There may be debate about the suggestion that turnovers and takeaways are the most important threads in the fabric of football because it’s human nature to quibble about nearly everything, but the Falcons will offer a blanket statement.
They prefer the season of taking rather than giving, and there’s fresh yarn to see why before closing the season Sunday against the NFL’s greatest givers.
Tampa Bay (5-10), after all, ranks last in the NFL with 34 turnovers and next-to-last with a minus-18 turnover margin. Plus, the Falcons (6-9) have been thieves of late.
In the rearview mirror: a combined seven takeaways and a plus-5 turnover margin in victories over the Cardinals and Panthers.
Further back: a minus-7 margin in the team’s preceding five-game losing streak.
No wonder coach Dan Quinn said, “I believe what has led us to play closer to our identity is our turnover margin. That part over the last two games has definitely come alive.”
Takeaways are frequently a joint effort, a Poole act if you will.
At nickel back, Brian Poole is asked to deploy as a Swiss army knife of sorts, and he has with four takeaways in the past two games -- an interception and a fumble recovery in each contest against Arizona and Carolina.
“You’ve got to hunt it. I mean, you’ve just got to go get it,” he said. “You’ve got to keep it on your mind when you’re going to make tackles, when you’re in coverage, on special teams ... it’s just a mindset.”
Poole’s had help.
His fumble recovery against the Cardinals came after Grady Jarrett’s strip sack of Josh Rosen. His recovery against the Panthers came after Deion Jones’ strip sack of Taylor Heinicke.
Against the Panthers, tackle Jack Crawford’s interception came after safety Demontae Kazee tipped a pass on an exotic call that resulted in a 290-pound man picking off a pass on the rush of a 195-pounder.
Remember when Vic Beasley returned a fumble 74 yards for a score against the Ravens? That came after Jarrett’s strip sack of Lamar Jackson.
And when the recent streak of thievery began with Jones’ 41-yard interception return for a touchdown in the first quarter against Arizona, that started with Beasley tipping Rosen’s pass.
You see some names popping up repeatedly in this, like that of Jones, who had the first takeaway of the season, an interception in the season opener at Philadelphia after Kazee jarred the ball loose from tight end Dallas Goedert.
Jones was lost for 10 games to a foot injury soon after that.
“We always talk about the guys who have an ‘It’ factor for the football ... 2017, (Jones) and Keanu (Neal) were among the top two guys at getting the ball, and that hasn’t happened a lot this year until he came back,” defensive coordinator Marquand Manuel said. “You see that he sparks one and then everybody else follows suit. ... It’s almost infectious.”
Neal was lost for the season in the season opener. The strong safety forced eight fumbles in his first two NFL seasons, recovered three, and had an interception.
The Falcons have forced eight fumbles as a team this season, with Jarrett leading the way with three, and have recovered only four fumbles.
They have 14 interceptions, though, with Kazee’s six being the second-most in the NFL.
With Jones around, the Falcons are more likely to take the ball away because as Quinn said, “He is at the very front of the line,” when it comes to forcing turnovers.
Poole, who has three interceptions this season, won’t argue that.
“Oh yeah, no question, because good things happen to those who run,” he said. “If you’re running to the ball and I’m running to the ball, there’s a good chance that he’s got the same mindset that I’ve got.”
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