 51.1%, ahead of 31 other qualifying teams. Based on verified 2021 play-by-play data (nflverse); Half-PPR scoring. Through the 2021 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, 2021 NFL season
#TeamOff Succ%Off Expl%Def Succ%Def Expl%Off PlaysRead
1Kansas City Chiefs51.1%6.0%46.8%6.0%1,116Read
2Tampa Bay Buccaneers49.4%7.6%42.2%6.0%1,121Read
3Green Bay Packers48.6%6.5%46.4%5.0%1,052Read
4New England Patriots48.4%6.8%42.6%5.0%1,037Read
5Buffalo Bills47.7%6.1%39.1%4.3%1,125Read
6Los Angeles Chargers47.6%5.3%46.4%6.0%1,123Read
7Dallas Cowboys47.0%6.5%40.8%7.1%1,143Read
8Philadelphia Eagles46.9%6.4%46.1%4.5%1,067Read
9Arizona Cardinals46.8%6.5%44.3%5.0%1,112Read
10Los Angeles Rams46.4%6.5%44.6%5.1%1,044Read
11Baltimore Ravens46.4%5.9%42.8%7.9%1,177Read
12San Francisco 49ers45.7%7.3%40.4%6.3%1,032Read
13Las Vegas Raiders44.9%6.9%43.8%5.1%1,072Read
14Denver Broncos44.7%5.4%45.7%5.7%1,032Read
15Tennessee Titans44.6%4.1%42.1%6.1%1,119Read
16Indianapolis Colts44.3%5.8%45.8%5.1%1,044Read
17Cincinnati Bengals44.2%6.8%44.0%6.8%1,037Read
18Cleveland Browns43.9%6.2%41.5%5.2%1,043Read
19Jacksonville Jaguars43.9%5.0%47.1%6.4%1,024Read
20Washington Commanders43.9%4.7%44.6%5.6%1,066Read
21Seattle Seahawks43.2%7.8%46.6%4.8%947Read
22Detroit Lions42.0%5.8%46.0%6.5%1,056Read
23New York Jets41.6%5.9%47.3%7.9%1,036Read
24Minnesota Vikings41.4%7.1%45.1%5.7%1,076Read
25Miami Dolphins41.3%4.6%42.7%7.1%1,085Read
26Chicago Bears41.2%5.0%44.2%6.1%1,067Read
27Carolina Panthers40.9%4.0%40.3%5.4%1,099Read
28New Orleans Saints40.6%4.8%39.1%6.1%1,040Read
29Atlanta Falcons40.4%4.6%48.5%5.2%998Read
30New York Giants39.3%3.8%46.4%4.2%1,042Read
31Pittsburgh Steelers39.1%4.5%43.9%6.1%1,101Read
32Houston Texans37.4%5.0%48.0%5.9%1,006Read

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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