NFL

2018 NFL Power Rankings: Week 13

Sal Cacciatore  —  @SCacc8 Nov 27th, 2018
With offense at an all-time high, where do Russell Wilson and the Seahawks' run-first attack check in this week?

One of the biggest stories of the 2018 NFL season has been the absolute offensive explosion around the league.

This season is on track to set the league record for points per game (24.2), yards per play (5.7) and yards per game (361.3). Things have been trending this direction for quite some time, before things took a slight dip in 2017.

While it was valid to hypothesize that things had reached their peak and defenses were finally catching up to offenses last year, it now seems clear that downturn was a one-year blip (influenced by a slew of quarterback injuries, maybe?) rather than a reversal of this trend.

This offensive dominance is evident in our power rankings as well. The top five teams in terms of opponent-adjusted Net Expected Points (NEP) have an average ranking of 3.4.

The top five in terms of Defensive NEP have an average rank of 12.8, more than 9 spots lower.

Generally speaking, the teams with the dominant offenses are faring better than those with the dominant defenses. There is a reason for that, and we'll get to it later.

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