Tag: fumbles

Broncos coach Sean Payton gives his take on team’s fumbles

“You have to know when the ride’s over,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said of wide receivers losing fumbles.

Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton was clearly upset after wide receivers Courtland Sutton and Lil’Jordan Humphrey both lost fumbles against the Carolina Panthers last week. In a radio interview, Payton went as far as suggesting the team could “find some other receivers” who won’t fumble.

After a few days to cool down, Payton was a little more cordial on Wednesday.

“L.J.’s [fumble], there’s a point at which the ride is over,” Payton said. “You have to know that. In other words, that extra two yards that you’re fighting for, I’m looking at 30 plays that I’ve got ready to call. So you have to know when the ride’s over.

“Courtland’s was a little different, catching it real close to the [goal line]. So each one can be different, but it’s just that understanding. These guys have forced fumbles at a high rate, and so that’s an important statistic as it relates to a game like this.”

Broncos quarterback Bo Nix defended both receivers this week.

“I thought both L.J. and Court, they were tough football plays,” Nix said. “They weren’t necessarily careless with the ball, those guys (on defense) made good plays. I’m not worried about those two. They’re veterans. They handled it really well this week.

“We know it’s important. We have to eliminate them and continue to win the turnover margin. When we do that, we’re successful. We just have to find ways to continue to do it. It has to be most important.”

Going up against a 5-3 Baltimore Ravens team this week, Denver’s offense can’t afford to put the ball on the ground.

“[Y]ou try to deal with it before you have that crisis moment,” Payton said of the fumbles. “Then we coach it, ‘How are you handling the ball in traffic? Not in traffic?’ Eventually, it has to become a habit. I think it’s coaching, it’s practice and it’s technique. It’s all of those things.”

The Broncos have 12 takeaways this season (tied for ninth-most) and 12 giveaways (five interceptions and seven fumbles, a league-high). The defense’s takeaways have been canceled out by the offense’s blunders, which will come back to hurt Denver against better teams.

After a point of emphasis on protecting the ball this week, Broncos receivers will undoubtedly have two hands on the ball in traffic on Sunday.

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This stat says Saints DB is the NFL’s most disruptive player through 7 weeks

Alontae Taylor has made a living in the backfield this season. Through seven weeks, he leads the league in creating “havoc plays”

The 33rd Team has a metric called havoc plays. A havoc play is any tackle for a loss, sack, interception, forced fumble or pass breakup. Instead of individualizing each stat, they compiled them into one stat.

Through seven games, Alontae Taylor has become a master of disruption. The New Orleans Saints defensive back leads the NFL in havoc plays, with 16.

Due to Paulson Adebo’s injury, Taylor’s role will change slightly. He’ll play opposite Marshon Lattimore in base defense. In nickel, Taylor will slide inside and Kool-Aid McKinstry will play outside.

The change in role only increases Taylor’s ceiling for havoc plays because he won’t have to come off the field. He still gets to retain his spot in the slot which is what sets him up for so many havoc plays.

Playing insides gives him more opportunities to blitz and be more aggressive in the run game. Taylor is second on the team 3.5 sacks this year. One of those sacks led to a strip sack of Jalen Hurts.

In addition to being a leader in sacks, Taylor also leads the team in tackles for a loss and is second in pass breakups. That last number in particular should increase by playing on the outside in base formations.

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Raiders worst in NFL in every turnover statistic after Week 7

Every one of the primary turnover statistics has the Raiders dead last. In some cases by a wide margin.

I don’t know how rare this is, but the Raiders are sitting in quite a spot in terms of turnovers. Seven weeks in, the Raiders are the worst is every turnover statistic. Some by a wide margin.

