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 | '02 | Total |
Chicago | 24 | 28 | 44 | 31 | 35 | 28 | 32 | 33 | 44 | 34 | 29 | 20 | 28 | 410 |
New England | 25 | 29 | 41 | 34 | 38 | 28 | 22 | 31 | 35 | 18 | 36 | 41 | 29 | 407 |
Baltimore | 22 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 32 | 34 | 23 | 40 | 26 | 34 | 41 | 31 | 385 |
Carolina | 26 | 30 | 23 | 24 | 29 | 37 | 25 | 30 | 22 | 42 | 38 | 26 | 33 | 385 |
Green Bay | 27 | 22 | 23 | 38 | 32 | 40 | 28 | 28 | 33 | 21 | 15 | 32 | 45 | 384 |
Tampa Bay | 25 | 31 | 26 | 24 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 35 | 20 | 30 | 27 | 33 | 38 | 376 |
Cincinnati | 26 | 31 | 30 | 22 | 26 | 25 | 24 | 34 | 31 | 44 | 36 | 24 | 20 | 373 |
NY Giants | 26 | 29 | 35 | 31 | 39 | 24 | 22 | 25 | 28 | 36 | 28 | 22 | 25 | 370 |
Seattle | 24 | 39 | 31 | 31 | 22 | 23 | 20 | 34 | 26 | 27 | 35 | 28 | 30 | 370 |
Atlanta | 28 | 21 | 31 | 29 | 31 | 28 | 18 | 27 | 26 | 29 | 32 | 31 | 39 | 370 |
Philadelphia | 28 | 31 | 13 | 24 | 34 | 38 | 29 | 19 | 29 | 27 | 28 | 26 | 37 | 363 |
Arizona | 25 | 30 | 33 | 19 | 30 | 29 | 30 | 29 | 33 | 26 | 30 | 23 | 25 | 362 |
San Francisco | 29 | 30 | 25 | 38 | 22 | 33 | 18 | 21 | 27 | 26 | 21 | 36 | 27 | 353 |
Buffalo | 30 | 30 | 21 | 31 | 22 | 33 | 22 | 30 | 24 | 30 | 39 | 18 | 19 | 349 |
Tennessee | 16 | 25 | 24 | 23 | 25 | 27 | 31 | 34 | 28 | 20 | 30 | 34 | 29 | 346 |
Indianapolis | 26 | 27 | 15 | 17 | 21 | 26 | 26 | 37 | 26 | 31 | 36 | 30 | 27 | 345 |
Detroit | 27 | 22 | 17 | 34 | 29 | 22 | 20 | 35 | 30 | 31 | 24 | 28 | 24 | 343 |
Kansas City | 14 | 36 | 13 | 26 | 23 | 28 | 29 | 22 | 30 | 31 | 20 | 37 | 31 | 340 |
Minnesota | 19 | 20 | 22 | 23 | 25 | 24 | 25 | 31 | 36 | 35 | 22 | 35 | 23 | 340 |
Pittsburgh | 21 | 20 | 20 | 15 | 35 | 22 | 29 | 25 | 29 | 30 | 32 | 25 | 36 | 339 |
St. Louis | 25 | 29 | 21 | 18 | 26 | 20 | 26 | 27 | 32 | 27 | 15 | 46 | 26 | 338 |
Dallas | 31 | 28 | 16 | 24 | 30 | 21 | 22 | 29 | 31 | 26 | 22 | 25 | 29 | 334 |
Cleveland | 29 | 21 | 29 | 20 | 28 | 19 | 31 | 27 | 27 | 23 | 28 | 22 | 29 | 333 |
San Diego | 18 | 17 | 28 | 21 | 22 | 25 | 24 | 48 | 28 | 20 | 33 | 20 | 27 | 331 |
Miami | 25 | 24 | 16 | 19 | 19 | 21 | 30 | 22 | 27 | 31 | 25 | 36 | 30 | 325 |
New Orleans | 17 | 19 | 26 | 16 | 25 | 39 | 22 | 23 | 19 | 19 | 33 | 27 | 38 | 323 |
NY Jets | 13 | 15 | 23 | 31 | 30 | 31 | 30 | 21 | 25 | 28 | 33 | 20 | 23 | 323 |
Jacksonville | 20 | 21 | 23 | 28 | 18 | 25 | 17 | 29 | 24 | 28 | 27 | 27 | 27 | 314 |
Denver | 25 | 26 | 24 | 18 | 18 | 30 | 13 | 29 | 30 | 36 | 20 | 20 | 22 | 311 |
Washington | 19 | 26 | 31 | 21 | 27 | 17 | 18 | 24 | 12 | 28 | 26 | 30 | 26 | 305 |
Houston | 34 | 11 | 29 | 27 | 18 | 27 | 22 | 25 | 22 | 16 | 30 | 22 | 21 | 304 |
Oakland | 14 | 22 | 19 | 26 | 24 | 20 | 24 | 26 | 23 | 19 | 18 | 25 | 31 | 291 |
--Andy Richardson