So far this NFL season, 94 games have been played. In three of those games, both teams scored 40 or more points.
From the 2014 season through the 2017 season, 1,024 games were played. Only twice did both teams score 40 or more points.
In the NFL this year, 40-point games are starting to feel commonplace. The Patriots beat the Chiefs 43-40 last week. The Raiders beat the Browns 45-42 in Week Four. The Buccaneers beat the Saints 48-40 in Week One. It doesn’t happen every week, but it happens often enough.
That’s unusual, compared to recent history. In 2017 there wasn’t a single game in which both teams scored 40 points. In 2016 it happened just once, a 48-41 Saints win over the Cardinals. In 2015 it also happened once, another Saints win, 52-49 over the Giants. In 2014 it didn’t happen at all.
Some fans will complain about shoddy defense, caused by rules that make hitting illegal. But the reality is, more fans are watching this year. Fans like high-scoring games. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell denied this week that the NFL wants to cut down on defense, but he acknowledged, “That type of scoring and quality of play is exciting.”
The NFL likes young quarterbacks like Jared Goff and Patrick Mahomes to threaten to re-write the record book. The NFL likes old quarterbacks like Tom Brady and Drew Brees to be able to play 16 games a year even when they’re middle-aged. And the NFL likes the ratings it gets with scores like Patriots 43, Chiefs 40. The league has no incentive to change the rules that favor offense, as long as the fans keep watching.