Here are the bottom five in each of the turnover stats for this season:

Interceptions:

28. Chiefs 8
28. Packers 8
28. Titans 8
31. Panthers 9
32. Raiders 10

Gardner Minshew 8
Aidan O’Connell 2

Fumbles lost:

27. Patriots 5
27. Vikings 5
27. Broncos 5
27. Saints 5
31. Cardinals 6
31. Raiders 6

Gardner Minshew 2
Zamir White 2
Ameer Abdullah 1
Dylan Laube 1

Turnovers:

26. Packers 11
26. 49ers 11
26. Cowboys 11
26. Saints 11
30. Panthers 12
30. Titans 12
32. Raiders 16

Turnover differential

28. Eagles -6
28. Cowboys -6
28. Panthers -6
31. Titans -9
32. Raiders -13

Robert Spillane 1 INT
Tre’von Moehrig 1 INT
Nate Hobbs 1 INT

To make matters worse, they have yet to recover a single forced a fumble this season. So, they’re tied for the worst in that category as well.

These stats are why their turnover differential is twice that of the teams just two spots ahead of them.

Four times this season the Raiders have turned the ball over at least three times. Sunday against the Rams they turned it over four times. The first three turned in to touchdowns. The fourth ended the game.

Raiders now a distant dead last in NFL turnover differential

No team has a worse turnover differential by a considerable margin now.

“And it’s not even close” is a term that is overused these days. Often it’s completely misused. Especially with regard to sports opinions. But sometimes it’s just a fact.

For instance, the Raiders have the worst turnover differential in the NFL…and it’s not even close.

After just six weeks, the Raiders have a turnover differential of -10. That’s NEGATIVE TEN!

They have turned over the ball 12 times this season already — Also league worst. That’s two turnovers per game. Seven of those were interceptions — also a league worst. And they’ve only taken the ball away from an opponent twice.

As of last week, they were actually tied for the worst turnover differential. They and the Tennessee Titans both had a -7 turnover differential. The Titans still have that. While the Raiders added three more turnovers in a blowout loss to the Steelers while not taking the ball away at all.

For a moment, they had an interception — Divine Deablo — but it was wiped away from a roughing the passer penalty on Matthew Butler. Wiping away good plays with penalties was the order of the day for the Raiders last Sunday. As was coughing up the football, of course.

Opportunistic Saints defense can take advantage of Jared Goff’s mistakes

An opportunistic Saints defense can take advantage of Jared Goff’s mistakes. The Lions quarterback has committed six turnovers in his last two games:

An opportunistic New Orleans Saints defense must take advantage of Jared Goff’s mistakes. The Detroit Lions quarterback has committed six turnovers in his last two games, losing three fumbles to the Green Bay Packers last week after throwing three interceptions to the Chicago Bears a week earlier. Goff is in a bit of a rut, and the Saints need to capitalize on it. He’s thrown eight interceptions and fumbled five times this season.

That’s easier said than done for most teams, but New Orleans is known for its ballhawks. The Saints defense has intercepted the second-most passes in the NFL this season (14 in 11 games) while doing an admirable job of recovering fumbled balls from the offense — nine different defenders have recovered a fumble this season, and cornerback Paulson Adebo has two of them.

Adebo also has four interceptions in just nine games, leading the team. Strong safety Tyrann Mathieu is second with three picks, and his tag-team partner Marcus Maye has two of his own (though the free safety may not play this week due to a shoulder injury). Five other Saints defenders have intercepted passes this season, too.

Taking the ball away becomes even more important when you consider all the struggles the Saints have experienced offensively. The more opportunities the defense can create for Derek Carr and company, the better. Shorter fields and swings of momentum are going to be critical against a talented and well-coached Lions team. If Goff does a better job protecting the football, Saints fans may be in for a long afternoon.

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Despite first takeaway of season, Raiders take sole possession of NFL-worst turnover differential

Despite first takeaway of season, Raiders take sole possession of NFL-worst turnover differential

Good news: The Raiders finally got a takeaway. No longer making team one of just two teams without one this season.

Bad news: Their three turnovers on offense now land them alone in last place for the NFL’s worst turnover differential.

After the first three weeks of the season, the Raiders were tied with the Minnesota Vikings with a -7 turnover differential.

Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers, the Raiders would break the shutout in terms of takeaways by getting their first interception of the season. Tre’von Moehrig finally secured an interception.

