I've been spending a little bit of time this season talking about garbage time. I think it's important to understand the context behind some of the statistics and rankings that are thrown around.
For instance, the Patriots 17th in passing yards against and 2nd in rushing yards against on the year. These numbers are heavily skewed by the game script, where the Patriots get a big lead and opposing teams have to throw the ball in order to catch up. Of course the Patriots have had arguably the best run defense in the league since week 3, but the Patriots also have a top 10 pass defense by opposing passer rating, a better indicator of defensive ability than yardage.