I recently featured how teams perform following a game whereby they benefited from a + 5 or more turnover margin or they were a team that “coughed up” the ball a minimum of 5 times. I revisit this for two reasons in this week’s column, firstly there are eight teams that fit this profile and secondly, for the first time in more than three decades, I did not watch any football this past week as I am severely under the weather with pneumonia. I’m on the mend so the bank of TV’s in the office will be humming this weekend.

Here is the set-up for Week 14.

A. We want to play ON all teams that turned the ball over 5 or more times last week. The Lions, Raiders and Broncos fit the play on profile.

B. We want to play AGAINST all teams that benefited from 5 or more turnovers last week. The Patriots, Texans and Seahawks fit the play against profile.

Last week the Bears and Vikings each turned the ball over 5 times, and that’s a very rare occurrence. Since 1989 only six teams have under achieved with identical – 5 exact turnovers in a game. The Bears were a – 5 in 1997, 1998 and last week vs. the Vikings.

A complete breakdown of identical – 5 in the turnover department teams are: 1992 Jets and Steelers, 1997 Bears and Rams, 1998 Bears and Cardinals and the 2006 Bears and Vikings. I did not include the Bears and Vikings as a play on or against team due to their identical – 5 takeaways.

In Week 13 the Vikings were + 5 in the takeaway department vs. the Cardinals (so they were live in a play against scenario at the Bears) but Chicago (also a + 5 due to their game vs. the Patriots, were also in a play against situation.) Obviously one can not play against both teams, so I did not include this game in the chart.

The record for the 2006 season is a very respectable 23 – 8 ATS or 74%. Once again, handicap all aspects of the games and do not simply use this 2006 sampling of games as the be all and end all!

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