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:
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