Analysis
12/31/20
1 min min read
Chiefs Still No. 1 in the Big Play Index... But Look Out for the Bucs
The top five and bottom five teams in this week's Big Play Index are unchanged from last week, though the Green Bay Packers moved up from fourth into a second-place tie with the Buffalo Bills. The Kansas City Chiefs are still No. 1 with a Big Play differential of plus-25.
The 33rd Team introduced the Big Play Index to show how NFL teams stack up in terms of big plays produced and big plays allowed. As a reminder, we are defining a Big Play as a run of 15-plus yards and/or a pass of 20-plus yards.
Perhaps the biggest mover this week is the team that is rising in several categories: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Earlier this week, we pointed out that Tampa Bay is climbing in the Discipline Index. Now the Bucs have jumped six spots to No. 6 in the Big Play Index.
So to sum up: The Buccaneers are minimizing their mistakes, making more big plays on offense than they're allowing on defense -- and they've got some guy named Brady at quarterback. Okay, then...
Some other observations:
- The top five teams in Big Play differential have a combined record of 57-18
- The bottom five teams have a combined record of 25-52-1
- Three teams with a winning record have a negative Big Play differential: the Steelers (minus-6), Bears (minus-16) and Dolphins (minus-24)
- Only three teams with a losing record have a positive Big Play differential: the 49ers (plus-13), the Raiders (plus-4) and Washington (plus-3)
Here's a breakdown of this week's data:
