Tag: red zone offense

Cashing In: Cowboys turning red-zone opportunities into touchdowns in 2021

After turning just one out of their four red zone opportunities into touchdowns in Week 1, the Cowboys have found their groove in a part of the field where the difficulty is supposed to turn up. | From @StarConscience

NFL teams get their points wherever they can however once a team enters the red zone, it is extremely important to score touchdowns at a much higher rate than settling for field goals.

The Dallas Cowboys suffered a tough, 31-29 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 1 which could have been a win had they not gone one-for-four in the red zone. Dallas had three red-zone trips just in the second quarter alone but only produced nine points, and not taking advantage of those kinds of opportunities will get a team beat more often than not in the NFL. However, during the Cowboys’ three-game winning streak, they have been excellent scoring touchdowns inside the 20.

In Week 2 the Cowboys ventured out west to take on the Los Angeles Chargers. Although both teams are loaded with offensive talent, it was a low-scoring affair that featured three total turnovers. Dallas had limited opportunities in the red zone with just three. However, their two-headed monster at running back of Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard cashed in two red-zone touchdowns out of their three chances.

A week later, the Cowboys hosted the rival Philadelphia Eagles in Arlington. The game itself was over almost as soon as it started. Dallas used Elliott and Pollard combined 155 yards rushing and Dak Prescott’s precision passing to march up and down the field all game long. In five red zone trips, the Cowboys scored four touchdowns and routed the Eagles, 41-21.

The Week 4 game against the Carolina Panthers was looked at as a major test for the Cowboys’ offense going up against the NFL’s top-ranked defense. They passed with flying colors by putting up 433 yards of offense. It was fueled 245 rushing yards between Elliott, Pollard, and Prescott. In the red zone, the Cowboys were a perfect three out of three and built a commanding 36-14 lead before holding on 36-28.

That’s means that over their last 12 quarters of action the Cowboys’ offense has scored nine touchdowns in 11 trips (81.8%) inside the 20. For the season, they have scored touchdowns on 10 out of 15 red zone drives. Anytime a team can get seven points on two out of every three red zone visits you will score a lot of points, and the Cowboys are currently averaging 31.5 points per game.

The Cowboys wrap up their early-season three-game homestand with the New York Giants who are coming off of an overtime win against the New Orleans Saints. So far in 2021, the Giants defense has allowed 10 touchdowns in 14 red zone chances (71.4%) so this will be another opportunity for the Cowboys to keep being efficient where it matters.

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Lions vs Bears: Studs and Duds for Week 4

The Detroit Lions shot themselves in the foot to a 24-14 loss to the Chicago Bears, but with many duds, there are some studs this week.

The Detroit Lions walked into Soldier Field today in hopes of getting that elusive first win of the season against the Chicago Bears, but they will have to wait another week at a shot for that win. The Lions could not rebound from the number of mistakes made today dropping their fourth straight of the season with a 24-14 loss to the Bears.

Considering how the Lions and Bears played last week, many believed the Lions had a fair shot at pulling off the victory, but play after play on both sides of the ball it didn’t seem like they were in tune. Between the blown coverages and ill-timed turnovers, it dug the Lions a hole they couldn’t get themselves out today.

In a game where the Lions continuously shot themselves in the foot, it might be hard to walk away with anything the Lions can hang their hat out. Likely there were a few studs mixed in the number of duds this week.

Lions offense is embracing ‘Dagger Time’ after losing so many close games in 2020

Lions offense is embracing ‘Dagger Time’ after losing so many close games in 2020

After a season where the Lions had a lead at some point in the second half of 13 different games but won just three of them, it’s easy to see why the players are rallying around the new battle cry.

“Dagger Time”.

The Lions offense is using the phrase Dagger Time to focus on finishing out drives and games. It’s something quarterback Matthew Stafford has done quite well throughout his career. Yet even Stafford didn’t have his typical fourth-quarter magic or red zone excellence in 2019 even before a back injury ended his season after eight games

“It’s something that we came up with in a team meeting,” tight end T.J. Hockenson said during a Zoom session about the new mantra. “Everyone says finish, but I think we wanted to change it up. We’ve heard that throughout all growing up is, ‘Finish, finish, finish.’ But we kind of wanted to put our own little spin on it.”

