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Forcing turnovers is part of playing solid defensive football.Are you kidding me? The 2011 defense was terrible
2011 Final Stats: Patriots Defense Ranks 31st in the NFL
Basically, they got bailed out by turnovers, which is great. But, they had no business being in the superbowl
There is no question the talent level of those 2010 and 2011 defensive units wasn't even in the same universe as 2003, 2006, 2014, 2016 and even last year's team. They just weren't a stout D on any level but they were effective in some areas.
The 2011 D was in the bottom 1/3rd in every statistical category- except points allowed (11th), points per play (top 10) , red zone % (17th), forced turnovers per game (4th) and sacks (14th).
Other reasons their overall numbers suck is the 2011 offense was ridiculously efficient which put constant pressure on the opposing offense to keep up. I do recall a lot of garbage points in 2010 and 2011 but thats no excuse. Stout defenses don't allow a lot of garbage points. Lastly the 2011 offense was quick strike and was in that constant "hurry up" offense and ran 1,087 offensive plays resulting as #1 in points per minute.
So did the 2010 and 2011 defenses suck? Compared to other teams absolutely but back then considering the style of offense they had they were better than I think what the eye test told us.
They were your classic Bend Don't Break D.
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