"Everson Griffen told me during the game that (our first drive) was one of the hardest series he ever had, because of the tempo," 49ers left tackle Joe Staley told reporters after San Francisco beat Minnesota on Monday Night Football.
"That's what the tempo could do to you. We get the defense running and we can take advantage of that."
The up-tempo offense is already the catchphrase du jour this season in the NFL, but speeding things up on offense has been coming back into style over the last several years. The most high-scoring offenses in recent history featured heavy doses of no-huddle and up-tempo strategies -- Peyton Manning's Broncos, Drew Brees' Saints and of course, Chip Kelly's Eagles -- and they've been the vanguard for this style of play.
This strategy has been around for decades, but it's not a philosophy that has been universally adopted quite yet, despite evidence its practitioners score more often and with more efficiency.
It's early -- one week is a small sample size -- but even teams that have been traditionally slow-it-down, grind-it-out types may be buying into the benefits. Both the 49ers and Seahawks employed the up-tempo offense in their Week 1 matchups, and both had strong results.