Defensive Real Passing Yds/Attempt

The Cold, Hard Football Facts constantly use passing yards per attempt as a way to measure the effectiveness of each quarterback at getting the ball downfield. Longtime CHFF readers know that a quarterback’s average per attempt has an incredibly high correlation to success. The same goes for defense.

Real Passing Yards Per Attempt is a little more advanced and a team-wide indicator. It doesn’t just reward a quarterback for throwing the football. Instead, as a team indicator, it also includes the impact of sacks. Defensive Real Passing Yards Per Attempt is merely its defensive counterpart. We use only NET passing figures to determine yards per attempt. This is gross passing yards, minus yards lost via sacks. But we also divide it by total dropbacks – that is, not just pass attempts, but sacks as well. This formula the TRUE average per pass attempt, its Real Passing Yards Per Attempt.

Bottom line: it rewards defenses for generating sacks.

Rank	Team	Attempts	Passing Yds.	Sacks	Yds. Lost	Real Passing Yds./Attempt
1 =	Seattle Seahawks	153	834	14	80	4.51
2 4	New York Jets	160	977	17	102	4.94
3 =	Minnesota Vikings	156	977	17	111	5.01
4 2	Los Angeles Rams	146	825	8	41	5.09
5 3	Green Bay Packers	157	997	14	92	5.29
6 2	San Francisco 49ers	174	1,054	11	56	5.39
7 =	Atlanta Falcons	210	1,307	11	65	5.62
8 4	Cleveland Browns	175	1,199	16	116	5.67
9 7	Denver Broncos	165	1,102	13	91	5.68
10 =	New York Giants	161	1,048	8	51	5.90
11 6	New England Patriots	162	1,113	11	86	5.94
12 1	Kansas City Chiefs	147	916	4	16	5.96
13 5	Cincinnati Bengals	168	1,225	17	119	5.98
14 8	Houston Texans	177	1,281	18	111	6.00
15 1	Carolina Panthers	144	970	8	47	6.07
16 3	Baltimore Ravens	171	1,190	10	72	6.18
17 8	Los Angeles Chargers	141	1,025	11	60	6.35
18 5	Detroit Lions	213	1,607	20	120	6.38
19 5	Washington Commanders	190	1,344	9	69	6.41
20 5	Philadelphia Eagles	178	1,242	6	48	6.49
21 2	New Orleans Saints	153	1,141	10	80	6.51
22 1	Pittsburgh Steelers	158	1,168	11	64	6.53
23 6	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	166	1,173	6	40	6.59
24 4	Buffalo Bills	201	1,479	11	77	6.61
25 16	Las Vegas Raiders	160	1,266	13	84	6.83
26 =	Tennessee Titans	146	1,143	10	54	6.98
27 1	Jacksonville Jaguars	178	1,386	11	55	7.04
28 1	Indianapolis Colts	167	1,340	10	70	7.18
29 =	Miami Dolphins	145	1,130	4	34	7.36
30 9	Chicago Bears	130	1,143	12	66	7.58
31 =	Dallas Cowboys	140	1,159	5	24	7.83
32 2	Arizona Cardinals	139	1,262	11	78	7.89