Below is a brief look at the breakdown of Run & Pass percentage on first downs during the 2020 NFL season. First Downs have become pass heavy for sure as the average passing rate is 64.8% on first down across all NFL teams.
Top First Down Passing Team's
In 2020 there were seven teams that threw the ball more than 70% of the time of first down. Out of those seven teams, the Atlanta Falcons, Tampa Bay Buccaneers & Pittsburg Steelers threw the ball on first down over 73% of the time.
Top First Down Rushing Team's
In 2020 the Baltimore Ravens were the only team in the NFL that ran the ball more than they passed on first down. The Ravens ran the ball 54.7% of the time, followed by the Patriots, Saints, Browns & Titans as the only teams with a 40% or greater run rate on first down.
Something that could be explored further is that 7 of the top 13 First Down rushing % teams made the playoffs while only 3 out of the top 13 First Down % Passing teams qualified. However, 2 of those 3 teams were none other than the Super Bowl champion Bucs & runner up Chiefs.
R Stats Code
For those that are interested in learning R Stats, you can see the code I used to create the data table. The data was pulled from the 202 NFL season using the NFLfastR package and you can learn more about NFLFastR by giving the a follow on twitter @nflfastR
For more information, guest appearances or just to talk about football, feel free to reach-out anytime info@acefootballanalytics.com or @js_ace_football on twitter
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