FOXBORO, Mass. — During the first quarter of Sunday’s 27-13 victory over the Cleveland Browns, the New England Patriots forced turnovers on three consecutive plays, becoming the first NFL team to do so since the 2012 Miami Dolphins.
Below is an in-depth look at how the Patriots manufactured each takeaway — two of which led directly or indirectly to touchdowns and one of which prevented one — with insight from nearly a dozen players and coaches on both teams.
PART 1: THE SCOOP-AND-SCORE
On the Browns’ fifth play from scrimmage, running back Nick Chubb took a handoff from quarterback Baker Mayfield, following the blocks of pulling linemen Joel Bitonio and Justin McCray. As that convoy approached the right side of the formation, Patriots linebacker Kyle Van Noy dove at Bitonio’s knees, sending the guard’s feet soaring skyward. His right Nike cleat made contact with the ball, knocking it out of Chubb’s hands.
Defensive tackle Lawrence Guy, who arrived a split second later to wrap up the Chubb, was credited with a forced fumble.
Guy: “As soon as I got the ball out, I saw it. But it was a rainy day. Rainy days, the ball is a little bit (more) slippery. So it was one of those things where, when you make a tackle, you always try to go after the ball, and it happened to pop out.”
Browns coach Freddie Kitchens: “It’s very out of character (for Chubb). I think (ball security) means more to him than anything.”
Patriots cornerback Stephon Gilmore: “That’s what we do. We try to turn the ball over. It was wet out, so we knew the ball was going to be slippery a little bit.”
Chubb unsuccessfully tried to regather the ball as it caromed off McCray’s back. After one bounce on the turf, linebacker Dont’a Hightower corralled it and galloped 26 yards untouched for the Patriots’ fourth defensive touchdown of the season.
Hightower: “We want to be aggressive on defense. That’s just kind of our mentality. It’s worked for us so far.”
Patriots coach Bill Belichick: “A great play by Hightower coming out on the strip fumble, and Van Noy played that play well. It was good team defense.”
After Hightower crossed the goal line, Patriots defenders launched into a “Boogeymen”-inspired touchdown dance while KC and the Sunshine Band’s “I’m Your Boogie Man” blared over the Gillette Stadium speakers.
Hightower: “The whole Boogeymen (nickname) thing, that was a little fun thing for us, and it kind of got blown out of proportion, But, I mean, it’s something that we do in practice. We have fun, we continue to work, and we’re successful while we’re doing it, so I hope we keep our foot on the pedal on that.”
Patriots cornerback Jonathan Jones: “It’s perfect. Any time we’re walking into the end zone, that’s a celebration. Guys are getting after it.”
PART 2: THE CHASEDOWN
Jake Bailey drilled the ensuing Patriots kickoff out of bounds, allowing the Browns to start their drive at their own 40-yard line. Mayfield pitched to Chubb to begin the series, and this time, the second-year Georgia product burst through the line, breaking tackles from cornerback Jason McCourty, Hightower, corner J.C. Jackson and safeties Patrick Chung and Devin McCourty.
As Chubb approached the Patriots’ 10-yard line with no defenders in his path, Jones, who’d been knocked to the ground by guard Wyatt Teller moments earlier, caught up. Using his right arm, Jones was able to rip the ball out of the Chubb’s hands.
Jones: “Once I saw the ball and I was running, I knew I had to go for it. I saw him holding it out, and it was slippery. It was like, ‘Come get me.’ And I got it.”
Devin McCourty: “J. Jones is one of the fastest guys in the locker room. So I felt him coming from my right. He did a great job. That’s something as DBs I think we all think about. When we’re running, we know we can catch guys from behind.”
Guy: “Straight effort. That was our second forced fumble, so it was a momentum change, and he saved a touchdown.”
Belichick: “That was a great play. Jon’s really fast. He plays with great effort all of the time, and he’s made so many big plays for us in the four years that he’s been here. That was a tremendous play. He just tracked Chubb down and timed the slap perfectly.”
NFL’s Next Gen Stats clocked Jones, a former track star, at 20.25 miles per hour on the play.
Jones: “I was hoping (I would catch him). I was hoping all that speed paid off for something. But it was just hustle.”
Once the ball was jarred loose, a scrum formed near the Patriots’ goal line. Mayfield, Browns receivers Odell Beckham Jr. and Antonio Callaway and both McCourtys immediately dove in, with Devin ultimately emerging with the pigskin.
