One of my favorite things to do, especially now with half a season in the books, is stack this current Patriots team to previous teams to see what makes this one unique. Each year there are some strange outliers, either rapid improvement or decline that gives each squad their own little flare.
The 2007 team was an offensive juggernaut. The 2010 and 2011 teams gave up a ton of yards but managed it by getting a ton of takeaways. The 2017 defense, marred by injuries, was the lowest-ranked DVOA defense of the Belichick era.
Each team always has one or two interesting little nuggets that you’ll only get from someone who’s blogged about them exclusively for over a decade. So what has made the 2018 Patriots unique this far? Here are five stats where they stand out, for good and bad reasons.
[Read more…] about Five Stats to Define 2018 Patriots’ First Half