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Youll notice something interesting about the teams at the top of these rankings: Theyre not very good on offense. Washington was obviously excellent on offense with a healthy Griffin in the lineup two years ago, but they were 23rd in
offensive DVOA last season. In fact, only one of the top nine ranked teams by this speed measure ranked any higher than 16th in DVOA last season. Forty percent of this speed measure includes defensive players, but its certainly odd that so many of the leagues quickest teams would be below-average on offense. The quickest top-10 offense from a year ago is Seattle (10th in speed, seventh in offensive DVOA), and even it was without Percy Harvin for virtually all of the season.
That goes double when you consider that some of the leagues best offenses rank as the slowest in football. Denver, New Orleans, and New England were each among the top five in offensive DVOA last season and, yet, among the bottom five in this speed measure. Some of that, obviously, comes from the total lack of speed among their quarterbacks; Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, and Tom Brady arent winning many races in 2014. In fact, when he was asked this weekend about who would win in a footrace between him and Manning, mammoth 335-pound Broncos nose tackle Terrance Knighton said, Me. By far.
If you think about it, those offenses really dont excel because of their speed. The Saints have
