The New England Patriots have had a successful first half of the season, all things considered. Going into Week 9, the team is 5-3 and 3-0 in the division, in spite of a laundry list of injuries.
The team's lack of talent on offense after injuries to A.J. Brown, Romeo Doubs, Mack Hollins, Mike Onwenu, Alijah Vera-Tucker, and now Hunter Henry has no doubt disarmed the offense. After averaging 33.3 PPG in Weeks 4-6 with an injured group of skill position players, the team has managed 24 points in each of their last two matchups, with a 1-1 record during that time.
Injuries have stifled the offense this year, but they aren't the only reason for the lack of dominance the team showed last season. A major reason the team has struggled has been their turnover issues. After Jacob Rodriguez punched the ball out of Efton Chism's hands in the first quarter on Sunday, New England hit 15 turnovers on the year. In their 14-3 2025 season, they turned the ball over 16 times all season.
Chism's fumble marks 15th Patriots turnover on the season
— Karen Guregian (@kguregian) November 1, 2026
New England's turnover struggles are their Achilles heel
With nine games to go, the Patriots have the second-worst turnover margin in football: -0.9 per game. In other words, they give the ball up nearly one more time per game than their opponent. Despite that, they're 5-3.
That's a major deviation from the norm. The team with the worst and third-worst turnover margins? The 0-7 Colts and 2-6 Chargers, respectively.
In terms of turnovers in general, New England ranks fourth in the league. Once again, the Chargers (first) and Colts (third) rank above them in the metric. The second-ranked Atlanta Falcons just turned the ball over four times in monsoon conditions against the Buccaneers, skewing their figure. Nonetheless, turning the ball over is a trait of poor football teams. The Patriots have as many wins as the Chargers, Colts, and Falcons combined.
Getting the turnover issue under control is a must for the Patriots going forward, but over the last few weeks, they've done a solid job of reducing their giveaways.
The #Patriots have generally done a very strong job limiting turnovers over the last few weeks.
— Graham Wilker (@GrahamWilker1) November 2, 2026
Over the first four games:
- 2-2
- 16.3 PPG
- 11 turnovers
Over the last four games
- 3-1
- 29.8 PPG
- 4 turnovers
While seeing starters return to the lineup and A.J. Brown step up his game are key, limiting turnovers has done the team a world of good in the short term, and should remain a priority as they look to hold on to their Super Bowl hopes in the second half of the season.
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