What’s the Best Measure of an NFL Offense’s Production?

It seems like a number of teams are boasting about their “league-leading” offenses.

The Buffalo Bills and their “league-leading” offense host the New England Patriots and their “league-leading” offense on Sunday. This comes a week after the Patriots and Chargers met up in another battle of two of the league’s best offenses.

How are there so many No. 1’s? This isn’t like youth soccer, where everyone’s equally the best and gets a trophy. Depending on which statistic a person uses to measure offensive production, a number of different teams can claim to own the league’s top offense.

That’s how the Bills, the NFL’s best in total scoring, rushing and touchdowns, and the Patriots, the NFL’s best in total yardage and passing, can both stake a claim to possessing a “league-leading” offense.

Most of the time, when analysts and fans say a team has the league’s best offense, they’re talking about total yards. This can be misleading, though; the NFL’s second-best offensive attack in terms of yardage, the Carolina Panthers, have only managed 44 points, tied for 18th in the league.

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What’s the Best Measure of an NFL Offense’s Production?