The New England Patriots allowed 16 points on Sunday night to the Denver Broncos, while the Minnesota Vikings allowed 30 points to Washington earlier in the day. Both the Patriots and Vikings defense were in the middle of impressive streaks on defense and they share a common bond.
The Patriots have allowed 17 or fewer points in each of their past five games. They allowed 14 to the Buccaneers; 17 to the Jets; 7 to the Falcons; 13 to the Chargers; and now 16 to the Broncos. This is the fifth time since the start of the 2016 season that a team has had a streak of five or more games.
All five times belong to the Patriots and the Vikings.
The Vikings opened up the 2016 season by allowing 16, 14, 10, 10, and 13 points, which is impressive when you add in their four-game streak of 17, 17, 13, and 10 to end the 2015 season, including the postseason. That 9-game streak is the longest since the Tennessee Titans did it in 10 straight games from 2007 to 2008; the Patriots have the longest streak since 2000, doing it 11 straight from 2001 to 2002.
After Minnesota kicked off the season with a 5-game streak of allowing 17 or fewer points, the Patriots followed by doing it twice on two separate occasions. The Patriots did it in five straight weeks from week 4 to week 8, when they allowed 0, 16, 13, 17, and 16; and they did it again from week 15 through the AFC Championship Game, giving up 3, 3, 14, 16, and 17 points.
The Vikings were off to another strong start in 2017 with six straight games of 17 or fewer points allowed, until Washington snapped that streak. From week 3 to week 8, Minnesota allowed 17, 14, 17, 10, 16, and 16 points.
And now the Patriots have the longest active streak at five games. Will they be able to extend it against the Oakland Raiders? The Raiders have scored 17 points or fewer in all five of their losses, and 26 or more points in all four of their victories; there’s been no in between. If the Patriots can get past the Raiders, the Miami Dolphins have the 32nd ranked offense and could extend the streak further.