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	247	1,353	18	105	4.71
2 =	Minnesota Vikings	203	1,261	25	177	4.75
3 5	Green Bay Packers	284	1,767	22	135	5.33
4 1	Denver Broncos	305	1,973	23	154	5.55
5 1	Cleveland Browns	262	1,717	21	144	5.56
6 1	San Francisco 49ers	248	1,567	15	95	5.60
7 3	New York Giants	219	1,345	9	51	5.68
8 3	Los Angeles Rams	258	1,608	12	73	5.69
9 3	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	270	1,761	16	114	5.76
10 4	Carolina Panthers	241	1,537	11	75	5.80
10 1	Pittsburgh Steelers	280	1,936	26	162	5.80
11 2	Atlanta Falcons	289	1,900	18	113	5.82
12 3	New York Jets	239	1,667	20	115	5.99
13 1	Kansas City Chiefs	244	1,599	9	39	6.17
14 2	Detroit Lions	287	2,091	24	155	6.23
14 4	New England Patriots	257	1,884	22	146	6.23
15 =	Cincinnati Bengals	242	1,827	23	163	6.28
16 9	Buffalo Bills	268	1,883	15	100	6.30
17 4	Washington Commanders	253	1,820	16	119	6.32
18 1	Houston Texans	246	1,839	21	131	6.40
19 2	Baltimore Ravens	261	1,935	17	109	6.57
20 =	New Orleans Saints	230	1,748	18	115	6.58
21 1	Philadelphia Eagles	273	1,952	10	69	6.65
22 4	Los Angeles Chargers	196	1,454	12	65	6.68
23 4	Dallas Cowboys	262	1,953	15	92	6.72
24 1	Indianapolis Colts	230	1,810	16	116	6.89
25 3	Jacksonville Jaguars	242	1,850	15	73	6.91
26 2	Las Vegas Raiders	254	2,006	18	122	6.93
27 3	Chicago Bears	228	1,877	22	125	7.01
28 1	Arizona Cardinals	230	1,901	19	137	7.08
28 4	Tennessee Titans	272	2,182	20	116	7.08
29 2	Miami Dolphins	195	1,616	9	69	7.58