Tag: Turnovers

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 hit franchise futility record, lose to Rams 20-15

It may be time to stop labeling these Raiders losses as collapses.

It may be time to stop labeling these Raiders losses as collapses. Because that would suggest they had things together and lost it. But Sunday they were still in the third quarter when they had already turned the ball over three times with the Rams scoring touchdowns off of each one.

With five minutes left in the second quarter, the Raiders held a 3-0 lead. Aidan O’Connell had left with an injured thumb and it was Gardner Minshew who led them to their first score.

It was Minshew’s third drive when he threw for Brock Bowers over the middle and it was picked off at the Vegas 47. Four plays later, the Rams were in the end zone to go up 7-3.

Next drive last five plays. Minshew was sacked as he was looking to throw, fumbled the ball and it was returned by Kam Curl for a touchdown to make it a 14-3 game.

So, in a matter of four minutes time, the game went from 3-0 Raiders to 14-3 Rams.

The Raiders managed to add a field goal to make it a 14-6 game at the half. But the third quarter, we were back to the norm. From a three-and-out, to a three-play possession in which Minshew threw behind DJ Turner and was intercepted.

They set up at the Vegas 31 after the interception and drove for another touchdown. The point after was missed so the score was 20-6.

For just the second time in the game, the Raiders mounted a drive for a score, adding a field goal to make it a 20-9 game.

The Raiders got one back late in the third quarter when Robert Spillane got a hand on a ball and Nate Hobbs picked it off and returned it to the LA 14-yard line. They added a field goal to make it a 20-12 game. In other words, a one score game.

On the ensuing drive, Matt Stafford found Tyler Johnson for a 37-yard catch and run to put the Rams in scoring position, but the Raiders defense held up and kicker Josh Karty missed the 35-yard attempt. That plus his missed PAT is the only reason this game was still at one score.

Seemingly out of nowhere, the Raiders mounted a long drive. Routinely finding Brock Bowers for receptions and getting good yards up the gut from Alexander Mattison.

A Tre Tucker end around put them in first and goal at the four-yard-line. They would get no closer. A ditched pass, near interception, and no gain on a pass to Brock Bowers brought up fourth and goal. They were ready to go for it, but DJ Glaze was flagged for a false start and they opted for a field goal instead to make it a 20-15 game with 2:46 left and all of their timeouts.

A 14-yard run by Kyren Williams on the Rams next possession would take the Rams to the 44 and the clock to the two-minute warning.

From there the Rams would get nine yards on three plays, but stayed in bounds, causing the Raiders to take all three of their timeouts.

Off the punt, the Raiders got the ball back at their own 11-yard-line with 1:39 left. They would need to go 89 yards to win it.

They would get zero.

Two passes for Tre Tucker were knocked down and then Gardner Minshew overthrew DJ Turner and was intercepted for the fourth time.

That was the fourth turnover for the Raiders in the game. With the Hobbs interception, that brings their turnover differential to -13 which ties a franchise record. The worst kind.

They have also turned the ball over at least three times in three straight games and for the fourth time this season.

The Raiders fall to 2-5 on the season. The Rams improve to 2-4.

Saints broke a season-long streak against Broncos

Forcing turnovers has been the Saints defense’s saving grace, but they didn’t intercept the quarterback for the first time this year against the Broncos:

A lot of things went wrong for the New Orleans Saints on Thursday night. Spencer Rattler struggled with ball security in the face of pressure. The running game was nonexistent. Defensively, New Orleans couldn’t stop the Denver Broncos from moving up and down the field.

Bo Nix didn’t look accurate throwing the ball outside of short throws. There was a moment where he had two uncovered receivers, and threw it in between the two of them. Despite his struggles, the Saints weren’t able intercept the rookie.

Tyrann Mathieu got close once. He had an interception fall right into his hands, but he dropped it. Other than that, there weren’t many other near-interceptions. For all of the yardage the Saints give up, turnovers have been their saving grace. For the first time this year, the Saints defense didn’t walk away with an interception.

New Orleans did get one turnover on Thursday. Willie Gay forced and recovered a fumble in the fourth quarter. But by that time, the game was already out of hand. If nothing else, the turnover streak is still alive.

Purdue is the worst team in college football in one key statistic

Purdue enters Saturday’s matchup with the Wisconsin Badgers after a rocky start to the season:

This story was updated to correct a misspelling/typo.

The Purdue Boilermakers enter Saturday’s matchup with the Wisconsin Badgers after a rocky start to the season.

