Net Yards Per Play Report: Dolphins Offense Leads Them to Top Spot

The first week of the 2023 NFL season is officially in the books, which means we finally have some statistics to look at.

To be fair, it's just a one game sample size so we can't take too much from it, but it's still worth diving into the metrics from the opening week.

My favorite stat to start my handicapping process with is net yards per play. It's simply the number you're left with when you take the average amount of yards a team gains per play on offense, subtracted by the amount of yards given up per play on defense. The remaining number is what we call net yards per play.

It doesn't tell us everything though. It doesn't consider strength of schedule, third down conversion rate, turnovers, red zone efficiency, etc. But, it does give us a general idea of how good a team is at moving the ball down the field and preventing the other team from doing so.

Here's where each team stands after Week 1:

Dolphins Best Offense in NFL after Week 1

Despite not leading until Tyreek Hill scored the go-ahead touchdown with less than two minutes to go, the Dolphins completely dominated the Chargers on the stat sheet. They averaged 8.2 yards per play on offense, the most in the NFL by 2.3 yards.

The Chargers also moved the ball efficiently on offense, gaining the fourth most yards per play at 5.7, but their defense was so bad that Los Angeles came in last in the stat after Week 1. There's no doubt they'll quickly climb back up the list as the weeks go on.

Vikings Dominated Buccaneers in the Box Score

The perfect example of net yards per play not telling the full story is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They had the second fewest net yards per play at -2.3, but they still managed to beat the Minnesota Vikings by a score of 20-17.

The Vikings shot themselves in the foot by turning the ball over three times, which allowed the Buccaneers to steal victory from the jaws of defeat.

But, if the Bucs don't start to play better, they're going to start racking up losses if they keep putting up -2.3 yards per play.

It's a huge reason why I'm backing the Bears to cover against the Buccaneers in Week 2.

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Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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