GREEN BAY – The Packers enter Sunday's matchup against the Patriots with more takeaways on defense than they had all of last season.
Meanwhile, New England comes in near the bottom of the league in turnover margin at minus-7.
The turnover battle can be a key to any and every game in the NFL, but it's particularly poignant when looking at these two teams.
For the Packers, posting 15 takeaways through eight games has been a welcome change from last year, when they managed just 14 over the full 17-game slate. It's not as though they've talked about turnovers any less or brought a different "ball-aware" mindset to the field.
But, for whatever reason, the results are now there, with 10 interceptions and five fumble recoveries thus far.
"That might just be the football gods testing our resolve a little bit," said safety Evan Williams, the reigning NFC Defensive Player of the Month, who's admittedly unsure exactly why the stats are suddenly so different this season. "But you've just got to stay ready for those opportunities, and they've shown up this year."
One gimmick that may or may not be a factor are the two footballs attached to coils in the wall at the entrance to the defensive meeting room. All the players are supposed to punch a ball as they walk in, a reminder to do so when that chance comes during a game.
But credit also goes to new defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, whose aggressiveness and pressure schemes have created opportunities for the defense to get its hands on the ball more often. And, unlike last year, when the Packers dropped a number of interceptions, they're securing most of them this year.
"All those guys really in the second and third levels have really good ball skills, and then they get put in positions," Head Coach Matt LaFleur said. "We're putting a lot of pressure on the quarterback in various different ways where sometimes they make bad decisions, and our guys are capitalizing on those."
The wealth has been spread, too. Six different defenders have an interception this season, while five different guys have recovered a fumble and four have forced one.
"You don't know who it's gonna be or when it's gonna come, but we just try to make plays that come to us," said cornerback Brandon Cisse, who just received the league's Defensive Rookie of the Month honor. "Then whoever sparks it off, we just try to pick our brother up and try to play to the level they're playing at."
The hope is some opportunities will be there Sunday against the Patriots and QB Drake Maye, who has thrown eight interceptions and lost two (of six) fumbles, accounting for 10 of New England's 15 giveaways.
But Maye has cleaned up his game from earlier this season, when seven of his eight INTs, and five of his six fumbles, came in the first four contests. Over the last four, he has just one interception in 117 pass attempts – in a loss to the Bears two weeks ago – plus one fumble last week at Miami.
It's no secret the defending AFC champs have won games when they've protected the ball and struggled when they haven't. The Packers are planning for the Maye that led the Patriots to the Super Bowl last year, and the one who was just named AFC Offensive Player of the Month, not the one whose game was under serious scrutiny back in September.
But they're going to try to disrupt his current hot streak.
"They've got a lot of turnovers this year, so we just got to get the ball out of the air," cornerback Keisean Nixon said. "That's what our goal is."
Williams added Maye likes to pick out matchups to attack, and when he doesn't like what he sees initially, he'll extend the play and make life that much harder on a defense's back end. He's actually the Patriots' second-leading rusher with 216 yards along with three rushing TDs.
"He does such a great job of creating when things aren't there," Cisse said. "Yeah, obviously on the run, that's probably when he's even more dangerous."
So can the Packers get a takeaway or two off Maye and force the Patriots to play uphill? Or can Maye protect the ball and make the Packers pay for their aggressiveness, which is becoming a trademark under Gannon?
The answer could decide Sunday's showdown in Foxboro.