Jones: “Devin was there to recover — his hustle to jump on the football. It was a team play.”
Devin McCourty: “We’ve done a good job of hunting the football and understanding when we watch film, like, ‘Hey, when this guy has the ball, he’s loose with it.’ So, I think as a defense, we all know that. Each individual that steps on that field is aware of that, and then we go out and try to play to it.”
Belichick: “I’m not even sure who got the ball, but getting it out was half the battle, and then recovering it was the other half of the battle. … When you chase a back like Chubb 50, 60 yards downfield, knock the ball out and recover it — it was a huge play. Kind of a demoralizing play, but it ended up being a big play for us.”
Patriots tight end Ben Watson, who knows a thing or two about chasing down a ball-carrier: “You just don’t give up on a play, that’s all. You don’t give up on a play. You never know if your effort is going to pay off in a turnover or not. That’s what we are paid to do, keep chasing until the whistle. I couldn’t believe it because Nick had good ball security, he had it high and tight, and sometimes that happens. As ball-carriers, you know those guys are always coming, and they do a really good job of punching it out.”
PART 3: THE BIG MAN INT
New England’s first two takeaways were the results of contributions from multiple Patriots players. The third and final was a solo effort and an impressive one at that.
After a modest drive by the Patriots’ offense that resulted in a punt, Kitchens dialed up a bit of misdirection that called for Mayfield to flip the ball to the wide receiver Jarvis Landry while faking a handoff to Chubb. Landry lined up just to the left of McCray, who’d pull on the play to serve as a lead blocker. The left guard, Bitonio, was to block Guy, preventing the big defensive lineman from blowing up the play from the backside.
Bitonio was too slow. When McCray vacated his spot, Guy instantly filled it, clogging Landry’s intended lane. Less than two seconds after the ball was snapped, a shocked Mayfield pitched it, underhand, right to Guy.
Kitchens: “We were supposed to block the end. We didn’t block the end. So I don’t know. I really don’t know. I mean, I know we were supposed to block the end, and we didn’t block the end. So it ends up being an interception.”
Bitonio: “We have run that a few times. They had a 3-4 defense out there, which is just a little different than what we are used to running. They were head-up on the tackle, a nose guard and the other tackle. Usually, I have a three-technique there, so it was a little longer for me to block back.”
Landry: “I honestly don’t know what happened. I came to get the shovel pass, it was a shovel pass. I saw a flash of color and Guy made the play.”
Mayfield: “We’re not expecting him to be there, obviously. A little misdirection, just pitching it to Jarvis. I’d like to say that I’d be able to hold onto it, but it’s a quick exchange that we’ve practiced, and Guy made a good play.
Guy: “I saw the ball coming out, and I was like, ‘Oh, he threw me the ball.’ Get my hands up. Let me get it.”
Guy instantly tucked the ball to his chest, covered it with both arms and was able to gain an additional 5 yards before Bitonio and Mayfield dragged him down. Julian Edelman caught the first of his two touchdown passes two plays later to give the Patriots a commanding 17-0 lead.
Guy: “That’s just one of those plays where, when you play every down hard, stuff like that tends to happen. It was a great defensive play.”
Jones: “He got off the ball. It was a great play of him getting off the ball and the awareness to locate the quarterback and locate the ball and make a great play. It happened so fast, and I was like, ‘Let’s go!’ ”
Guy: “I was like, ‘Oh, I’ve got to high-and-tight the ball because I can’t fumble this.’ That would look like crap if I fumbled it. So it was exciting to be able to do that and to get the first interception and get a big turnover. It’s one of those plays that changed the momentum.”
The interception wasn’t just the first of Guy’s nine-year NFL career. It was his first ever at any level. He hopes to track down the ball and display it in his locker.
Jones: “He’s got more interceptions than me (this season).”
Guy: “He’s got more sacks than me.”
The Patriots, who improved to 8-0 with the win, have forced an NFL-best 25 turnovers through the first half of the regular season — 19 interceptions and six recovered fumbles. They forced 28 over the course of their entire 16-game schedule last season. In 2017, they forced 18.
Guy: “It’s good compatible football. We play good football together, and it shows.”
Jones: “We were flying around. Just flying around. It was contagious — one play, get the ball out. The weather was a big factor, so we knew if we continuously tried to get the ball out and everybody flew around and hustled, we have a good defense.”
Hightower: “We do a lot of tackling and then turnover-type things in practice. Obviously, it’s paying off.”
