Did you know the Pats D has more fumble recoveries than the Bears?

[JMC00]

The Pats defense has forced as many fumbles as Chicago (17-which is the most in the league) and recovered 13 of them. Chicago has only recovered 11.

They have actually forced more fumbles through 9 games than they did all last year (10)

At least this D is doing something well.

 

[randomk1]

But can they get off the field without the turnovers?

 

[jmt57]

But can they get off the field without the turnovers?

Not really ... though I have to admit that I am surprised to see that the Giants are one of the teams that force their opponents to punt less often than the Patriots do.

NFL Football Stats - NFL Team Opponent Punt Attempts per Game on TeamRankings.com

 

[PatsDeb]

The Pats defense has forced as many fumbles as Chicago (17-which is the most in the league) and recovered 13 of them. Chicago has only recovered 11.

They have actually forced more fumbles through 9 games than they did all last year (10)

At least this D is doing something well.

Yes, they are doing great on fumble/INT recoveries. The problem is the rest of their play. Two of their turnovers yesterday came on the one yard line and in the endzone when Buffalo (Buffalo for Cripes sake!!) had driven down the field on them at will. You can't count on getting TOs like that every game. Buffalo could have had TWO more TDs yesterday. Yikes.

 

[Foxypats]

I havent checked the stats, but I am sure the D is near the bottom in forcing 3 and outs!!That says alot and to me that is far more important. If they cannot get off the field ,Brady and co are forced to play in shootouts alot. How many times did Buffalo punt yesterday? It couldn't have been more than 2-3 times.

 

[goheels22002]

Bill Belichick opened his press conference yesterday talking about how the turnovers were important and he often calls turnovers the most important statistic right after points.

Against the Bills, the Patriots won the turnover battle 3-0 and won the game. Against the Cardinals they lost the turnover battle and they lost.

The Patriots are #1 in the league in takeaway ratio and have the most opportunistic defense in the league. They practice it and they execute strips and interceptions. The Patriots are quick and aggressive to the ball on fumbles. They led the AFC last year as well.

A previous poster commented that you cannot count on turnovers - well, yes you can. They are as much a part of the game as every other play.

 

[the Patriot]

We're really good at taking advantage of mistakes, but that's it. Every time Fitzpatrick didn't complete a pass yesterday, it was because of a bad throw, a drop, or a Bills penalty. Never a defensive play. Never because the coverage was good. A Bills mistake. Maybe I'm exaggerating, but that's how I felt.

 

[nabwong]

I think we won the turnover battle against Baltimore but still lost. Of course we were also playing against the refs.

 

[ivanvamp]

Bill Belichick opened his press conference yesterday talking about how the turnovers were important and he often calls turnovers the most important statistic right after points.

Against the Bills, the Patriots won the turnover battle 3-0 and won the game. Against the Cardinals they lost the turnover battle and they lost.

The Patriots are #1 in the league in takeaway ratio and have the most opportunistic defense in the league. They practice it and they execute strips and interceptions. The Patriots are quick and aggressive to the ball on fumbles. They led the AFC last year as well.

A previous poster commented that you cannot count on turnovers - well, yes you can. They are as much a part of the game as every other play.

Re: the bolded part. Actually, you can't. Interceptions might be one thing, and forced fumbles might be one thing, but recovered fumbles....no way you can count on those. One only needs to look at the last 3 Giants-Pats games to see that.

2007 - SB
NE forces 2 NYG fumbles, but the Giants recover both
NYG force 1 NE fumble, and the Giants recover it

2011 - Regular season
NE forces 2 NYG fumbles, and each team recovers one
NYG force 2 NE fumbles, and the Giants recover both

2011 - SB
NE forces 2 NYG fumbles, but the Giants recover both
NYG force 0 NE fumbles

So over these three games, the Patriots forced 6 Giant fumbles, but only recovered 1 of them. Meanwhile, the Giants only forced 3 Patriot fumbles, but recovered all 3.

So of the 9 total fumbles in those 3 games, the Giants only caused 3 (33.3%) of them, but they recovered 8 (88.9%) of them.

The randomness of the way a football bounces on the ground is perhaps the biggest reason why the Patriots do not have 5 SB titles.

 

[goheels22002]

Re: the bolded part. Actually, you can't. Interceptions might be one thing, and forced fumbles might be one thing, but recovered fumbles....no way you can count on those. One only needs to look at the last 3 Giants-Pats games to see that.

2007 - SB
NE forces 2 NYG fumbles, but the Giants recover both
NYG force 1 NE fumble, and the Giants recover it

2011 - Regular season
NE forces 2 NYG fumbles, and each team recovers one
NYG force 2 NE fumbles, and the Giants recover both

2011 - SB
NE forces 2 NYG fumbles, but the Giants recover both
NYG force 0 NE fumbles

So over these three games, the Patriots forced 6 Giant fumbles, but only recovered 1 of them. Meanwhile, the Giants only forced 3 Patriot fumbles, but recovered all 3.

So of the 9 total fumbles in those 3 games, the Giants only caused 3 (33.3%) of them, but they recovered 8 (88.9%) of them.

The randomness of the way a football bounces on the ground is perhaps the biggest reason why the Patriots do not have 5 SB titles.

