Thanks AJ for that look at the inside the 10 stats.

Given the poor Red Zone record referenced in other posts, when compared to the stats you’ve presented, I’m left wondering what our stats look life between the 20 & the 10.

Love the humor you injected also.

I’m off to stakeout a “gentleman’s club.” I’ve convinced my superiors that lots of ne’erdowells conduct unsavory business at these fine establishments. I love my job!

I won’t have my laptop (a man looking at a laptop at stripclub would be very suspicious).

I think you will find, based on common sense, that most teams had a high % of success inside the 10’s. I think the fact we had close to a 10% turnover in the 10’s is pretty pathetic IMO.
I, too, would also like to know our success between the 10 and 20. In a lot of ways, the “Boy Genius” Bates was forced to run the ball in the 10’s….but anecdotally we threw the ball a TON in the between the 10 -20 area, even when our running game was doing well. Bates seemed to have a problem, which was exacerbated by Cutler’s need to throw the ball vertically all the time, where we never “ground it out” between the 10 -20. Many times, the 3rd and ? was not manageable because we had thrown on the first 2 downs….instead of picking up 3 here, 3 there and having 3rd and 3 or less.
Thanks for the humor too…I voted for the French Maid outfit….AND THANK YOU JENNY!

Was the number of times that the Broncos had a 1st and goal inside the 10 and did not score or settled for a field goal.

I don’t have stats on it, but I have that burning feeling that it happened all too often.

Couple that with the most telling, to me, which is that out of 17 2 minute posessions last season, we had only one field goal to show for it.

I think your proposition may have been more true in past years when the line averaged in the area of 285 lbs and was the smallest in the NFL. I think the Broncos have managed to get a lot bigger now than they used to be.

The early talk of McDaniels blending Denver’s zone blocking with gap blocking and the use of different schemes in close may prove to be the remedy that would make us far more effective in the "bloof red " zone. (love that term by the way.)

Good post and good discussion.

I think what you have to look at is who do we have running the ball and who is playing QB, giving the ball to guys like Tatum Bell and Selvin Young on the goal line is basically a losing proposition, you need guys who have a nose for the end zone and can work in tight places. I think you will see thatsome guys can excel at that Davis, Portis, Hillis, and some guys just aren’t that good at finding the gap or driving into the end zone. I would be curious what the rates are through Shanahan’s tenure has been, based on who was the RB and who was the QB. The other problem is if you have a QB that the oppossing team doesn’t respect, then they can stack the line and take away the run.

It sure seemed like a lot more than that.
BTW, is Jenny available for a Comprehensive Study? :-)

but there is nothing inherent in a zoneblock, or ina zoneblock “suited” line that would make it trend towards finnesse or any other measure of being a bit underwhelming where it matters most: in the redzone.

The idea is that lighter agile palyers can be pushed around at the point of attack, but it just isn’t true. Lineplay is 90% technique, and zoneblockers are as likely as anyone to be very well versed in technique. they also benefit more from the players around them than iso-style blocking units, so you also gain a power in numbers aspect as well.

It comes down to individuals, as it always does. Zim and T.Jones and Stinky were all zoneblockers who were tough and mean and onery, adn the zoneblocking looked like it, even to teh extent of getting labelled fantastically filthy dirty. (ooh look! A can of worms!) As B-Man said above, the RB matters, and in Denver’s one-cut system the RB REALLY matters. Not in terms of pure talent (which is very helpful) but in their one-cut running skills, primarily: patience behind the line of scrimmage, vision at the line (ability to read the proper gap selection (our scheme creates options)), cutback timing and aggressiveness, and acceleration through the hole.

Very nicely done!

The ’97 and ’98 Bronco teams were pretty effective in the Red Zone, and they were all about the ZB. True, that was a long time ago and the League has a whole has adjusted somewhat, but is it now ineffective as a system in the Red Zone?

I’d say “no”- I think our problems have much more to do to do with personnel, execution, and technique.

Interesting stuff to ponder, thanks!

While it is generally true that you have to move the defensive line in order to run effectively in short yardage, that does not mean you have to push them backwards. Most drive blocking “smash mouth” teams will try to do just that. But watch closely and you’ll also see that many defensive lineman just submarine the O-line and try to stack things up at the LoS. Try pushing someone backwards who is already on all fours?

Zone blocking schemes move the defensive line by forcing them to move laterally. Instead of submarining and digging in, the D-line has to move laterally and maintian their gap. The O-line then tries to hook, turn, or cut the defender creating a hole to run through.

But even a pure ZB team like Denver doesn’t alway run ZB plays. Denver often will run straight ahead drive blocking plays. However, because of the threat of the ZB, the D-line still can’t just dig in. They have to read and react, giving the blockers a split second more time to get better position.

What makes scoring so difficult in the “Blood Red Zone”, as you called it, is that you are playing in confined space. The safeties are playing up at the line because there is no deep threath (you can’t throw a 40 yd pass from the opponents 3). So the runner has to be able to run through arm tackles, while protecting the ball, and probably run through a shoulder to reach the end zone. Mike Anderson did this well; Terrell Davis was fantastic at running tough in the red zone. Gary and Bell were so so.

I can’t help but think of you as the cop in Usual Suspects now…..very cynical, always to the point……..there can’t be any deep sophisticated plan to what the Broncs are doing with the draft and scheme. Just evaluate it on face value, it doesn’t make sense…..the pics, the FAs, etc.

So now that I have you psychologically stereotyped, I gotta say you might be DEAD right…..oh yeah, I really like reading your stuff too!