Patriots, Steelers and Eagles fans will be furious about Football Outsiders’ pick for decade’s best NFL team

Defense-adjusted Value Over Average (DVOA) has anointed the 2013 Seahawks, folks.

A wave of best-of-the-decade fervor swept through the worlds of sports, entertainment, and beyond as the weather started to turn cold in the last quarter of 2019. With that came bold proclamations and angry recriminations about just who ruled the 2010s, in the case of the NFL, it’s got to be the Patriots, right? Or… wait, maybe the Eagles? The Steelers?

No, folks, none of the above. In an attempt to select the best NFL team of the previous decade, the gang at Football Outsiders turned to DVOA (Defense-adjusted Value Over Average), a stat that “measures success on each play based on down and distance, then compares that to an NFL average baseline adjusted for situation and opponent,” per expert Aaron Schatz.

And the DVOA king among the decade’s Super Bowl champs is the 2013 Seattle Seahawks.

The 2013 Seattle Seahawks are the best NFL team of the 2010s according to Football Outsiders’ DVOA stat

Notably, the 2010 Patriots rank No. 2 within striking distance of the Hawks, but that 14-2 New England team shockingly lost in the AFC Divisional Playoffs to… the Jets?!?

It must be noted that this list was calculated at the end of calendar year 2019, so the Super Bowl LIV champion Kansas City Chiefs surely have the biggest bone to pick here. As a high-flying  master class that with a gun-slinging quarterback and a penchant for second-half comebacks, we might need to see some computer simulations pitting these guys against the 2013 Seahawks.

Some of the most memorable teams don’t win the big one, of course, and some of the most memorable champions caught fire in the playoffs after relatively unspectacular regular seasons (the Super Bowl 50 champion Broncos were 37th in DVOA for the decade!). That’s all well and good, but we’re talking about greatness here.

And DVOA ain’t here to make friends.