ALLEN PARK -- Matthew Stafford knocked on the lecturn, while Golden Tate knocked on a laundry hamper. Jim Caldwell wouldn't talked about it at all.

When it comes to Stafford's streak of 137 straight passes without an interception, nobody wants to jinx it. But luck has little to do with it at all.

The Detroit Lions quarterback has been trending this way for a long time. Matter of fact, he's thrown a pick just once every 72.9 passes since Jim Bob Cooter became his coordinator in 2015. That's twice as good as the pre-Cooter era, when he threw one every 35.5 attempts.

Stafford posted the two most accurate seasons of his career in his first two seasons with Cooter, and threw just 10 interceptions last year. That was a career best for a full season, despite the finger injury that took a bite out of his numbers down the stretch.

He opened 2017 by throwing a pick-six. And hasn't turned it over since.

"We're doing a really nice job right now of holding on to the ball," Stafford said."Was fortunate a couple times last week. But yeah, it's a big part, especially when your defense is doing what our defense is doing and getting us the ball back a bunch. If we can not give it to the other team, that's a positive. But we still got to go out there and be aggressive and score points."

That's been the tradeoff for this offense, which has struggled the last three weeks. Stafford has thrown for just 198 yards per game in that stretch, and didn't pass for a touchdown at all last week against the Vikings. All told, the Lions rank 24th in overall offense.

They do rank 10th in points, although that's bolstered by two defensive touchdowns and another score on special teams. And that combination has been lethal during the 3-1 start. The Lions have jumped on 11 turnovers already, which leads the league. And their two giveaways rank fifth.

Only New Orleans, Buffalo, Kansas City and New England have been better. Those teams are 11-5.

So it should come as no surprise, then, that the Lions are 3-1. Because teams that win the turnover battle almost always win. And at plus-9, nobody's even close to them.

Buffalo, the surprise leader in the AFC East, is next closest at plus-6.

"Obviously (Stafford's) done a nice job in terms of navigating some very difficult terrain with a lot of people around you, getting the ball downfield, making the proper decisions," Caldwell said. "There may have been a time or two that he maybe had to take a sack as opposed to throwing it up in the air. But I think he's done a really nice job at that.

"I think he's been doing that for a while now, when you look at just his trajectory over the years. He's been improving in that area consistently. And we constantly preach that that's the most important part of what we do, is to win that turnover battle."

While the Lions have rode the turnover battle to the top of the NFC North, they also know they eventually will have to take some shots. They just haven't had to do it much yet, because they've played so much from ahead.

And Stafford, now a ninth-year veteran playing in his third season with the same coordinator, is perfectly happy just sitting back and completing the easy stuff. All of which leads to an offense that simply isn't making mistakes. At least not the kind that change games.

"We're winning ballgames right now, and it doesn't matter how you get them," Tate said. "I don't think this offense has peaked yet, which is the exciting news. It's going to happen sooner or later, and hopefully sooner rather than later. There's been times in past years where we threw for 500 yards in a game and still lost. So we're finding ways to win, and that's what's most important. I'm happy to see our running game is picking up.

"As far as the passing attack, it's going to happen eventually."