The Lions sputtered in the red zone in 2019. Only five teams scored fewer points in the red zone than the Lions. They also fell off offensively in crunch time, finishing 26th in points per game in the second half with just 9.0.

Coach Matt Patricia appears to embrace the Dagger Time theme too.

“We can take a look at last year,” Patricia said. “You like to dive into the stats, you don’t like to live in them. But certainly, I think they do say a lot for us and where we need to improve. I think we had quite a few games last year where we were winning and had a chance to win and we didn’t, and quite a few games where we were actually leading in the fourth quarter. We need to close those outs.”

Nick Chubb can dramatically improve in one key area

Chubb has oddly struggled in short-yardage situations in the red zone

Nick Chubb has quickly established himself as one of the NFL’s top running backs. Chubb has rushed for 2,490 yards in his first two seasons and scored 16 TDs, but even with that impressive production, there is room for improvement.

Short yardage situations in the opponent’s red zone.

Chubb has had some struggles in short-yardage and goal-line runs in his two seasons in the NFL. Given his size, power and balance, it seems odd that a gifted runner like Chubb wouldn’t thrive in these situations, but that’s been the case — especially in 2019.

From Mike Tanier at Bleacher Report,

Nick Chubb rushed 15 times inside the 5-yard line for the Browns last season. He lost a total of 14 yards on those carries while scoring just two touchdowns.

But but but! I can hear you, fair reader. The line was awful at run blocking. Freddie Kitchens’ playcalling was predictable. The threat of the pass in the red zone wasn’t exactly scaring defenses.

All of those are true. Tanier acknowledged it too, noting,

So when an otherwise awesome rusher like Chubb spends a whole year going backward near the goal line, it typically has little to do with him and much more to do with a) a bad offensive line; b) bad play-calling; and c) bad luck.

Better blocking and more intelligent, focused play-calling will certainly help Chubb. Both of those should happen under new head coach Kevin Stefanski and offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt. Chubb is not an adept pile-leaper, so avoiding those type of plays would help out.

Keeping TE Darren Fells is key to the Texans’ red zone offense

The Houston Texans red zone offense will have the chance to stay in the top-10 in red zone production in 2020 with the retaining of TE Darren Fells.

The Houston Texans were tied for the fifth-worst red zone offense in the NFL in 2018 with a 50% conversion rate.

Their fortunes changed in 2019 as the AFC South champions finished as the seventh-best red zone offense with a 64.2% conversion rate. What was the difference?

Enter tight end Darren Fells. The 6-7, 270-pound former basketball player provided a big target for quarterback Deshaun Watson in the red zone. Fells was also able to develop cohesion with the two-time Pro Bowler, leading to seven touchdown catches, tied with receiver DeAndre Hopkins for the most on the team.

“A big, long target, athletic, he’s improving as a blocker, seems to be very reliable the closer you get to the end zone,” Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel said of Fells on Dec. 11, 2019.

 

If the Texans are going to stay in the top-10 in red zone production, they will need Fells to similarly keep playing at a high level inside the 20-yard line.

3 things the Browns must clean up to keep on winning

Freddie Kitchens and the Browns still have issues to clean up despite beating the Buffalo Bills. Here are 3 prominent ones.

Beating the Buffalo Bills was great. The Cleveland Browns desperately needed a win, and they got one in Week 10. And while the team did several things well, including a focus on doing the little things better, there is still ample room for improvement from coach Freddie Kitchens and his Browns team.

If the Browns wish to keep the winning spirit when the Pittsburgh Steelers visit FirstEnergy Stadium on Thursday night, they need to do three things better than they did against the Bills.

Bad coaching decisions

Buffalo got a safety with Baker Mayfield getting sacked in the end zone on a terribly designed play for the situation. The Browns went empty backfield and had no immediate quick outlet for Mayfield if he faced pressure. High-risk plays and formations were not what the game script called for in that situation, and it cost the Browns two points.

