2023 season · All 32 teams, offense and defense

Team Success Rate and Explosive Play Rate Leaders

Team Success Rate and Explosive Play Rate — 2023 NFL leaders, updated Aug 13, 2026. San Francisco 49ers led the league in success rate at 51.1%, ahead of 31 other qualifying teams. Based on verified 2023 play-by-play data (nflverse); Half-PPR scoring. Through the 2023 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, 2023 NFL season
#TeamOff Succ%Off Expl%Def Succ%Def Expl%Off Plays
1San Francisco 49ers51.1%8.6%41.8%5.3%996
2Buffalo Bills49.0%5.3%42.3%5.7%1,094
3Baltimore Ravens47.4%6.9%40.1%5.1%1,064
4Dallas Cowboys47.4%6.9%43.2%5.6%1,104
5Miami Dolphins47.2%7.3%42.9%6.1%1,036
6Detroit Lions46.1%7.6%42.8%7.2%1,117
7Philadelphia Eagles45.9%5.5%44.5%5.8%1,104
8Los Angeles Rams44.7%6.9%42.5%6.3%1,091
9Green Bay Packers44.6%6.6%44.7%6.8%1,041
10Cincinnati Bengals44.0%5.1%45.9%7.8%1,032
11Seattle Seahawks43.9%7.0%44.9%6.6%984
12Kansas City Chiefs43.7%5.9%39.6%4.5%1,055
13Minnesota Vikings42.4%7.4%43.2%4.9%1,063
14Jacksonville Jaguars42.1%5.4%42.7%5.7%1,102
15Denver Broncos42.1%5.3%44.4%6.8%1,002
16New Orleans Saints42.1%5.1%39.0%5.7%1,102
17Pittsburgh Steelers42.0%5.5%41.1%6.8%1,008
18Chicago Bears41.8%5.6%41.4%5.2%1,089
19Las Vegas Raiders41.2%4.2%43.4%4.9%997
20Atlanta Falcons41.1%5.3%39.2%5.9%1,083
21Los Angeles Chargers41.0%5.8%44.1%6.6%1,096
22Washington Commanders41.0%5.3%45.4%6.7%1,060
23Houston Texans40.9%6.8%40.7%6.0%1,078
24Indianapolis Colts40.8%5.4%44.0%5.8%1,087
25Arizona Cardinals40.5%5.7%47.5%5.8%1,071
26Tennessee Titans39.7%6.5%43.6%5.4%984
27Tampa Bay Buccaneers39.6%6.3%43.4%6.5%1,028
28Cleveland Browns38.9%5.2%35.1%5.8%1,181
29New England Patriots38.9%3.6%41.0%5.1%1,016
30New York Giants37.8%5.3%44.9%5.4%1,049
31Carolina Panthers37.6%3.7%43.9%5.2%1,094
32New York Jets35.0%4.4%37.4%4.6%1,049

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.

New to this stat? What success rate means.

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