Tom Brady wary of turnovers giving Matt Ryan more chances

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FOXBORO -- Traditional numbers do not suggest the Patriots should be terrified of Atlanta’s defense. Also, eyes and stuff. 

This regular season, the Falcons ranked 25th in yards allowed and 27th in points allowed. They ranked in the bottom half of the league in pass defense (27th), run defense (17th) and interceptions (18th). 
 
Yet the Falcons have made it this far in the postseason and they’ve done it by limiting offenses and putting up an ass-ton of points when they get the ball. The Patriots ranked third in points scored this season with 27.6 points; Atlanta just allowed 21 points to the fourth-ranked Packers offense (27.0 points a game) while dropping 44 on them. 

As we spend this week and next playing out each scenario for either side to win, here's an easy way for the Pats to falter: They can keep putting Matt Ryan and Julio Jones back on the field off turnovers. That's Tom Brady's fear, anyway. 

“When you give this offense the ball more times than they’re supposed to get it, they put touchdowns on the board. They’ve been getting them all year, and it’s going to be important,” Brady said Thursday. “Ball security is always important for our team. We talk about it every week. It’s our No. 1 goal. I think their No. 1 goal is getting the ball off the opposing offense, so it’s going to be a battle of who can possess it.” 

Atlanta isn’t exactly a bunch of ball hawks (because they’re Falcons, duh), but Brady, who is coming off a regular season in which he threw just two picks over 12 games, has developed a habit of giving the ball away in the playoffs. 

Going back to Super Bowl XLIX, Brady has thrown multiple picks in three of his past five postseason games. The Patriots are 2-1 in those games because he’s been Tom Brady on the snaps when he hasn’t thrown picks, but the Pats should still be wary of getting into a game in which Brady is watching Ryan play extra snaps.  That means no picks and no fumbles -- from anyone. 

It figures to be easier for the Patriots to score on that defense than it will be to stop an offense that averaged nearly five points more than anyone else in the regular season. If Brady carves up Dan Quinn’s defense and the Pats limit the damage done by Ryan, it should be ring No. 5 for Brady and Belichick. Yet Brady isn’t assuming his part will be easy as he preps for a defense that, while similarly coached to the Seahawks group he saw two seasons ago, isn’t one he knows well. 

“That’s the biggest thing is understanding how they play, their scheme and the strength of their guys,” Brady said. “They’ve got a lot of good players, and they have a lot of youth, a lot of speed. They’re very well-coached, very disciplined and they’re ahead by 20 points in so many of these games. It’s tough to really see got-to-have-it-type defenses, but they play with enthusiasm, they play aggressive. Very tough, hard-nosed team. We’re going to need to play really well, I think, in all phases of the game. You don’t get to this point and [think] you’re going to go out there and play an average game and expect to win.”

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