Red Zone Offense

[brdmaverick]

Just rewatching the game, right before Ridley's TD run on the opening drive the commentator says something along the lines of .........

"Let's see what the Patriots do here. All the talk this past week has been about the Patriots Red Zone offense and their lack of execution."



Did I miss something?

Our red zone offense was great at Tennessee.

I'm not even sure we got in the red zone against the Cardinals (twice tops? including 1 TD).

We put up three TDs against the vaunted Ravens D.

Going into this weekend's game, did anyone actually have a problem with the Red Zone offense?

I guess I missed this paranoia. I just recall talk of Edelman/Mankins/Gronk injuries, McCourty not playing well, and bad luck with replacement refs.

Well, even if paranoia did exist over Red Zone offense, hopefully the Buffalo game put it to rest.

 

[Kontradiction]

IMO, they were talking about the increase in Gostkowski field goal attempts over the amount of TD's the Patriots scored while in the red zone in 2011. Of course, the loss of one of the most important cogs in our offense early on in Week 2 *COULD* have something to do with that.

 

[robbomango]

7TDs passing, 7TDs rushing, now that's balance.

 

[Big-T]

7TDs passing, 7TDs rushing, now that's balance.

8 different scorers too?

Rushing: Brady, Bolden, Ridley
Receiving: Lloyd, Edelman, Gronkowski, Hernandez, Woodhead (+ a rushing TD)

 

[brdmaverick]

8 different scorers too?

Rushing: Brady, Bolden, Ridley
Receiving: Lloyd, Edelman, Gronkowski, Hernandez, Woodhead (+ a rushing TD)

Welker is noticably abscent. They must be phasing him out. What is going on?

JUST KIDDING!

 

[jmt57]

Through three weeks the Pats had scored touchdowns on 50% of their trips to the red zone; that ranked them 16th in the league in that category. For a team known for its prolific offense, I think the commentator's point was noteworthy.


Week One at Tennessee
2nd Qtr: Brady 2-yard TD pass to Gronk; Pats lead 21-3
3rd Qtr: Ridley 1-yard TD run; Pats lead 28-10
4th Qtr: Gostkowski 25 yard FG good; Pats lead 31-13
(1st & goal at 10; Ridley 1 yd run, Ridley 2yd run, pass to Hernandez incomplete)
4th Qtr: Gostkowski 31 yard FG good; Pats lead 34-13
(1st & 10 at 13; Bolden 2 yd run, Bolden 0 yd run, Bolden -2 yd run)



Week Two vs Arizona
2nd Qtr: Gostkowski 34 yard FG good; score tied 6-6
(1st & 10 on 19; Ridley 2 yd run, Lloyd 5 yd catch, Woodhead 0 yd run)
4th Qtr: Brady to Gronk 5 yard TD pass; Pats trail 20-18
4th Qtr: 1 7 10 on 18; 5 yard penalty and 42 yard FG missed wide left

This game probably felt as if the Pats did worse in the red zone than they actually did to many. Pats had a 3rd & 2 on the 28 they did not convert which led to a FG; a 1st & 10 on the 48 where they gained only 1 yard and had to punt; a 1st & 10 on the 47 where they had to punt; a 1st & 10 on the 33 where they gained 0 yards and had to settle for a FG; a 1st & 10 on the 34 that ended with Woodhead's 9-yard loss, knocking them out of FG range; a 1st & 10 on the 48 where they had to punt; 1st & 10 on the 35 where they settled for a FG.


​

Week Three at Baltimore
1st Qtr: 1st & 10 on 20 after 59 yard pass to Welker: 37 yard FG is good
Pats lead 3-0
(Ridley 1 yd run, Ridley 0 yd run, incomplete to Edelman)
1st Qtr: 1st & goal at 6 after Gregory INT; Bolden 2 yd TD run; Pats lead 10-0
--- Not in the red zone, but 1st & 10 on 29 lost yardage; Pats settle for FG and 13-0 lead
2nd Qtr: 1st & goal on 7; TD pass to Edelman. Pats lead 20-14
3rd Qtr: 2nd & 7 on 18; Woodhead 3 yard TD run. Pats lead 27-21
3rd Qtr: 1st & 10 on 18, 1st & goal on 4: 20 yard FG. Pats lead 30-21
(-4 yd run, 0 yd run, 6 yd pass)
--- Not in the red zone, but 1st & 10 on 40 and 1st & 10 on 45 on next two drives go nowhere, both ending in punts.



Some of it was probably more of a feeling that the Pats were not completing drives than actual red zone percentage, but the Pats were not finishing drives as well as they normally do prior to Sunday's game at Buffalo.