What's deal with the red zone, anyway?

by Akula Wolf on Nov 8, 2010 7:21 PM EST

Among The Wolfpacker's notes from today's press conference:

The red zone offense will get a lot of focus this week in practice. NC State leads the ACC with six red zone turnovers and is 11th in red zone touchdowns. O'Brien said the coaches have to do a better job of putting Wilson in a position to succeed.

(Quick correction: 11th in RZ touchdown percentage, not total touchdowns)

Is there anything meaningful behind State's low RZ touchdown percentage? The skill positions returned almost completely intact from last season--and State was very good in the red zone last season. The head coach is the same, the offensive coordinator is the same, the system is the same. So what could account for the difference this season other than coincidence, randomness, and untimely lack of execution? What systemic problem could exist now that didn't before?

NC State has scored on 36 of 48 trips into the red zone. The failed scores break down like this: 2 fumbles, 2 turnovers on downs (both in garbage time with the Pack winning big and Wilson out of the game, so toss those out), 4 INTs, 4 missed field goals. Russell Wilson has made some unfortunate decisions to account for those INTs, and one of the fumbles was an unforced error. The timing of those mistakes is most unfortunate, but those are not red zone issues. Those are everywhere-on-the-field issues.

I'm not sure there's much to say about the red zone struggles other than them's the breaks.

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Comments

I think a part of it is

the limitations of a shotgun formation. The running plays out of shotgun do not really lend themselves to short yardage in a compressed field since the running back has no momentum prior to getting the ball. The QB read seems like an option, but that is not really a part of our offense. I would like to see more roll outs and delayed QB draws. We seemed to rely on a lot of seam routes early in the season once we got into the redzone, and those have not been there lately. Our best redzone play still seems to be the fake handoff to the FB, followed by wilson rolling out and having the option to run or toss to the FB for an easy completion (typically).

Those are my thoughts, and I have never played or coached football at a competitive level so take them for what they are worth.

by PACKHOOLIGAN on Nov 9, 2010 8:30 AM EST reply actions