Quantifying Vince Wilfork's impact

On Tuesday, Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia said it was difficult to use statistics to tell the story of Vince Wilfork’s value to the Patriots.

Between the work he does in freeing up space for linebackers, taking on blockers, stuffing the run, collapsing the pocket as a pass rusher, and providing standout leadership on defense, his value is hard to quantify, Patricia said.

ESPN Stats & Information took that as a challenge, comparing the performance of the Patriots defense when Wilfork is on the field to when he's off of it. The result are the numbers you see in the table to the right.

Patriots D with Wilfork on/off field

	On field	Off field
Plays	678	168
Yards/Rush	3.60	5.25
Sacks	27	1
Dropbacks/Sack	15.6	105.0

(espn.com)