New Metric: Offensive Production vs. Needed Yards

Below is a new metric that looks at offensive yardage as a function of "needed yards". 

Needed yards are based on starting field position and represents the number of yards a team needs to reach the end zone.  E.g., If a team starts on their own 20, the needed yards = 80.  The actual metric is the team's total offensive yardage divided by the starting position.  So, if a team starts in their 20 and gets 42 yards, the calculation for that drive would be 42/80 = 52.5%.

It's a work in progress, but the point is to create a metric that ranks offenses (and defenses) based on what they do compared to what they need to do,

It's kind of a team stat. 

New England ranks number one in the stat, but only number eight if you ranked them based on total yards.  The point is the NE's defense or special teams put them in positions where they didn't need quite as many yards - and the offense was successful in getting the necessary yards.  This metric correlates much better with scoring than does a basic yardage metric.

Nine playoff teams rank in the top 15. 

Offense:  Yards vs. Needed Yards
(red indicates playoff team)

Rank	Team	Yards as % of Needed Yards	Off. Rank Yards
1	New England	58%	8
2	Philadelphia	55%	2
3	Houston	54%	3
4	San Diego	54%	1
5	New Orleans	53%	6
6	Indianapolis	52%	4
7	Atlanta	51%	16
8	Pittsburgh	50%	14
9	Tampa Bay	50%	19
10	Green Bay	49%	9
11	Dallas	49%	7
12	Jacksonville	48%	15
13	New York Jets	48%	11
14	Kansas City	47%	12
15	New York Giants	47%	5
16	Denver	46%	13
17	Cincinnati	45%	20
18	Detroit	45%	17
19	Oakland	45%	10
20	Minnesota	44%	23
21	Baltimore	44%	22
22	Tennessee	44%	27
23	Cleveland	43%	29
24	Washington	43%	18
25	Buffalo	43%	25
26	Miami	42%	21
27	Chicago	42%	30
28	Seattle	42%	24
29	San Franciso	41%	28
30	St. Louis	39%	26
31	Arizona	35%	31
32	Carolina	33%	32