Unfortunately, Aidan O’Connell fumbled three times and threw an interception. Two of those fumbles were recovered by the Chargers, giving them three turnovers on the day and a -2 turnover differential for the game.

This dropped them to a -9 turnover differential on the season.

Meanwhile, in Minnesota, the Vikings had two turnovers and one takeaway in a win over the Panthers, to give them a -1 turnover differential for the game and tied for 30th in the league with a -8 for the season.

The Chargers going +2 versus the Raiders moved them into a tie for 4th in the league with the Sehawks (+5).

The top three are the Cowboys (+9), Buccaneers (+7), and Bills (+6).

Raiders have NFL’s worst turnover differential through 3 weeks

No team in the NFL has a worse turnover differential right now than the Raiders.

You can find a lot of different ideas of what makes for a successful team and what doesn’t. But there’s one thing most everyone can agree upon as a major factor in wins and losses: turnovers.

In that regard, there is little question as to why the Raiders have just one win which they eeked out against a bad Broncos team.

The Raiders defense has yet to take the ball away from the opposing offense this season. Not by interception or by fumble.

The Raiders offense, on the other hand, has turned the ball over seven times. That’s six interceptions and one fumble.

That -7 turnover differential is tied for dead last in the NFL. But the Vikings, with whom the Raiders are tied, at least have two takeaways. The Raiders and Giants (-5) are the only two teams in the league without a takeaway through three games.

Sunday night, Marcus Peters gave the Raiders their best shot at changing that stat. He read a short pass perfectly and had what would have been a sure pick six, but dropped it.

Obviously, the Raiders six interceptions thrown were by Jimmy Garoppolo. Compared to five touchdown passes. While Garoppolo has one of the team’s three fumbles, just one of those fumbles was not recovered by the Raiders and that was Zamir White’s fumble in Buffalo in Week two.

In case you’re wondering, the best turnover differential belongs to the Dallas Cowboys with six. The Buccaneers come in second with five. Then a cluster of teams at four and so on.

Rounding out the worst teams are the Broncos (-4), Bears (-4), and Browns (-5).

No team had a better point differential against Tom Brady than the Saints

No team had a better point differential against Tom Brady than the New Orleans Saints, one of the few teams to outscore him in his career:

It’s finally over. Tom Brady announced his retirement on Wednesday after spending decades on top of the NFL, but no team had more success against him than the New Orleans Saints. Brady posted the lowest point differential of his career against the Saints in getting outscored by 31 points.

For context, just three teams outscored Brady in his career — the Kansas City Chiefs were next-best (-20), followed by the San Francisco 49ers (-8), with Brady’s old New England Patriots team coming close to breaking even (2). Brady outscored every other team in the league by 7 or more points in his long run as a pro.

That’s impressive by New Orleans. But the Saints also created more negative plays by Brady than many other opponents. They sacked him 30 times in 11 games, the fourth-highest sacks total of all opposing defenses; his former AFC East rivals, who he played more often, took a lead there with 66 sacks in 36 games by the Miami Dolphins, 64 sacks in 36 games by the Buffalo Bills, and 56 sacks in 37 games by the New York Jets.

It extends to takeaways, too. The Saints defense intercepted Brady 12 times in 11 games; the Dolphins had 27 interceptions, the Bills had 25, and the Jets had 16, as did the Indianapolis Colts in 15 games. Brady fumbled 7 times in 11 games with the Saints and Chiefs. The Denver Broncos had 10 fumbles in 14 games. The Jets and Bills had 14 each, and the the Dolphins had 16.

Whew. The Saints got the better of him almost every time they shared the field. It’s a shame Brady didn’t come to the NFC South sooner. Here’s to a happy and fulfilling retirement for him.

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Brandon Staley emphasizes ball security ahead of Chargers’ Wild Card matchup with Jaguars

Brandon Staley said his staff will emphasize ball security heading into the Chargers’ Wild Card matchup against the Jaguars.

Turnovers played a huge role in the Los Angeles Chargers’ loss to the Denver Broncos in Week 18. Two balls were punched out in the regular season from Austin Ekeler and DeAndre Carter.

