If you’re searching for a stat to get excited about in Washington, look no further than the fact that Football Outsider’s DVOA ranks them as the No. 1 defense in the league after two weeks.
For those who don’t know what DVOA is — Defense-adjusted Value Over Average — it’s a way to compare teams to the mean production of the rest of the league, using each individual play and the situation. For a defense, having a negative DVOA percentage is the best, because it means that you are allowing the least amount of production from the offense.
For Washington, their current DVOA through Week 2 is -35.5 percent, which just edges out the Pittsburgh Steelers by .4 percent. Their pass defense is the best in the league at -51.4 percent, while their rush defense is lacking a bit, at -8.1 percent. Before you ask all of your questions about how Washington’s secondary is ranked even close to No. 1 in the league, remember that most of this top ranking can be attributed to the front-line, who routinely gets after the QB and is responsible for an NFL high 11 sacks through two weeks.
Washington’s percentage may have been buoyed a bit thanks to their Week 1 performance against the Eagles, but they did a decent job against Kyler Murray on Sunday, and will yet again have a solid test against Baker Mayfield and the Cleveland Browns a week from now.
