FOXBORO -- The 2010 Patriots were the modern-day gold standard for takeaways -- they finished the regular season at a remarkable plus-28. That included seven picks from then-rookie corner Devin McCourty, as well as three interceptions each from Patrick Chung, Brandon Meriweather and James Sanders. (They had 25 as a team.)

That was also the season that Patriots quarterback Tom Brady had a ridiculous turnover-free stretch of 335 pass attempts without an interception. He finished the season with 11 consecutive starts without an pick -- the most by a quarterback since the 1970 merger. (Ultimately, he threw only four interceptions on the regular season.)

While the Patriots are only five games into the 2012 season, it certainly appears they have a chance to match those numbers from two years ago. New England is currently at plus-10, with 14 takeaways (six interceptions, eight fumbles) and only four giveaways (one interception, three lost fumbles). The totals are the best in the AFC, and tied for the best in the league with the Falcons.

While all takeaways are welcome, on Sunday against the Broncos, the Patriots had three of them that came at particularly opportune moments, leading to momentum swings:

•The first one that was forced by the Patriots came deep in New England territory when corner Sterling Moore punched the ball away from Broncos wide receiver Demaryius Thomas inside the Patriots’ 15-yard line and came away with the ball. It prevented what would have been a score on the opening drive by Denver.

•The second came deep in Denver territory when defensive end Rob Ninkovich sacked Peyton Manning and forced a fumble, allowing the Patriots to take over on the Denver 14. That was quickly cashed in by the offense on an eight-yard touchdown run by running back Stevan Ridley.

•The third came late in the fourth quarter when Ninkovich knocked the ball away from Willis McGahee, which was recovered by Jermaine Cunningham. It halted a late push by the Broncos, and allowed New England to run out the clock.

Whether the turnovers were the result of offensive carelessness or an aggressive defense, on each occasion, when the opportunity arose, the Patriots took advantage of the situation.

“It’s an awareness of those opportunities and then taking advantage of them when they occur,” said Patriots coach Bill Belichick. “[It] isn’t on every play, but they do happen.”

“If we keep giving the offense the ball, good things are going to happen,” said defensive lineman Vince Wilfork. “Defensively, we know that. We’ve got a lot of turnovers, and we have to get more. Each week, that’s probably one of our main goals -- turning over the ball (on defense) and not turning it over. Getting it back to our offense.”

“Last week, it’s a totally different game if we don’t get that fumble there at the end or that strip-sack that Rob got,” said quarterback Tom Brady. “That strip that Sterling got on Demaryius Thomas, they’re critical.”

This year, McCourty and rookie safety Tavon Wilson have two interceptions each, while Ninkovich and linebacker Brandon Spikes each have three forced fumbles. And while Wilfork has scooped up two forced fumbles the last two weeks, Ninkovich has also played a major part in the recent run of turnovers. Working as a defensive end who has flip-flopped with Chandler Jones on occasion, he has two sacks and three forced fumbles in the last two games.

“In a Bill Belichick defense, you never know what position you’re going to be in. It’s good to know multiple positions. Ninkovich moves around a lot,” Wilfork said of Ninkovich, who has also worked as an outside linebacker. “He does a very good job of knowing his role. Any given Sunday, Bill may want to move you, and you’ve got to be ready for it. [Ninkovich has] answered the challenge every week.”

“He’s a very versatile player,” linebacker Jerod Mayo said of Ninkovich. “He’s been playing well all year, even though those big plays just started showing up.”

One of the reasons the Patriots’ defense has had such success at forcing turnovers this season is because they’ve had to face an offense on a daily basis that’s pretty stingy when it comes to giving up the ball. It’s fueled some friendly competition between the offense and defense that plays out on a regular basis on the practice fields behind Gillette Stadium.

“It’s tough. It’s tough,” Wilfork said when asked about trying to pry the ball away from the offense. “It’s very tough, because like I said, [they] protect the ball pretty good.. That’s why you have to take advantage of the times when you’re doing drills, really focus in on it. Because that’s probably the only time you might get a chance to work on it.”

Heading into this weekend, it would certainly appear the Patriots have opportunities to pad their takeaway totals. The Seahawks are minus-one in takeaways (tied for 11th in the NFC) with seven takeaways (three interceptions, four fumbles) and eight giveaways (six interceptions and two fumbles).

But while Belichick likes where his team is when it comes to takeaways, he isn’t necessarily going to assume it’s just going to happen again this week against the Seahawks.

“It doesn’t really matter. It’s Seattle; it’s what happens this week,” Belichick said. “Hopefully, we can be on the plus side of the turnovers against Seattle, but that’s hard to do because they do an excellent job of taking it away and they do a great job of protecting it.

“Their backs really run hard, they get a lot of extra yardage. That’s often a time when backs will be less protective of the ball because they’re struggling for those extra yards and trying to break tackles and all that -- but not these guys. They run hard, break tackles, gain extra yards and don’t fumble,” he added. “We’ll see how it all plays out Sunday but just because it happened in a couple other games or didn’t happen, I don’t think that really means anything for Sunday.”