Cowboys wasting an elite offense

If you want to figure out which offenses are the best in the NFL, you probably start with something like points per game or yards per game. Those are the goals of every offense in the league, right?

But while that’s a fine starting point, there’s a lot those don’t capture. What about defensive touchdowns, or field position swings? What about the pace of a game, or how many plays an offense actually gets to run? If you want to drill down and find out just how reliably an offense is moving the ball, you need to take a look at how they do on a per play basis, which provides an accurate reflection of just how much a unit takes advantage of the opportunities it gets.

With all that said, here’s a look at which NFL offenses are humming and which need improvement eight weeks into the year, as measured by points per play.

AFC East

The Patriots currently sit atop the AFC East, and they deserve it after going into Buffalo and upsetting the Bills on Monday Night Football. But Josh Allen and this offense remain one of the very best in the NFL, and it’ll be fascinating to see how each team tries to upgrade ahead of next week’s trade deadline. The Dolphins, meanwhile, probably haven’t been as bad offensively as the vibes around this season would suggest; it’s been the defense that’s really let go of the rope. Still, this team was built around Tua Tagovailoa and Mike McDaniel producing something much better than league average.

AFC North

A rich text here, no doubt. Imagine what the narrative would be around the Steelers and Aaron Rodgers if you could transport the 2023 (or even 2024) defense onto this Pittsburgh team. The Ravens have gone through the first half from hell, with Lamar Jackson on the shelf for weeks with a hamstring injury … and yet here they are, still top-10 in points per play, now with Jackson set to return in Week 9. And it’s hard to know what to make of Cincinnati’s ranking, which would look a whole lot different had Joe Burrow stayed healthy (or Joe Flacco arrived sooner).

AFC South

It should come as no surprise to find the NFL’s lone remaining one-loss team atop this particular category; Indiana Jones, Jonathan Taylor and Co. have simply been that good, a lethal combination of efficiency and explosiveness. The real surprise is that no one else in this division could even crack the top 20 in the league, especially considering the QB talent in CJ Stroud and Trevor Lawrence. It’s also worth noting that the Titans aren’t just in last — they’re in last by a country mile. No wonder Brian Callahan lost his job.

AFC West

The AFC West is one of only two divisions without a single team in the top 10 in this particular category, but that’s a bit misleading: Both the Chiefs and Broncos are ascending offensively, and both sure look like top-10 offenses right now. The bottom half, on the other hand, is compromised of two of the more disappointing offenses in football so far this season. The Chargers have one again been decimated by injuries, while the Raiders … well, the Raiders have no excuse. It’s been ugly, and they have too much talent for this.

NFC East

Of the top 10 teams in the league in points per play, only two have records below .500 entering Week 9. One of them, the Ravens, has been playing without their MVP quarterback for most of the year. The other? The Cowboys, who have nothing to blame but a truly rancid defense — one that just got lit up to the tune of 44 points and 7.5 yards per play in a loss to Denver on Sunday. This has been a genuinely elite unit, one capable of making a Super Bowl run, and Matt Eberflus and Jerry Jones have thrown it directly into the trash.

Perhaps it’s a surprise to see the Eagles all the way up at seventh, given how bad the vibes have been at times this year. But even a down year in Philly is still pretty darn good.

NFC North

Don’t look now, but here come the Packers. Jordan Love lit up the flammable Steelers secondary on Sunday night, and now Green Bay has cracked the top 10 in a year where it seems like they still haven’t hit top gear. Speaking of teams that have yet to hit top gear: The Vikings probably feel like they should be lower in these rankings, and they certainly would be if just the Carson Wentz era were considered. And then there’s the Bears, who have looked ready to take flight at times this year and downright miserable others. Such is life when you have a boom-or-bust QB like Caleb Williams, and it evens out around league average in the aggregate.

NFC South

Do not adjust your screens: The NFC South really does occupy three of the bottom five spots in these rankings, with only the Titans and Raiders preventing it from being a clean sweep. It’s been bad, and while New Orleans has the excuse of rebuilding, we certainly expected more from both Carolina and Atlanta with ostensibly ascending young passers at the helm. (The Bucs deserve better than this, given all the injuries they’ve had to weather so far.)

NFC West

How about Sam Darnold and the Seahawks? While they’ve caught fire under Klint Kubiak, the rest of this division is just battling to keep its head above water. The Rams have done a decent job of it despite another injury to Puka Nacua. But the Niners are drowning amid an almost comically bad run of health; 26th in the league makes it awfully hard to compete, and it’s sort of a miracle they’ve stolen the wins they have. Arizona has injury excuses of its own, namely to Kyler Murray and James Conner.