Ryan Walters’ team began the year with a 49-0 win over Indiana State, signaling the program could be moving in the right direction entering his second year in charge. Three straight losses then followed. The Boilermakers fell 66-7 to Notre Dame, 38-21 to Oregon State and 28-10 to Nebraska.

That leads into Saturday. Purdue is 1-3 (0-1 Big Ten) on the season and just fired its offensive coordinator. Its offense ranks No. 106 in the nation with 21.8 points per game — a slot which drops to No. 130 in the nation if Week 1 vs. Indiana State is eliminated.

Somehow, the offense hasn’t been the team’s main issue. The Boilermakers’ defense currently ranks No. 117 in the nation with 33 points allowed per game. That side of the ball is the biggest big-picture concern as it is Walters’ specialty (he was a longtime DC at Missouri and Illinois before getting the Purdue job).

There may be many reasons for the team’s struggles on defense since Walters took over to start 2023. One statistic through four games in 2024 sums it up: Purdue is the only team out of 133 in the FBS without a single turnover forced.

The Boilermakers’ overall turnover margin of -6 (four interceptions, two fumbles lost) ranks No. 127 of 133 total teams. The most startling number is under the ‘turnovers gained’ category. It is the only team in the nation with a ‘0’ in the column.

This reality is notable as the Wisconsin Badgers enter Saturday badly in need of a victory. Purdue being unable to force turnovers is significant news for a Wisconsin offense that at times has struggled to take care of the football.

Wisconsin, on the other hand, enters Saturday with a turnover margin of -1 (six lost, five gained). Week 5’s loss to USC painted a good picture of how Wisconsin’s season has gone thus far: the Badgers capitalized on several USC turnovers in the first half and led 21-10 at halftime. Then the script flipped completely, Wisconsin gave the ball away in the second half and fell 38-21.

The Badgers and Boilermakers will kick off on Saturday at noon ET, 11 a.m. CT. The game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.

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Vance Joseph has Broncos’ defense playing at a high level

The Broncos’ defense ranks 2nd in passing yards allowed, 3rd in yards allowed and sixth in points allowed three games into the season.

What a difference a year makes.

One year after a 70-20 loss to the Miami Dolphins, the Denver Broncos returned to Florida on Sunday to face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

This time, the Broncos took care of business with a convincing 26-7 victory. Denver’s defense — led by coordinator Vance Joseph — dominated from start to finish, ending the game with seven sacks and two takeaways.

“I think we made [Baker Mayfield] hold [the ball],” Broncos coach Sean Payton said after the game when asked about the sacks. “I think we made him hold it some. That is a credit to coverage.”

Denver cornerback Pat Surtain held Bucs wide receiver Mike Evans to just one catch for eight yards. Broncos safety Brandon Jones grabbed an interception and recovered a fumble.

Six defenders recorded a sack, including two sacks from former UFL pass rusher Dondrea Tillman in his NFL debut. Following that impressive performance, Denver’s defense ranks high after three weeks of play.

The Broncos have allowed 259.3 yards per game (third-best), 133.3 passing yards per game (second-best) and 15.3 points per game (sixth-best). Denver’s 11 sacks are tied for fifth-most and while that number is inflated by Sunday’s seven-sack performance, the team’s 44.8% pressure rate is a good sign that the sacks should continue.

If there’s a weakness, it’s the 126.0 rushing yards allowed per game (12th-worst), but that’s not a big factor when the Broncos are able to build a lead.

Denver’s defense is off to a great start this season, and Joseph deserves credit.

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Sean Payton not happy with Broncos’ turnovers in first preseason game

“We had four fumbles,” Sean Payton said after the Broncos’ first preseason game. “That has to be better.”

The Denver Broncos defeated the Indianapolis Colts 34-30 in their preseason opener on Sunday. Despite coming away with a victory, Denver coach Sean Payton had a few grievances with his team’s performance.

“There’s going to be a lot of tape that we like,” Payton said after the win. “Then there’s going to be a handful of things that we’ve got to get cleaned up. And really, when you look at the ball security issues – we had four fumbles. That has to be better.

“We talked about it coming into this game, this defense does a good job. They play a lot more zone coverage. They try to separate the ball from the receivers or runners, and so we’re fortunate in that regards to still get the win. I [also] didn’t like the penalties.”

Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix muffed a snap (and recovered it), fellow QB Zach Wilson and running back Blake Watson fumbled an exchange on a handoff, running back Audric Estime had a fumble that was returned by the Colts for a touchdown and tight end Lucas Krull also lost a fumble.

