NFList

Bucs’ defense the fastest in the league

By Joel Buchsbaum, Contributing editor
As published in print Nov. 20, 2000

Buccaneers LB Derrick Brooks

How important is positional speed and overall playing speed on defense? To try to find out, we asked scouts which teams they thought had the fastest defenses in the NFL. We did not ask about ability or effectiveness, just speed.

1. Tampa Bay — "The quickest and fastest defensive front seven I have seen since the Broncos’ great ‘Orange Crush’ unit with Tom Jackson, Bob Swenson, Randy Gradishar, etc., but (the Buccaneers) just have so-so speed in their secondary, especially at safety."

2. Miami — "Jimmy Johnson built this entire defense around speed, and they are even quicker when they play Kenny Mixon at tackle. They also are so deep up front that they always have fresh bodies in the game, and fresh linemen tend to run faster."

3. Tennessee — "(Jevon) Kearse gives them great speed up front, their linebackers all can really run except for Eddie Robinson — and he is no slowpoke — and they have good speed at cornerback."

4. Philadelphia — "Ever since Tom Modrak arrived, everything has been built on speed. Corey Simon moves around like a big linebacker in the middle, and Hugh Douglas and Mike Mamula are two of the fastest ends in the game."

5. St Louis — "They still have a lot of guys that can really run, but they just are not playing that well this year. In fact, when Leonard Little plays end and Kevin Carter moves inside, they are even faster. And Devin Bush is a lot faster than Billy Jenkins was."

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2000 - 2001 Season