PatsFaninAZ

Important parts of football that are often overlooked.

The Patriots are really playing extremely good ball possession offense. Four straight games without a turnover, and their eighth with zero turnovers. After 12 games, they have twice as many turnovers in their 2 losses (six) as they have in their ten wins (three). This is an amazing statistic.

They also are really staying disciplined with respect to penalties. I loved the crew last night -- it really let them play. I think the Patriots had a slight advantage based on how they were calling the game. There are some crews that would have called a personal foul on the Sanchez hit, but I think it justified taking a pass. There also was the play where someone (Reavis?) pulled Branch's pants and potentially ruined a big play but the refs took a pass, so those probably even out.

Otherwise, except for the two 5-yard line of scrimmage penalties, it looked like they really were looking for advantage gained to make a call, and you had one of each for each team -- the Jets block in the back and the Patriots offensive PI. (Frankly, I thought the refs could have taken a pass on either of those, but both were legit notwithstanding the commentary on the Branch pick play.) Five total penalties called by the crew -- and really only one of major significance (the PI, which was a no brainer).

The rest of football could really learn a thing or two from that squad. It made the game move much more crisply.