Plenty of reasons have been given for New England's run of success over the last dozen years. Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, Bob Kraft, and of course no shortage of allegations of cheating. But one big one has been the defense's ability to force turnovers.

Since 2002 (when the league went to 32 teams), New England has racked up a total of 407 takeaways, so more than 31 per season. The only team with more than that is Chicago (410); none of the league's other 30 teams have more than 385. Taking the ball away from the other team's offense; that's a part of New England's steady success.

Total takeaways by team since 2002 are presented below.

TOTAL TAKEAWAYS, 2002-2014, BY TEAM
Team'14'13'12'11'10'09'08'07'06'05'04'03'02Total
Chicago24284431352832334434292028410
New England25294134382822313518364129407
Baltimore22242526273234234026344131385
Carolina26302324293725302242382633385
Green Bay27222338324028283321153245384
Tampa Bay25312624282930352030273338376
Cincinnati26313022262524343144362420373
NY Giants26293531392422252836282225370
Seattle24393131222320342627352830370
Atlanta28213129312818272629323139370
Philadelphia28311324343829192927282637363
Arizona25303319302930293326302325362
San Francisco29302538223318212726213627353
Buffalo30302131223322302430391819349
Tennessee16252423252731342820303429346
Indianapolis26271517212626372631363027345
Detroit27221734292220353031242824343
Kansas City14361326232829223031203731340
Minnesota19202223252425313635223523340
Pittsburgh21202015352229252930322536339
St. Louis25292118262026273227154626338
Dallas31281624302122293126222529334
Cleveland29212920281931272723282229333
San Diego18172821222524482820332027331
Miami25241619192130222731253630325
New Orleans17192616253922231919332738323
NY Jets13152331303130212528332023323
Jacksonville20212328182517292428272727314
Denver25262418183013293036202022311
Washington19263121271718241228263026305
Houston34112927182722252216302221304
Oakland14221926242024262319182531291

--Andy Richardson