It’s difficult to run in the red zone so don’t even bother? It’s also difficult to pass in the red zone, so we shouldn’t bother there either and just kick field goals.
yesterday in all of our red zone possessions, we ran the ball either for a TD or to the 1(which possibly could’ve been a TD had the Steelers not laid on the ball and delayed), we shredded them on the ground whether we were in the red zone or not, and when we last played them we shredded them on the ground between the 20s and then got pass happy in the red zone and stalled, same as the Titans game.
the results yesterday suggest very strongly that your theory here is wrong, especially considering we did it with a small fraction of the talent compared to the previous games.
Saying we shouldn’t run in the red zone because the box gets tighter is frankly ridiculous, run lanes are gonna be the same regardless because it’s all horizontal spacing and the field is 50 yards wide no matter where you line up, but throwing windows are the ones that shrink dramatically when you can’t threaten vertically.
And you don’t see where going from Ingram to dobbins brings results? Maybe not directly in record because more shit went wrong than just running Ingram in our losses, indirectly though it very well could have made a difference. Ingram handoffs have been wasted downs, many times, and even on some of Ingram’s decent gains you see a lack of juice from him directly resulting in missed opportunities, windows that dobbins would’ve blasted through for big gains but instead it’s Ingram hitting a hole just as it’s closing for a modest gain, and then you have to factor in the snowball effect from there on out when we are gashing for double digit gains time and time again, so yes, replacing Ingram’s carries with dobbins throughout the year would have made a difference.
And I wasn’t necessarily saying play calling is a harbaugh issue, I’m saying that I am sometimes envious of teams with great offensive minds at HC who can step in on the fly and change it up when needed, like the mcvays and shanahans and reids, is that ok with you? Like is it ok that I wish harbaugh was more inclined with the Xs and Os? Or do you have to write 3 more bullet points as to why I’m not allowed to feel that way lol
1. I didn't say never run in the red zone. I said if you're going to pretend like because you're breaking off chunk runs between the 20s that you will do the same in the red zone, then you're going to be wrong a lot more than you're going to be right. Its hard to break off big runs in the red zone because there's literally no where to run. Its just like I don't expect deep shots in the end zone from the 15 yard line... its not going to work because there's always going to be coverage there.
2. I don't put much stock into what we did yesterday being a barometer for anything because a) our only offensive options were run the ball, throw an interception, throw an incompletion or get sacked. The likelihood of us completing a pass for even a yard or two was so small until late that it was a waste of time.
3. What I'm saying about the first Pittsburgh game is that, what you are suggesting, which is we ran the ball down their throat, then got cute in the red zone, and pass happy, didn't actually occur. Like it literally never happened. Its remembering things that didn't happen.
There weren't any "stalled" drives in the red zone. We were 3/5 in the red zone that came. The two failed scoring drives involved turnovers by Lamar.
The first was a sack/fumble on 2nd and goal from the 8 (a pretty good spot to throw), after we ran the entire drive.
The second was a 4th and 3 (again, not an obvious running down) that actually turned into a running play, where Lamar fumbled. We literally ran the ball the entire possession.
So this idea that we got inside the 20 and just started chucking it isn't rooted in anything to be found on film.
AND... I actually looked at the Tennessee game, and I'm not seeing instances of that either.
1/4 in the red zone. The 3 failed attempts were as follows:
1. 3 plays. Pass on first down, run on 2nd down (for 1 whole yard), designed pass on 3rd down that turned into a Lamar scramble for 2 yards. Note that was the 2nd drive in the game, where we hadn't really developed the run yet, and most of the yardage from that drive came via the air.
2. After getting a 1st down in the red zone, we went run for -3 yards, scramble for 1 yard, and an incomplete pass.
3. We were in the 2 minute drill, where throwing is pretty much the only reasonable play selection. We actually drove the ball 65 yards down the field in said 2 minutes, almost entirely via the pass, and then stalled and kicked a game-tying FG.
So like I'm failing to see ANY drive in those two games where we did what you indicated. And one thing that was clear via the play analysis was that, as we got into the red zone, we ran the ball much, much, much less effectively.
4. As for Ingram, if its not impacting the outcome, quite frankly, I don't care. Like sure we could have scored my points or gained more yardage or whatever, but those stats don't matter at the end of the year. If Ingram was costing us games with his ineffectiveness, I'd be the first to get rid of him. And I'm still all for him being inactive. But the rubber didn't really meet the road until pretty much the Tennessee game.
There's no way anybody is going to come up with an explanation that involves Dobbins getting more carries than Ingram against KC and us winning that game. He didn't play in either Pittsburgh loss, and nobody was effective at running the ball against NE.
So like yeah, its an example of coaches not evaluating players properly, but I'm not seeing that impacting the teams record.
