Final stat check

The big weaknesses are 3rd down defense and red-zone defense. Hard to believe the points allowed was 8th when 3rd defense was 26th and red-zone defense was 31st. Where did they rank in give-aways? Where did they rank in number of times opponent was in the red zone (45)? Where did the rank in time of posession? Where did they rank in big plays (>40yd) both for and against? I guess they ranked first in fewest penalties.

The Red Zone defense numbers look bad in that perspective. This has been a strength in previous years with the Pats' bend but don't break philosophy. A more telling stat though might be that the Pats only allowed opponents to the red zone 45 times, which doesn't seem like a lot over 16 games. How do they compare with the rest of the league there?

They've really struggled on Red Zone defense for the last two years. I don't know how you address that specifically with personnel moves, aside from improving the defense overall. I'd like to see some better tackling defensive backs.

I'm really curious about the time of possesion stat....definitely in how it relates to the poor red zone defense. Would be interesting to see some analysis on that and how the two relate particularly with the low points per game allowed.

Time of possession was +4:21 per game - 32:25 to 28:04 (overtime accounting for the extra 29 seconds per game)... not sure how that ranks league-wide, but probably in the good to very good.