Right you are. You left out interceptions - Brady threw one in the Feb 2012 SB and Manning threw one in the 2008 SB. Ellis Hobbs picked off Manning in the 2007 regular season game in the 4th quarter that led to the winning TD.

The key thing about turnovers is that they are going to happen.

It's very difficult to play a completely turnover free game against the Patriots. Meanwhile, the Pats play a surprisingly high percentage of games without a turnover due to Tom Brady's ability to avoid interceptions and the value the team puts on ball security by its running backs.

BJGE was great for not putting the ball on the ground and Ridley is also good with the ball - 1 lost fumble in nearly 200 carries so far in 2012.

 

[BradyFTW!]

The reason for this is Brandon Spikes.

 

[bunuel]

The Pats are 15/24 (62.5%) in recovering fumbles by either team this season so they're actually above expectation. The season has such a small sample though that you can't count on regression there.

 

[Patjew]

Maybe it's because they have more chances to cause fumbles since they can't ever get off the damn field.

 

[Deus Irae]

Maybe it's because they have more chances to cause fumbles since they can't ever get off the damn field.

An interesting factoid, particularly since I'm defending the defensive coaching in another thread:

The Patriots did not have a single "clean" stop of a Bills drive yesterday, with the exception of the first Bills drive of the second half. The drives that didn't result in a score were stopped either by turnover or by Bills penalties changing down/distance situations.

First drive - 3rd and 1 becomes 3rd and 16 after 2 Bills penalties
Second drive - Strip sack and fumble recovery
Third drive - Buffalo moves from own 20 to NE 21 and gets FG
Fourth drive - Buffalo gets ball on own 20 and scores TD
Fifth drive - Buffalo gets ball on own 20 and scores TD
Sixth drive - First of second half, Patriots defense does job, Bills do commit penalty
Seventh drive - Buffalo gets ball on own 16 and scores TD
Eighth drive - Buffalo gets ball on own 6, fumbles on Patriots 13
Ninth drive - Buffalo gets ball on NE 45 and scores TD
Tenth drive - Buffalo gets ball on own 20, INT by McCourty seals win

 

[brdmaverick]

The reason for this is Brandon Spikes.

Rob Ninkovich says 'hi' as he has at least three forced fumbles this year (not sure if I'm missing one). I know he had a strip sack on Peyton, forced the pivotal McGahee fumble, and then had walkoff strip sack of Mark Sanchez.

Chandler Jones has a few strips sacks too. So we have at least three defenders with a nose for the ball.

 

[PatsDeb]

An interesting factoid, particularly since I'm defending the defensive coaching in another thread:

The Patriots did not have a single "clean" stop of a Bills drive yesterday, with the exception of the first Bills drive of the second half. The drives that didn't result in a score were stopped either by turnover or by Bills penalties changing down/distance situations.

First drive - 3rd and 1 becomes 3rd and 16 after 2 Bills penalties
Second drive - Strip sack and fumble recovery
Third drive - Buffalo moves from own 20 to NE 21 and gets FG
Fourth drive - Buffalo gets ball on own 20 and scores TD
Fifth drive - Buffalo gets ball on own 20 and scores TD
Sixth drive - First of second half, Patriots defense does job, Bills do commit penalty
Seventh drive - Buffalo gets ball on own 16 and scores TD
Eighth drive - Buffalo gets ball on own 6, fumbles on Patriots 13
Ninth drive - Buffalo gets ball on NE 45 and scores TD
Tenth drive - Buffalo gets ball on own 20, INT by McCourty seals win

Yikes, although I would put the result of the 2nd drive in the "clean category." I understand that you are saying that they only had one normal stop on defense the entire game. Luckily, I think our own O had only two punts the entire game and scored on every other possession.

 

[ATippett56]

Eighth drive - Buffalo gets ball on own 6, fumbles on Patriots 13

Fred Jackson fumbled on the New England Patriots 1 yard line.

Buffalo Bills at New England Patriots - November 11th, 2012 - Pro-Football-Reference.com

It would be nice if the New England Patriots defense could win the field position battle in the fourth quarter of football games, let alone shutout opponents in the fourth quarter.

 

[Deus Irae]

Fred Jackson fumbled on the New England Patriots 1 yard line.

Buffalo Bills at New England Patriots - November 11th, 2012 - Pro-Football-Reference.com

It would be nice if the New England Patriots defense could win the field position battle in the fourth quarter of football games, let alone shutout opponents in the fourth quarter.

Yes, it was the 1. I mistakenly typed where that play began instead of where it ended.

 

[nekromantique]

Quote:

Originally Posted by randomk1

But can they get off the field without the turnovers?

Not really ... though I have to admit that I am surprised to see that the Giants are one of the teams that force their opponents to punt less often than the Patriots do.

NFL Football Stats - NFL Team Opponent Punt Attempts per Game on TeamRankings.com

I'm not surprised. new england scores more often...which leads to more potential possessions for the opposing team. more potential punts.

the difference with the bears is the secondary too. their secondary forces a lot of fumbles and racks up interceptions like crazy. a lot of our fumbles are forced by the front 7


Posted from Patsfans.com App for Android