Nobody doubts the importance of avoiding turnovers in today's NFL, but it's a little striking how important avoiding interceptions is to winning right now. Eight of the nine teams that threw the fewest interceptions in the league in 2013 made the postseason, and only two of the 12-team playoff field finished lower than 13th in terms of avoiding picks.
One of the two teams that was only average or worse in terms of avoiding interceptions was Green Bay, which was without its starting quarterback for half the season, and was awfully fortunate to sneak in as an 8-win team. The other happens to be this weekend's biggest favorite, Cincinnati. Does its tendency to throw interceptions make it a candidate for the weekend's major upset? We'll see.
The interception totals for each NFL offense last year are presented below, with playoff teams listed in bold.
2013 INTERCEPTION TOTALS (OFFENSE) | |
---|---|
Team | Ints |
Kansas City | 8 |
San Francisco 49ers | 8 |
Philadelphia Eagles | 9 |
Seattle Seahawks | 9 |
Denver Broncos | 10 |
Indianapolis Colts | 10 |
San Diego Chargers | 11 |
New England Patriots | 11 |
St. Louis Rams | 11 |
New Orleans Saints | 12 |
Dallas Cowboys | 12 |
Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 12 |
Carolina Panthers | 13 |
Chicago Bears | 13 |
Pittsburgh Steelers | 14 |
Buffalo Bills | 15 |
Green Bay Packers | 16 |
Tennessee Titans | 16 |
Atlanta Falcons | 17 |
Detroit Lions | 19 |
Washington | 19 |
Miami Dolphins | 19 |
Minnesota Vikings | 19 |
Cincinnati Bengals | 20 |
Cleveland Browns | 20 |
Oakland Raiders | 20 |
Jacksonville Jaguars | 21 |
Arizona Cardinals | 22 |
Houston Texans | 22 |
New York Jets | 22 |
Baltimore Ravens | 23 |
New York Giants | 29 |
--Andy Richardson