Here are the plots updated through week 11, with Patriots 2001-16 in red, 2017 in green.
Per-drive points allowed vs yards allowed:
Pts allowed versus predicted points allowed considering yards allowed and average drive starting L.O.S.:
The residuals from the above plot:
Including turnovers:
They are super bend-but-don't-break-ish this year. It isn't the turnovers - they are 17th in the league at turnovers forced per drive. It's a bit of the starting L.O.S. - they are 1st in the NFL this year and currently have the 12th best average defensive starting LOS in the data set (out of 512 team-seasons; past NE teams also hold 4th, 6th, 8th, 14th, 22nd, and 29th places). However, even after accounting for DLOS and TOs, they have still been über BbDB-ish in 2017 thus far.
Per-drive points allowed vs yards allowed:
Pts allowed versus predicted points allowed considering yards allowed and average drive starting L.O.S.:
The residuals from the above plot:
Including turnovers:
They are super bend-but-don't-break-ish this year. It isn't the turnovers - they are 17th in the league at turnovers forced per drive. It's a bit of the starting L.O.S. - they are 1st in the NFL this year and currently have the 12th best average defensive starting LOS in the data set (out of 512 team-seasons; past NE teams also hold 4th, 6th, 8th, 14th, 22nd, and 29th places). However, even after accounting for DLOS and TOs, they have still been über BbDB-ish in 2017 thus far.