Teams must avoid costly turnovers
In Sunday's 13 games, there were 48 turnovers, only slightly elevated from season to date averages. Normally a good number of turnovers are benign, like the Hail Mary throw at the end of the half that is intercepted in the end zone, or the long interception that is just as good as a punt. But almost every turnover in Week 7 impacted the scoreboard.
10 of the 48 turnovers ended drives where the team was inside the opponents' 30 yard line, taking points off the board. Two of those 10 were made by the New York Giants, who ended up losing their game to the Eagles despite holding their opponent to a season low 47 yards passing. Tampa Bay also twice turned the ball over in scoring range, and had another set up a 49er touchdown. That's a potential 21 point swing.
The other 38 turnovers led to 152 points being scored, or an average of 4.0 points per turnover. Carolina's four turnovers led directly to 20 Titans points and put them in a hole early that they could not dig out of. Baltimore's three turnovers became 17 points for Cincinnati in a game the Bengals only won by eight. The Dolphins scored their only touchdown on the day after the Patriots' Tom Brady fumbled the ball on their own 16 yard line. In overtime, a Dolphins interception set up Brady's game winning touchdown pass. In the Rams/Packers game, 24 points were scored off of turnovers. In all, 18 touchdowns and 13 field goals were scored either on the play of a turnover or the succeeding drive.
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