SmootSmack
10-01-2010, 01:50 PM
Crazy to think we're tied for last in the league in 3rd down conversions with the 3-0 Pittsburgh Steelers.
Sometimes to really understand why a team is struggling in 3rd down conversions is to look at their 2nd down attempts. I haven't done this, but I would be interested to know how many 3rd and longs they've had to face. (which I believe Matty also alluded to)
Our Red Zone offense is consistently abysmal
FRPLG
10-01-2010, 01:59 PM
Getting the ground game cranked up and staying out of 3rd and longs would be nice too of course.
Yeah, without statistical evidence I'd say we seem to be in 3rd and long a hell of a lot. That is killer. It's a lot easier to get creative on 3rd & 3.5 rather than 3rd & 9. I'd also like to see Portis in on 3rd more often.
I'd dont see why leaving him in to chip and release would be bad. Especially on a 3rd and mid-range.
Skins are 6/33 on 3rd downs. 6 conversions in 3 games?? That's insanely bad.
What's interesting is they kick ass on 1st downs and average something close to 8 yards an per play. So something appears to be going horribly wrong on 2nd downs.
FRPLG
10-01-2010, 02:06 PM
Our Red Zone offense is consistently abysmal
Personnel.
FRPLG
10-01-2010, 02:08 PM
Skins are 6/33 on 3rd downs. 6 conversions in 3 games?? That's insanely bad.
What's interesting is they kick ass on 1st downs and average something close to 8 yards an per play. So something appears to be going horribly wrong on 2nd downs.
I can remember off hand at least 3 times we've penaltied our way out of 3rd and shorts. So it is probably more like 5 or 6 times we've done. Remember too in the Dallas game we made some 3rd and longs early on. In fact we only seemed to be able to make 3rd and longs.
With a mobile QB we should be much more efficient on 3rd. It's like we rely on McNabb on 1st and 2nd then on 3rd we panic and make terribly awful play calls.
FRPLG
10-01-2010, 02:09 PM
And this is putting our D on the field too much.
The Skins best WR (Moss) is just too small to be a factor in the Red Zone and cant win jump balls. Everyone know the Skins cant run the ball and cant do a fade route with their small WRs so IMO it makes them easy to defend.
Irish, it........breaks my heart to agree with you, alas I do. I nearly wretched the other day when Andre Johnson pulled in the pass...easliy in the end zone over our guy.
If we do not get D Thomas or ??? in the act and with our lack of credible ground game, we are easy to defend. When was the last time on 3rd and 3, we even....thought about a run play?
HOWEVER...it is encumbent on "the boy genius" to realize these facts and DEAL with it
irish
10-01-2010, 03:34 PM
Irish, it........breaks my heart to agree with you, alas I do. I nearly wretched the other day when Andre Johnson pulled in the pass...easliy in the end zone over our guy.
If we do not get D Thomas or ??? in the act and with our lack of credible ground game, we are easy to defend. When was the last time on 3rd and 3, we even....thought about a run play?
HOWEVER...it is encumbent on "the boy genius" to realize these facts and DEAL with it
Its not that the Little General doesnt understand what to do, he realizes he doesnt have the players to do what he wants. If he thought Thomas or ??? could get it done they'd be in there. He's trying to find a way to deal with it but when you dont have the players to get it done it makes things tough.
Its not that the Little General doesnt understand what to do, he realizes he doesnt have the players to do what he wants. If he thought Thomas or ??? could get it done they'd be in there. He's trying to find a way to deal with it but when you dont have the players to get it done it makes things tough.
I hear you. It's not like this is original thought. I imagine he gave up sleep some time ago trying to contrive, and scheme some genius for our Offensive shortcomings...HTTR
GTripp0012
10-01-2010, 03:48 PM
Skins are 6/33 on 3rd downs. 6 conversions in 3 games?? That's insanely bad.
What's interesting is they kick ass on 1st downs and average something close to 8 yards an per play. So something appears to be going horribly wrong on 2nd downs.I'm just looking back at my notes from the first three games, and it certainly appears that the tendency after an unsuccessful first down play (and we've had our share of successful ones for sure) is to reverse trend. If it's an incomplete pass, we like to run or screen in second down. If we ran for little gain, we like to take a shot, either at the sticks or down the field.
It's a strong trend.
The result appears to be a severe reliance on getting a big play when we try it. If not, a third down is nearly inevitable. And obviously, that third down figure is going to regress towards the mean a little bit, but it's going to be low as long as we are in third and longs.
And Portis is right that when we do get in third and short, we have the fun ability to get a procedure penalty and back it up to third and long.