pencilneckgeek
Rotational Player and Threatening Starter's Job
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This is totally false, unless you think all the Patriots Super Bowl teams were lucky. Great defenses force mistakes and turnovers constantly.
http://www.boston.com/sports/footba...05/10/12/patriots_hope_to_turn_over_new_leaf/
Check our wins against Peyton over the years. It's not because he happens to be careless. Without being forced into mistakes, he usually destroys defenses.
I'm not talking about the glory days. I'm referring to the current Patriots. Yesterday's showing notwithstanding, they have not consistently brought the pressure to force mistakes. The times when they have gotten turnovers is when they are ahead, typically due to the offense, and shift from a read-and-react run-stopping mode to attacking pass disrupting mode.
Great defenses bring pressure in a number of ways. Some shoot gaps and try to break-up plays, risking giving-up a big play or two in the process. Some dominate the LOS to shut down the run and make for some 3rd and longs, which enables pressure. The Pats take away an offense's best weapon(s) to get them out of their comfort zone a can bring pressure after a missed play or two. These approaches are all valid, but the Pats have often traded drives with the opposition in the past couple years, and it becomes a contest of who blinks first. Having discipline helps win the turnover battle, but it is not a reliable approach, unless you can bring the pressure to force the turnover.