When losing the turnover battle the Giants are 0-5.
Patriots when losing the turnover battle are 4-2, including both playoff win.
Suggests that the Pats have a greater margin for error, which makes sense given how prolific their offense has been this year. I looked at some numbers:
Here is how the Pats and Giants stacked up against each other in some major categories throughout the regular season.
I have to admit that, if you showed me these data and told me that one of the two teams had the 31st "worst" Defense in the league, I wouldn't identify the Pats as the "guilty party" based on these numbers.
What it suggests is what we have all either known or intuited: measuring a Defense by "Yards Surrendered," especially given the Pat's Offense, is virtually a useless exercise.
Offense:
Passing TD's: 39 by Pats--26 by Pats Opponents
Passing TD's: 29 by Giants--28 by Giants Opponents
So, the Pats scored more TD's via the air and surrendered fewer on D than the Giants.
Rushing TD's: 18 by Pats--13 by Pats Opponents
Rushing TD's: 17 by Giants--15 by Giants Opponents
Here too, though more closely, the Pats outperform the Giants.
INT"s thrown: 12 by Pats--23 by Pats Opponents
INT's thrown: 16 by Giants--20 by Giants Opponents
Pats plus 11. Giants plus four. This stat blew me away to the extent that I double and triple checked the numbers.
Fumbles Lost: 15 by Pats--21 by Opponents
Fumbles Lost: 19 by Giants--21 by Giants Opponents
Pats plus six. Giants plus two.
Defense:
INT's returned for TD's: 2 by Pats
INT's returned for TD's: 0 by Giants!!!
Fumbles recovered for TD's: 1 by Pats
Fumbles recovered for TD's: 1 by Giants
Special Teams:
Punts returned for TD's: 1 by Pats
Punts returned for TD's: 0 by Giants
KO's returned for TD's: 0 by Pats
KO's returned for TD's: 0 by Giants
KO's returned for TD's: 0 by Pats
KO's returned for TD's: 0 by Giants
Field Goals: made/ATT by Patriots 28/33; made/ATT by Pats' Opponents 20/23
Field Goals: made/ATT by Giants 19/24; made/ATT by Giants Opponents 25/31
I think I'm beginning to understand why Belichick is so relaxed this week.