“[T]wo rookies had the ball on the ground,” Payton said. “One was a touchdown, and the other one, obviously we were able to recover, but a significant play later in the game. So those are the things that you’ve just got to make sure you clean up and those guys will learn from it.”

The good news is Denver has two more preseason games to get the miscues cleaned up before facing the Seattle Seahawks in Week 1. Players who made mistakes in Indianapolis have to learn from them and not repeat them.

“[T]hose are lessons and pretty soon, they’re lessons that can’t happen,” Payton said. “That was something I talked about last night. I told the coaches, that’s one concern I have is the ball security in this game coming in. It kind of manifested kind of how I thought unfortunately, I mean, they do a good job of holding players up, stripping the ball – that was Audric’s turnover. We had the exchange problem late in the game, and then obviously those are things that you hope to be cleaning up before the regular season starts.”

In addition to the turnovers, the Broncos also committed six penalties, including three on the opening drive that knocked them out of field goal range.

“We kind of shot ourselves in the foot, mainly those first two drives with penalties and that sort of thing,” quarterback Jarrett Stidham said after the game. “But I mean a lot of good I thought. Obviously, we’ll take a look at the film and get better from it, and obviously clean up the penalties. Like I said, that was probably the biggest thing, but thought we were pretty efficient there, pretty early on. Obviously, just the penalties, we’ve got to figure that out for sure.”

Stidham’s first drive stalled after Tim Patrick (taunting), Courtland Sutton (false start) and Mike McGlinchey (false start) were penalized. Stidham’s second drive ended when running back Samaje Perine bobbled an accurate pass and tipped it into an interception. Those are the kind of mistakes Denver will need to clean up before next week’s showdown with the Green Bay Packers.

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Takeaways are great, but Sean Payton doesn’t want them to dictate Broncos’ record

“The better teams will have one or two wins, even when they lose [the turnover battle],” Broncos coach Sean Payton said.

After starting 1-5 under coach Sean Payton last season, the Denver Broncos went on an impressive 5-0 run that was fueled by turnovers.

“I think the biggest thing that stood out was at that 1-5 benchmark — there were two things, really,” Payton said during his end-of-season press conference on Jan. 9. “We rapidly changed how we took the ball away, and then we began to protect the ball. Man, that was a deciding factor in a few games for us — the turnover ratio. When you look at the exact numbers, prior to that, they weren’t really good. I think that was a big reason behind our spark, if you will, of winning five games in a row — creating field position.” 

Turnovers, both protecting the ball and forcing takeaways, are crucial for any NFL team and they helped the Broncos go on a run in 2023. Going into the 2024 campaign, Payton wants Denver to reach a level of being able to overcome not winning the turnover battle on a week-to-week basis.

“[When] the season ended, we were a [winning] team when we won the turnover battle,” Payton said. “We were 8-1 when winning it, and I believe we were 0-8 when it was even, or we didn’t win it. That’s pretty typical of a team that’s right in the middle of the pack, if you will.

“The better teams will have one or two wins, even when they lose it [the turnover battle]. Then the teams way down at the bottom might lose even when they win it. If we won it, chances are we won the game, but if we were even, I don’t think we won a game where it was even. I think there were one or two examples where it was even, and we didn’t win.”

The Broncos ended the season tied for 12th with 26 takeaways. Denver led the league with 15 fumble recoveries, a stat that undoubtedly involves some luck. The ball won’t always bounce the Broncos’ way, and while takeaways are obviously a positive, Payton doesn’t want the team’s win-loss record to be dictated by fluky turnovers.

Denver needs to learn how to win when they lose the turnover battle. Otherwise, as Payton said, the Broncos will remain “right in the middle of the pack.” Payton’s expectations are higher than a middle of the pack finish in 2024.

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Broncos’ interception leaders from 2023 season

Justin Simmons led the Broncos with 3 interceptions this season and he now ranks seventh on the team’s all-time INTs list with 30.

We continue our look at the Denver Broncos’ statistical leaders from the 2023 season today with a quick list of the team’s interceptions leaders.

It’s no surprise that safety Justin Simmons (three) led the team in 2023. Simmons has now recorded double-digit INTs in each of his eight seasons in the NFL. The veteran safety has had at least three INTs every year from 2018-2023 and he ranks seventh on the team’s all-time INTs list with 30.

Behind Simmons this year was cornerback Ja’Quan McMillian (two) and safety Kareem Jackson (two). Cornerback Pat Surtain, safety P.J. Locke, cornerback Fabian Moreau and pass rusher Jonathon Cooper each grabbed one interception.

