Pats lead NFL in both most take aways & least give aways

[ctpatsfan77]

Wait, what?

You'd rather force a punt than a turnover?

There are elements of bad play by the team committing the turnover but there's hardly much luck. Spikes punching that ball out last night was pure genius.

Actually, it would have been sheer genius if he had knocked it in NE's direction: by rule, if any JEST player other than Greene touched the ball, it was dead (and therefore NE's).

As it was, though, it actually *cost* the Patriots about 10 yards of field position (since they had stopped the JEST on 4th-and-1).

 

[The Gr8est]

This is as good a thread as any for this.

I was watching some porn this morning (otherwise known as re-watching the Spanksgiving Day Massacre), and I noticed that as the Rats were driving for a FG late in the 1st half, Kyle Arrington had a hard tackle on Edwin Gates that left them both shaken.

Some may remember that Brandon Spikes picked up the ball and started to return it when the whistle blew, but just like when Edelman was concussed and fumbled (although not nearly as obvious), a good case can be made that Gates actually fumbled and the Pats recovered.

I guess when you are leading 35-0 in the 1st half on the opponents home field, it's best to just let some things go, but if we were playing a professional football team and it was close, I expect that would have been challenged.

 

[Ring 6]

Obviously it isn't all luck, but it does indeed have a component of that. I'd rather stop teams by forcing punts, than by forcing turnovers, because when you face good offenses, odds are, you won't take the ball away frequently. Can't complain about the way they've done things the last couple of weeks, though.

Forcing turnovers is certainly not luck over a large sample size. It is however inconsistent, and doesn't show up in every game. The same can be said for every other part of football, including forcing punts.
There is no credible evidence that suggests a good turnover defense is any less successful in the playoffs than a good yarddage or 3rd down conversion defense. Of course turnovers mean way, way more in deciding the outcome of games than pretty much anything else.

 

[Ring 6]

Wait, what?

You'd rather force a punt than a turnover?

There are elements of bad play by the team committing the turnover but there's hardly much luck. Spikes punching that ball out last night was pure genius.

The argument is totally flawed because while you will be less successful forcing turnovers vs a good defense if you are a takeaway defense, you also will be less successful stopping a good offense if you are a 'punt forcing defense'
The flaw is saying that one method is less successful vs good Os while the other just stays the same, which is clearly wrong, and well evidenced by just looking at the facts.
The same goes for the lame argument that something is wrong with our offense if it scores fewer points than normal agaist a great defense, you know, the kind that holds EVERYONE to less than normal....