Kitchens got snookered into a timeout at the end of the third quarter by some smart gamesmanship from the Buffalo offense. Josh Allen never had any intention of snapping the ball before the quarter was going to expire, but Kitchens bought into the sell job and burned a valuable timeout.

A later stupid call — the failed shovel pitch to Kareem Hunt that was overruled as an incomplete pass instead of a Bills TD — is a terrible idea. Mayfield has struggled with the timing and execution on those types of plays all year, and he’s throwing it to a player making his season debut. Bad, bad idea.

Those are the type of rookie coaching gaffes that need to stop. Kitchens is often too cute or doesn’t take the broader sense of the game flow and possible negative outcomes to mind.

The red zone offense remains brutal

The Browns would have handily run away with this game had they been more effective in the red zone in the first half. A series of slow-developing, obvious run plays were easily snuffed out by the Bills defense. What could have been three touchdowns instead resulted in one TD, one FG and one epic fail on fourth-and-goal from the Buffalo 1-yard line.

The Browns got those extra opportunities inside the Buffalo 2 because of defensive penalties. Two of those came on the exact same play, an out move to the corner by Odell Beckham Jr. where he was the only receiver on a route under consideration.

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Kitchens put the blame on the offensive line not performing its collective job well. He’s not wrong — the Bills defensive line dominated the line of scrimmage on those failed Nick Chubb tosses and handoffs — but the slow-developing handoffs and obvious pitch directions are too easy to defend, too.

Creating takeaways

Cleveland’s defense was really good at creating takeaways in 2018. The Browns forced 31 turnovers in 2018, second-most in the NFL. That has not carried over into the first half of 2019.

Only four teams have fewer takeaways than the Browns’ nine through Week 10. Those teams are all bad, too: Atlanta, Miami, Cincinnati and Denver. This week’s opponent, the Pittsburgh Steelers, has 11 takeaways in the last three weeks and 26 in nine games.

The playmakers on the defense need to do a better job of getting after the ball and creating more opportunities to take it away. Cornerback Denzel Ward had a chance to make a pick on the first Bills pass of the game in Week 10, but instead of playing the interceptable ball, he was flagged for pass interference. Those are the kind of plays the Browns defense needs to make.

Freddie Kitchens blames goal-line stall vs. Bills on O-line

Browns coach Freddie Kitchens said the team’s goal-line offense stalled in Week 10 because the line didn’t block well enough.

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Eight straight times, the Browns snapped the ball inside the Buffalo 2-yard line in Week 10. The offense failed to score a touchdown, even when given bonus chances by defensive penalties.

Five of those plays were runs with Nick Chubb, one of the NFL’s best at breaking tackles. Those five carries netted minus-2 yards, including the 4th-and-goal play where Chubb was bowled under for a loss almost as soon as he got the toss from quarterback Baker Mayfield.

It was an embarrassing series for the offense and for Freddie Kitchens. During his conference call with reporters on Monday, the rookie coach offered an explanation of what went wrong on the epic red zone failure.

“Yeah, we have to do a better job of maintaining our blocks,” Kitchens stated. “We were on the right people for the most part. We just have to win our one-on-one matchups a lot of times down there. When you get down in goal-to-go situations, you would like to be able to run the ball in. To do that, you have to win your one-on-one matchups.”

The Bills defensive front did dominate the line of scrimmage the entire series. Kitchens was not pleased with the mentality of his offensive line in the tight quarters and close-range combat.

“This is just my personal belief: You are dealing with different types of scenarios when you are at the 1-yard line as opposed to the 12. It is a lot more about being precise in landmarks, execution, timing and things like that when you are in red zone offense because the field diminishes. When you are down there at the 1, it is almost like being in a phone booth. It is more of a mentality thing.”

It’s something the Browns need to fix quickly. The Pittsburgh Steelers, winners of four games in a row, visit FirstEnergy Stadium on Thursday.