At Tuesday’s media availability, head coach Brandon Staley fielded some tough questions about them.

Staley gave a lengthy explanation of what caused his players to lose control of the football in key situations. He gave all credit to the Broncos for making big plays that altered the course of the matchup and made sure to note that he and his staff would emphasize ball security moving forward.

“I think that what you saw on [WR DeAndre Carter] D.C.’s is a blind spot. That happens when you are carrying the ball, especially. A blind spot is someone who you can’t see. [RB] Austin [Ekeler], that was unexpected. Justin Simmons made a great play and flashed unexpectedly. He was able to get his hat on the football there. You know the story of turnovers.

“We were able to finish even yesterday, but those two definitely prevented us from scoring a lot more points because we really moved the ball well yesterday. You just know that if you can secure it, how much more prolific you are going to be offensively. That is certainly something that we’re going to be emphasizing every single day moving forward. Our guys have been outstanding all year with it.”

While Chargers fans certainly won’t be satisfied with the result their team achieved in this Week 18 matchup, their primary concern will now turn to the all-important elimination games in the playoffs, where Los Angeles’ margin for error will be even slimmer than before, facing a Jaguars team that is tied for second in forced fumbles (13).

Watch for the Bolts to protect the football at every opportunity and for the team to exercise better fundamentals against the Jacksonville in its Wild Card matchup this weekend.

Alvin Kamara has more fumbles than touchdowns scored in 2022

Alvin Kamara has more fumbles than touchdowns in 2022, but it says more about the Saints offense than his issues with ball security:

It’s been a rough year for Alvin Kamara. The New Orleans Saints running back was sidelined by a rib injury early in the 2022 season, and he just tied his career-high with 4 fumbles in a single season after turning the ball over twice against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. And he’s only scored 3 touchdowns all season, which is almost baffling.

Especially when you consider that Kamara entered the season needing 5 scores to claim Marquese Colston’s record for the most touchdowns scored in franchise history. It’s unlike him. Kamara only has one other season with multiple fumbles, and he’s averaged 13.6 touchdowns per year as a runner, receiver, and kick returner going into the 2022 campaign.

So while it’s easy to focus on the turnovers, the larger issue here is the Saints not getting more out of Kamara, specifically in the red zone. This season he’s totaled 13 carries and 8 targets inside the opponent’s 20-yard line — an average of 2.1 scoring opportunities per game. Going into this season, Kamara had 180 carries and 75 targets in the red zone for an average of 3.5 tries per game. That’s a small difference, but it adds up.

What gives? Part of the problem lies at quarterback. Both Andy Dalton and Jameis Winston have had trouble finding Kamara in the flats at times, though Kamara is averaging more targets per game with Dalton (6.8) than Winston (3.4, including their games together in 2021). Dalton also just missed a walk-in touchdown to Kamara against the 49ers. The point is that both passers haven’t gotten the most out of one of the NFL’s proven playmakers.

But it also comes down to playcalling. Pete Carmichael Jr. has been on the headset all season and he hasn’t done a good enough job getting Kamara involved — specifically in the red zone. And the plays Kamara is getting show a worrying lack of creativity. Just 25.9% of his carries are going outside the tackles, compared to 31.1% of his rushing attempts from 2019 to 2021. Carmichael is asking him to run between the tackles and into the teeth of the defense over and over again, and it isn’t working.

Hopefully things turn around over these final five games. If this is all the production the Saints are going to get out of Kamara, it doesn’t justify his contract value. They owe it to themselves to get the most out of that investment, and the best path forward is to go back and key in on what Kamara has done well throughout his career. He may not be as effective without Drew Brees, but he’s made enough plays with enough different quarterbacks over the years to where this scoring drought is inexcusable.

As for the fumbles: again, this is uncharacteristic for Kamara. It should stabilize over time. It’s not like he’s gotten lazy with his ball security or is mishandling his opportunities. These things happen, and taking the ball out of his hands isn’t the answer. No one knows how important protecting the football is better than Kamara, and he’s shown before that he’ll get it cleaned up. He and the Saints can’t afford not to.

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