The team’s 11 total interceptions this season ranked 19th in the league, so there’s definitely room for improvement going into 2024. Almost half the league (15 teams) totaled at least 15 INTs in 2023 and two teams recorded 22 INTs.

Check out previous lists of the team’s passing and rushing leaders. Here’s a quick look at their interception leaders in 2023.

2023 Minnesota Vikings by The Numbers

The 2023 season for the Minnesota Vikings was one that can’t be forgotten.

Since 2017, there have been 65 teams that have had a winning streak of five or more in a single season. Only ten failed to make the playoffs, including three from 2023: The Denver Broncos, the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Minnesota Vikings.

Minnesota’s run is a bit more impressive due to two of the wins being with a quarterback in Josh Dobbs, who was in the building for less than two weeks. Like the other two teams, however, the Vikings were victims of a crushing late-season collapse that took them out of the playoff race. 

Don’t let the ending take away from another memorable season for the Vikings.

What started as a simple quest for answers for the franchise’s future became an adventure for the ages, littered with twists and turns suitable for the Alex Rider series. While the ride ended disappointingly, the numbers from this season may have helped the front office to their answers after all.

To explain, we will split this season into four quarters and explain the numbers that coincide with each quarter to come to a conclusion for the future of the Vikings.

(All statistics are from Pro-Football-Reference via Stathead or rbsdm.com, unless otherwise stated.)

Can Packers win all-important turnover battle vs. 49ers in divisional round?

Winning the ball will be a huge part of any winning blueprint for the Packers in the NFC Divisional Round against the 49ers.

Turnovers remain one of the biggest winning factors in football, so it’s hardly surprising that the turnover battle looks like it could be a deciding factor when Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers play Brock Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Divisional Round on Saturday.

Coach Matt LaFleur calls the turnover battle “winning the ball.” The Packers must find a way to win the ball to upset the 49ers.

Consider the following…

— the Packers are 6-1 when they don’t turn the ball over this season. Three of the team’s biggest wins — vs. the Chiefs, Lions and Cowboys — came when the Packers finished with zero turnovers.

— The Packers are 1-6 when Jordan Love throws an interception. The only win? A massive fourth-quarter comeback against the Saints.

— The Packers are 5-1 when they get two or more takeaways. Included in the five wins are big wins over the Chiefs, Vikings and Cowboys.

— The 49ers are 8-0 when they don’t turn the ball over this season and 4-5 when they turn it over at least once.

— The 49ers are 9-1 when they create at least two takeaways and 3-4 when they get one or fewer.

— The 49ers are 9-1 when they win the turnover battle. The only loss was a fluky defeat to the Browns when they missed a late field goal.

— The 49ers are 10-0 when Brock Purdy does not throw an interception and 2-5 when he throws one or more, including an 0-3 mark when he throws two or more interceptions.

A few other things to consider:

— The 49ers led the NFL in interceptions during the regular season with 22. They have five players with multiple interceptions and 10 players with at least one interception.

— Love has thrown one interception in his last nine games. From Week 11 on, Love has only seven “turnover-worthy plays,” per PFF, or less than one per game. The majority have been fumbles instead of risky passes.

— The Packers delivered only 18 takeaways in 2023, including just seven interceptions. But Jaire Alexander had an interception setting up a touchdown and Darnell Savage produced a game-changing pick-six in the win over the Cowboys.

— Purdy has thrown six interceptions since Week 10, but PFF charted only four “turnover worthy plays,” the fewest among qualified quarterbacks. He was a bit unlucky on a few turnovers down the stretch.

— Purdy fumbled six times but lost only two in 2023. Love fumbled nine times and lost three.

— Under pressure, Purdy has 11 turnover worthy plays (11th most) and a turnover worthy play percentage of 5.4 (18th). Love has nine turnover worthy plays (9th most) and a turnover worthy play percentage of 4.2 (10th), so he’s actually been a little better at protecting the ball under duress this season.

— The 49ers get their hands on a lot of footballs. They batted 11 passes, defensed 42 passes and forced incompletions on 54 attempts. Charvarius Ward led the NFL with 23 passes defensed in 2023, and his five interceptions ranked tied for fourth.

— Per pro-football-reference.com, the 49ers were fifth in passes defensed and third in interception percentage. The Packers ranked 23rd in passes defensed and 31st in interception percentage.

— The Packers had more defensive touchdowns, 3-1. Green Bay got pick-sixes from Quay Walker and Savage and a fumble return from Jonathan Owens. The 49ers got a pick-six from Ward.