The red zone defense

[sieglo]

The Pats' red zone defense continues to be horrendous. Seems like the opposition walks away with a TD every time they penetrate inside the Pats' 20-30 yard line. As of now, I think the Pats are 32nd in the league in red zone defense (although I could be wrong, since I can't find this stat anywhere).

The issue hasn't really received much attention on this board. How do the Pats solve their red zone problems?

 

[Pats_AZ]

i was also very suprised when i heard that we were 32nd in this area of our defense. I am curious on a few things regarding this stat.

how many attempts in the redzone?

Does the fact that the Pats have had such large leads in most of their games contribute to the lack of intensity of the defense? are they maybe conceding the TD when the leads are large?

I have a theory that the blowouts have had some impact on the defense and the sometimes less the brilliant defensive play.

 

[MDPATSFAN]

Here's the stats:

http://www.profootballweekly.com/PF...de+the+Red+Zone/2007/13redzn.htm?mode=defense

Pats opponents have scored 20 TDs on 28 red zone incursions. The bright spot is that they have only allowed 28 red zone trips, which is among the lowest in the league.

 

[ClevTrev]

The surprising element of this is that NE in the last 7 years has always had a solid bend-but-don't-break, stingy defense that became toughest inside the red zone. This is a completely different situation. I'm hoping this is just a stage for this team, and it can be corrected.

 

[Oswlek]

i was also very suprised when i heard that we were 32nd in this area of our defense. I am curious on a few things regarding this stat.

how many attempts in the redzone?

Does the fact that the Pats have had such large leads in most of their games contribute to the lack of intensity of the defense? are they maybe conceding the TD when the leads are large?

I have a theory that the blowouts have had some impact on the defense and the sometimes less the brilliant defensive play.

This is not the case. NE has allowed TDs to most every team on first half drives into the RZ, including NY, BUff, Miami, Dallas, Balt, Philly....

As far as I can recall, the only teams that didn't score a RZ TD in the first half were Cleveland, Indy and SD. (surprisingly enough considering the quality of the offenses. Actaully Buffalo also weren't in the RZ on their first half TD.