It won't surprise anybody to read this, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are pretty good for a defending Super Bowl champion.
We know that the Buccaneers are having a strong start, currently No. 4 in DVOA at 26.3%. I was curious how that compared to other defending Super Bowl champions, so I went back and looked through DVOA history. The average Super Bowl champion had a DVOA of 21.9% after five games, a little below where Tampa Bay is right now. Tampa Bay ranks 14th among all defending champions since 1983 in DVOA after five games.
The best start for a defending champion may surprise you, even though it was just a couple of years ago.