New York Jets Must Be More Efficient In Red Zone To Beat New England Patriots

by Matt Birch on Dec 1, 2010 9:38 PM EST

Went stat-hunting, and found a disconcerting one.

An hour ago, John posted a happy statistic; and informed us that the Patriots rank dead-last in the NFL against the pass, giving up 288.5 yards per game. Most of that can be attributed to the youth in their new-look secondary, as well as the loss of CB Leigh Bodden to injury.

However, I also found the Jets are tied (with St. Louis) for No. 29 in the NFL is red zone scoring percentage (40%). That's not good, and we must improve here.

The recipe for improvement? Keep it simple, Schotty.

More of the power-running game, but offensive line must also do a better job run-blocking and creating holes when deep.
The above will open it up for TE Dustin Keller on play-action, who needs to see more red zone targets for sure.
And on third down, if all else fails, you can't go wrong with a safe fade route in the corner of end zone to WR Santonio Holmes, or a quick slant to WR Braylon Edwards.

We've got to be better down there.

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Comments

Marty ball...

The ultraconservative general offensive philosophy coupled with BS’s “cute” and “clever” play calling is what is killing us in the red zone. We’re a team that seems to play for the field goal (a reason I keep hoping our kicking situation gets so bad that’s not really an option).

And yet… what happens when we turn on the afterburners and go with the two minute offense? Well… WE SCORE! I hate to keep parroting this but our last minute comebacks have had less to do with luck and more to do with playing an offense that went against the grain of our talent for the first 55 minutes of the game and then when things are on the line switching it up and dropping cleverness for execution.

We should open with a two minute offense and play like we have to score or else we lose. That’ll get the offense out hot and hopefully get a score on the board right away.

Oh, and one more thing… on 4th and 1, this team should ALWAYS go for it in the red zone.

by cult hero on Dec 2, 2010 1:22 AM EST reply actions

I find 4th and short with a team like this to be nearly irresistable

good thing I’m not a coach.

GGN Moderator, House pessimist, veteran arm chair coach.
www.GangGreenNation.com

by Bro Namath on Dec 2, 2010 2:32 AM EST up reply actions

two minute offense can get us out of the gate hot….or it can get us off the field in a real hurry and give momentum to the Pats. I can understand trying it on the first series while or D is real fresh, but it’s not something I think should be done for an extended period of time.

by JetGreen on Dec 2, 2010 8:31 AM EST up reply actions

I don't think so either...

But use it to open and mix it in there now and again. We could use a few drives like that. And the “if it fails” isn’t a great argument because it’s been working thus far this year.

What IS failing statistically is the stupid offense we currently run in the red zone. Every time this team switches to playing “not to lose” we start losing.

My pervious comment may have been vague but I am definitely not advocating a 2 minute offense all game.

by cult hero on Dec 2, 2010 12:54 PM EST up reply actions

One possible explanation

I think the Jets are so conservative in the Red Zone is that Sanchez through some costly picks last year that killed drives and I think they are still being overprotective of him in that situation.

by OldJetsFanatic on Dec 2, 2010 9:24 AM EST reply actions

I hate to gloat but....

I posted this same concern way back in week 3 or 4 and I believe the only I comment I got was “where are you getting your stats, I find that hard to belive?” (I think at that point we were converting 40% in points, whether it was field goal or TD… Our Red Zone performance is horrendous, but what we have shown through 12 weeks now is that it isn’t our execution, but maybe it is our play calling. How much of that is true, I don’t know. There were a bunch of situations the red zone was in sight and the play developed and someone either drops a pass, sanchez misfires and we can’t get it in, so I don’t put the blame entirely on Shotty. That being said, I think Shotty get’s much less conservative in the Red Zone when the pressure is on in the last few minutes and the Jets execute for a change. I think the boys need to execute better on 1st and 2d down in the Red Zone, to prevent Shotty from taking the conservative approach on 3 down. The problem is that if we don’t score the TD on 1st or 2nd down, Shotty sort of settles for a safe bet field goal play. Get it done when it needs to be done and we dont have to worry about the conservative play calling.

by lss282 on Dec 2, 2010 11:02 AM EST reply actions

I agree with your comments 100% cult hero, Time to stop coddling Sanchez in the red zone or try to be tricky like Schotty often times likes to do and let him be the offensive threat we drafted at #5

by longsuffering but optimistic on Dec 2, 2010 2:09 PM EST reply actions

good points

i belive shotty was the reason we failed last year and he keeps our offense handcuffed even if it continues to fail- waits till end of game if then
WHY hasnt we used brad in wildcat to THROW? HELLO? he can pitch to lt LT- then LT toss it back and brad can hit anyone down field- dang come on he has a dang good arm and id be prepping him for back up qb hes the best back up in my opnion- but then he has many talents

by booyaa36 on Dec 2, 2010 5:00 PM EST reply actions

However, I also found the Jets are tied (with St. Louis) for No. 29 in the NFL is red zone scoring percentage (40%). That’s not good, and we must improve here.

Compare that to the NE offense.

Number 1 in points per drive: 2.77
Number 1 in TDs per drive: .340
Number 1 in Drive Success Rate: .764 (resulting in a 1st down or TD)

by ________key on Dec 2, 2010 6:21 PM EST reply actions