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omac
12-01-2007, 12:13 PM
http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_7595238


Broncos see red inside 20
By Woody Paige
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 11/30/2007 12:12:24 AM MST


The Red Zone was not invented by Red Grange, Red Miller, Red Auerbach, Red Buttons, the Red Sox, a communist, John Madden, the Woman In Red, Red Herring or the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Dave Plati, who nobly has served as the sports information director at the University of Colorado for a quarter of a century, does not have red hair (or much at all), but he does have a red flair for fascinating, unusual and oft-times worthless statistics — like "most yardage by a tailback who has four toes on his left foot and a pet viper: 122."

Plati moonlights for the Broncos as a statistician, someone who turns numbers into chicken salad. Years ago, he came up with this enlightening stat: "Scoring percentage inside the 20-yard line." He should have called the area "The Plati Zone." Instead, it became known as "The Red Zone," and Plati was responsible for one of the most important inventions since the Macarena.

So Mike Shanahan can blame Plati. If he hadn't thought up "The Red Zone," we wouldn't know how awful the Broncos are at scoring touchdowns when they get inside the opponents' 20-yard line this season.

If the Broncos hadn't failed to score touchdowns five times when they were in "The Red Zone" against Chicago and Green Bay, they would own a 7-4 record and be an elite playoff contender rather than a crumb-snatcher. The Broncos also butchered three opportunities in "The Red Zone" that might have changed the outcomes of the Jacksonville and Indianapolis games.

To be more specific, the Broncos have reached "The Red Zone" 33 times in 11 games, an average of three per. That's wretched, to begin with. New England has been to at least the 20 on 52 occasions, and Indianapolis 51.

As a result of those 33 trips, the Broncos have ended up with 16 touchdowns and 12 field goals. Five resulted in zilch. Their TD scoring percentage is 48.5 — 20th in the NFL.

New Orleans scores a touchdown on 74 percent of its drives that penetrate "The Red Zone. Eleven of the top 14 teams in "The Red Zone" are legitimate postseason teams.

The Broncos are down with the dregs.

"The Red Zone" statistic is very statistic in a world where figures lie and liars figure.

In the overtime loss to the Bears, the Broncos did move inside the 20 five times — and scored three touchdowns. But on the other two, they had first down at the 3-yard line and lost 2 yards before kicking a field goal. Later, it was first down at the 4, and the Broncos got zero yards in three plays before adding three points.

Their touchdown percentage in "The Red Zone" was 40.0 — not good enough.

Against Green Bay earlier, in the other overtime defeat, the Broncos scored a touchdown on their first visit to the hallowed land, but then stuttered and stopped three times. Jay Cutler fumbled to the Packers on their 1-yard line. Then the Broncos reached the Pack 16 before falling back on two holding calls and a sack. Field goal. With 25 seconds left in regulation, the Broncos reached the 4-yard line, but a pass and a run accomplished nothing, and the Broncos kicked to tie at 13. Brett Favre threw a touchdown pass on the first play of OT.

One-for-four — 25 percent.

Nobody can expect the Broncos to score a touchdown every time they move down the field, but six out of 10 is reasonable. Cleveland is at 61.0, San Diego 56.7.

If the Broncos had scored a touchdown from the Jacksonville 2-yard line in the third quarter, they wouldn't have been forced to throw a long, long pass for an interception in the final minute. A field goal at that point would have sufficed.

Shanahan can blame Plati, the defense, the special teams, the execution, the injuries, the moon and the stars, but he is responsible for calling the plays in "The Red Zone," and we can demand better selection and more creativity from a coach who does possess one of the most brilliant minds in the game. It was once said of Shanahan that if you cut open his skull, tiny footballs would tumble out of his brain. And they would have landed in the end zone, not gone over the cross bar.

Ever heard of "The Refrigerator" in goal-line situations? Is there any play worse than the fade at the 2? What about the Elway "Helicopter," a tight end drag, the rollout pitch, the Broncos' old fullback pass play into the end zone, a toss to a tackle-eligible Matt Lepsis?

If Shanahan wants to beat his Raiders of the Lost Arch Enemy and the rest of the adversaries on the December wish list, he must put the onus on himself to come up with a strategy other than a last-second timeout on a field goal.

"The Red Zone" has to become "The Orange Zone." Predominantly.

Stand Ablaze
12-01-2007, 01:00 PM
God I hope Shanahan will fix his red-zone problems this week. Can't settle for FGs damnit!

TXBRONC
12-01-2007, 01:11 PM
God I hope Shanahan will fix his red-zone problems this week. Can't settle for FGs damnit!


Blaze what do you want him to do?

I think more than anything else its been poor execution that has hurt the team.

omac
12-01-2007, 01:34 PM
Blaze what do you want him to do?

I think more than anything else its been poor execution that has hurt the team.

And to be fair, the Broncos were pretty good in the red zone against the Bears.

Cool that it was a Bronco statistician who invented the theory of the red zone. :rockon:

Lonestar
12-01-2007, 02:39 PM
Looks like I'm not the only one that thinks we stink in the Red zone..

Stand Ablaze
12-01-2007, 04:48 PM
And to be fair, the Broncos were pretty good in the red zone against the Bears.

Cool that it was a Bronco statistician who invented the theory of the red zone. :rockon:

Pretty good?!?! We had to settle for 2 FGs and FGs aren't enough.

omac
12-01-2007, 04:59 PM
Pretty good?!?! We had to settle for 2 FGs and FGs aren't enough.

3 TDs out of 5 trips in the red zone, with the other 2 possesions turning into FGs; that's pretty good. There's no such thing as an easy TD. 3 TDs out of 5 red zone trips is very good.

TXBRONC
12-01-2007, 06:01 PM
Pretty good?!?! We had to settle for 2 FGs and FGs aren't enough.

Sometime teams are going to kick field goals inside the red zone. Now I understand it's happened more than desired however its still going to happen and with a young team they are sometimes inconsistent in the red zone.

broncosfanscott
12-01-2007, 10:05 PM
3 TDs out of 5 trips in the red zone, with the other 2 possesions turning into FGs; that's pretty good. There's no such thing as an easy TD. 3 TDs out of 5 red zone trips is very good.

No there isn't and there isn't much room for passing TDs when you are close to the end zone. However, our offense has been getting better over the past couple of weeks so things seem to be getting better.

arapaho2
12-02-2007, 01:32 AM
Looks like I'm not the only one that thinks we stink in the Red zone..


well i dont know that we stink but certainly we could be better.....and i believe it boils down to playcalling and another small factor...we havent had a legit blocking fullback since HG and RR....we keep converting slower undersized Rbs to full backs...we need a lorenzo neal type to lead block and punch it in from the 2-3 yard line

SR
12-02-2007, 02:48 AM
So now my handle has a literal meaning. :laugh:

sneakers
12-02-2007, 03:18 AM
48% touchdown rate....I would have thought it would have been lower than that.

Stand Ablaze
12-02-2007, 07:18 PM
Ummm... Yeah we do suck in the redzone and that's a fact. Red Zone woes killing us every game.