The 10 Best NFL Offenses of the Last Decade

2011 New Orleans Saints

2011 saw the New Orleans Saints match their franchise-best regular season record at 13-3. The season was a huge outlier in terms of the number of powerful offenses that popped up, and the Saints are only the first of three teams from 2011 that you will see on the list.

They ranked third in the NFL in Adjusted NEP per play with a 0.19 and were very well-balanced, ranking third in Passing NEP per play (0.27) and fourth in Rushing NEP per play (0.10).

Drew Brees, as he has done in an absurd six of the past 10 seasons, led the league in passing yards, this time with a career-high 4,476 yards, as well as a league-leading, career-high 46 touchdowns. He also led the league with a huge 235.48 Passing NEP, the third-best performance of the decade.

Predictably, this meant big things for the Saints' pass-catchers. Despite missing time and playing injured for much of the season, Marques Colston caught 80 passes for 1,143 yards and 8 touchdowns, finishing 10th in the league with a 106.15 Reception NEP.

Jimmy Graham also really broke out in what was his sophomore season, with 99 receptions for 1,310 yards and 11 touchdowns, finishing seventh in the NFL (and second among tight ends) with a 108.87.

It's hard to overstate how effective these Saints were on the ground as well, and they had two backs finishing in the top-five in Rushing NEP in Darren Sproles (second with a 24.43) and Pierre Thomas (fourth with a 19.36).

Even more impressive was their efficiency on a per-carry basis, as Sproles and ranked first and Thomas ranked third among the 73 backs with 50-plus carries in Rushing NEP per carry.

A perennial offensive powerhouse since the arrival of Drew Brees, the Saints peaked in 2011 in offensive dominance.