New England Patriots: 3 Vital statistics for 2019 season

30

Only one team in the league this past season totaled fewer sacks than the New England Patriots. That would be the Oakland Raiders, whose 13 quarterback traps were a distant 32nd in the NFL compared to the Pats’ and New York Giants’ 30 sacks.

Of course, you can take that somewhat-low total in for what it’s worth considering that both the Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers tied for the lead league in this statistic (52), neither managed to get to the Super Bowl and the latter failed to qualify for the playoffs.

During the club’s 2018 three-game postseason run, Bill Belichick’s club racked up 10 combined sacks at the expense of the Chargers’ Philip Rivers (2), the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes (4) and the Rams’ Jared Goff (4). The club’s postseason leader in terms of quarterback traps was underrated outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy (3).

But as the legendary coach has pointed out in the past, most recently late last season (via WEEI and courtesy of Henry McKenna of PatriotsWire.com), stopping the other team’s aerial game is more than just racking up a bunch of sacks.

"“I think if you look at the overall passing game, the statistic that stands out the most in terms of correlation is pressure. So pressure on the quarterback leads to more bad plays than sacks do, in terms of turnovers unless you have strip sacks, obviously. That’s the No. 1. After that, pressures cause bad throws and potentially turnovers.”"

With defensive end Trey Flowers off to Detroit, putting the pressure on opposing quarterbacks will lie on Van Noy, Deatrich Wise and newcomer Michael Bennett, to name a few. But a less-than-imposing sack total doesn’t mean this defense isn’t getting the job done.