Red Zone Plus/Minus Rankings NFL Week 15: Eagles Continue to Fall

The Philadelphia Eagles are the defending Super Bowl champs and they are in first place in the NFC East with four games left in the regular season. So why does it feel like the sky is falling? Well, they’ve lost three games in a row and wide receiver A.J. Brown isn’t the only one worried about their offense. The updated Red Zone Plus/Minus — Athlon Sports’ exclusive metric that combines NFL teams’ efficiency in the red zone on both offense and defense — reflects that concern.

Despite their 8-5 record, the Eagles’ red zone plus/minus has fallen to -6. Their offensive performance in the 22-19 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Chargers put them in the red. Saquon Barkley scored the team’s only touchdown in the game with a 52-yard run. The team only reached the Chargers’ red zone twice. In the second quarter, they settled for a field goal. They didn’t reach the end zone again until getting to the Chargers’ 17-yard line in overtime — when Jalen Hurts promptly threw a game-ending interception.

Here’s a reminder how the red zone plus/minus is calculated: Red-zone drives resulting in a touchdown earn six points. Field goals earn three points. If a defense allows a red-zone touchdown, that’s minus-six, and a red-zone field goal allowed is minus-three.

A few other observations from the updated red zone plus/minus:

• In addition to the Eagles, one other team that’s currently above .500 has a negative red zone plus/minus. That’s the Carolina Panthers (7-6, -30).
• Despite a 6-7 record, the Kansas City Chiefs are still tied for the fifth-best red zone plus/minus at +63. The only other sub-.500 team with a positive plus/minus is the Minnesota Vikings (5-8, +6).
• The Los Angeles Rams lead the NFL with 57 offensive trips into their opponents’ red zone. That’s more than twice as many as the Tennessee Titans, who rank last with 23.
• The New England Patriots defense has allowed the fewest red-zone drives (26), less than half the total for the Cincinnati Bengals, who are last with 55.
• Only five defenses have kept opponents out of the end zone on more than half of their opponents’ red-zone drives. The Denver Broncos lead the way with a red-zone TD percentage of 40%, followed by the Rams (42.5%), Minnesota Vikings (46.2%), Philadelphia Eagles (48.7%) and Miami Dolphins (48.9%).

Here’s how all 32 NFL teams rank in red zone plus/minus going into Week 15:

Drive stats provided by Jim Armstrong.