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It Is What It Is » Nuggetpalooza: Mining the stats before the Patriots vs. Texans playoff tilt

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It Is What It Is » Nuggetpalooza: Mining the stats before the Patriots vs. Texans playoff tilt

Great nuggets throughout, as always… including this one:

New England’s defense forced 42 fumbles, that’s a fumble on 2.62% of opponent touches, and recovered 21 of them, all league highs this season and club records (easily) since they began tracking the stat in 1995. In those 18 seasons that they’ve tracked fumbles, only two defenses have forced more fumbles in a season (2002 Eagles and 2000 Ravens with 45), six have had more recoveries of opponent fumbles (led by the 2000 Ravens with 26), and the Patriots rank sixth in fumbles forced per opponent touch: 3.07% – Ravens, 2000 2.84% – Eagles, 2002 2.75% – Titans, 2000 2.72% – Giants, 2010 2.63% – Cardinals, 1995 2.62% – Patriots, 2012

Patriots-Texans: Vince Wilfork will be a tough test for Houston | Audibles – SI.com

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Patriots-Texans: Vince Wilfork will be a tough test for Houston | Audibles – SI.com

Great read on Wilfork’s dominance against the Texans. Need another big day from big Vince.

The key to an improved day for Foster: blocking Vince Wilfork. It is much easier said than done. The massive defensive tackle was pegged as a Pro Bowl starter this season, and he has the ability to disrupt completely a team’s run game. Houston found that out first-hand earlier in the year. Wilfork’s interior presence is a major problem for the Texans, because their ground game relies on stretching the field wide and cutting back to space. Wilfork eliminates a lot of those openings.

Bill Barnwell on Sunday’s slate of NFL playoff games – Grantland

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Bill Barnwell on Sunday’s slate of NFL playoff games – Grantland

Beating a dead horse with this yet?

This is the first time the Patriots have had their top four receivers healthy at the same time since the opening week of the season, and since the Patriots were committed to leaving Wes Welker on the bench back then, it’s really the first time all four guys have been featured all year. With the Texans giving significant reps to the likes of Brandon Harris and Shiloh Keo in the secondary last week, expect the Patriots to try to pick off weak matchups at the line of scrimmage before creating easy throwing lanes for Tom Brady.

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I really feel like it’s starting to become more like a brotherhood playing with Spikes and watching Mayo growing up,” Hightower said. “I definitely feel like we all have something in common, the way we play, the way we view the game, the passion we all have playing the game.

Mayo, Spikes, Hightower a tight-knit trio | Boston Herald

Hope this trio is playing together for a long time, a Spikes extension this offseason would cement it. Still think they need one more stud coverage linebacker added to the group though…

https://www.patspropaganda.com/i-really-feel-like-its-starting-to-become-more/

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A crazed dog just looking to seek, destroy, kill anything that moves,” Spikes described. “If you’re not in that red, blue and white, I don’t know what to say. I’m trying to destroy you any way I can, any chance I get. Any edge I can get to beat you on that play, I’m going to do it. I feel like I leave it all out there on the field. I feel like my teammates know I leave it all out, and they respect that. A lot of people respect that.

Football and family saved Brandon Spikes from bad side of life | Boston Herald

So good I had to pull two quotes.

https://www.patspropaganda.com/a-crazed-dog-just-looking-to-seek-destroy-kill/