Average starting field position

[PrometheusFaulk]

Thought this was interesting and I would share it with some informed Ram brothers. Apologies if it's old news.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/drivestats" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/drivestats</a>

The Rams average starting field position on offense was the 23.72 yard line, good for dead last in the NFL. Some of the mitigating factors here:

- They ranked second to last in fumble recoveries with 4. They ranked 21st in the league with 14 fumbles forced.

- They ranked second to last in punt return average at 6.6 yards per. With 37 returnable (that is, not kicked out of bounds or in the end zone punts) punts, they fair caught 20 of them.

- They ranked 26th in kick return average at 21 per.

Conclusions:

If the Rams can generate some more fumbles, get luckier with recovering them, and block better for their returners they will set up the offense with better field position, leading to an increase in touchdowns and scoring average as they'll have a shorter field to work with. I think improving at winning the field position game is the biggest area of opportunity for them to improve in the win-loss column. Thoughts?

 

[LesBaker]

Special teams hasn't been very special for many years now. DA also had a down year for returns I just checked his stats and he was 4 yards per return below what he normally produces. Also Givens, Pead and Pettis were involved and I don't know if they returned kicks in college so it would have been new to them.

Not trying to make excuses for them but we really don't have a return specialist on the roster. And I know that the thought is that TA changes that I dunno if I want the kid returning kickoffs.....maybe punts.....but not kickoffs.

 

[PrometheusFaulk]

Special teams hasn't been very special for many years now. DA also had a down year for returns I just checked his stats and he was 4 yards per return below what he normally produces. Also Givens, Pead and Pettis were involved and I don't know if they returned kicks in college so it would have been new to them.

Not trying to make excuses for them but we really don't have a return specialist on the roster. And I know that the thought is that TA changes that I dunno if I want the kid returning kickoffs.....maybe punts.....but not kickoffs.

IMO, what the fair catch numbers show to me is that yes, Amendola and Pettis may have not been ideal returners, but at least in the punt return game, the issue is more the guys blocking for them. Think about it - if you're getting less than a 46% chance of actually doing anything with the ball, it doesn't matter how fast you are. By comparison New England had 42 returnable punts and fair caught 8 of them (19% fair catch average - if you took that percentage for the Rams returnable punts, that's 13 more opportunities to advance field position).

And givens was the kick returner, we know he can be a dynamic athlete in space. The key is getting him that space.

 

[Thordaddy]

Special teams hasn't been very special for many years now. DA also had a down year for returns I just checked his stats and he was 4 yards per return below what he normally produces. Also Givens, Pead and Pettis were involved and I don't know if they returned kicks in college so it would have been new to them.

Not trying to make excuses for them but we really don't have a return specialist on the roster. And I know that the thought is that TA changes that I dunno if I want the kid returning kickoffs.....maybe punts.....but not kickoffs.

See ,I'm JUST THE OPPOSITE,IMO if TA sees you coming he'll make you miss,but punts so often it's catch /bang where his elusiveness never got a chance to protect him.

 

[libertadrocks]

Well the offense is to blame too. Not generating many yards is a great way to lose the field position contest.

 

[Selassie I]

I long for the day that kicking to the Ram return team (punt or kick) strikes fear in the hearts of the kicking team and it's coaches.

 

[PrometheusFaulk]

Well the offense is to blame too. Not generating many yards is a great way to lose the field position contest.

Sure, but on that same link you'll notice that their average yards per drive was 29.6, good for 19th in the league, which obviously is a little below average but not as dire as some of these other rankings. And they turned the ball over .116 times per drive, which was good for 11th. It's an area to improve on, an area where they've already spent a lot of assets on (Long, Austin, Bailey, Stacy), but not the main issue.

 

[Thordaddy]

I long for the day that kicking to the Ram return team (punt or kick) strikes fear in the hearts of the kicking team and it's coaches.

I share that sentiment, fear in the enemy is what we must aspire to.

 

[PrometheusFaulk]

I long for the day that kicking to the Ram return team (punt or kick) strikes fear in the hearts of the kicking team and it's coaches.

I share that sentiment, fear in the enemy is what we must aspire to.

For sure. This measure of table setting is often missed when talking about great offenses - think about those great return units and all the turnovers generated in '99. It's like having a leadoff hitter getting on base in baseball. Sure the other guys can hit without one and you can still score runs, but it makes the job that much easier.

 

[albefree69]

If it's a blocking problem as you surmise, then that's on the ST coach I would think. Return guys are part of it of course but the blockers and blocking scheme have to be looked at more closely. If I remember correctly, I think I saw almost everybody peeling back to set up the return instead of blocking someone first. I could be wrong about that though.

 

[PrometheusFaulk]

If it's a blocking problem as you surmise, then that's on the ST coach I would think. Return guys are part of it of course but the blockers and blocking scheme have to be looked at more closely. If I remember correctly, I think I saw almost everybody peeling back to set up the return instead of blocking someone first. I could be wrong about that though.

Bingo. On the punt returns, I think the area to really focus on is the transition blocking - finding a way to slow a guy down before the ball is kicked and while it is in the air. Whether that's coaching or the players, that type of analysis is above my pay grade, but improving this area would be huge.

Another opportunity I see in a slightly different vein - stripping the quarterback on sacks. With 52 sacks, the Rams had a ton of opportunities to hit the quarterback while he was in an awkward position, sometimes when he couldn't even see the guy, and get that ball out of there. For example - Long and Quinn combined for 22 sacks - which is great - but only one forced fumble. Compare that to Miller and Dumervile in Denver who combined for 12 forced fumbles. Recovering them can be a matter of luck, a lot of it depends on how the ball bounces, and recovering 4 out of 14 suggests to me that the Rams were very unlucky, and that should regress to the mean a little bit, but getting to the quarterback so often provides all of these opportunities. It would behoove them I think to capitalize them by creating more volume in terms of forced fumbles - once the QB is wrapped up - knock that ball out.

 

[PrometheusFaulk]

More fun with numbers - the Rams touchdown percentage inside the Red Zone was actually pretty palatable at 51.35 percent. While it's still below average ranked at 19th, they were actually ahead of Indy and Andrew Luck and just a few ticks outside of the Minnesota Adrian Petersons.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/red-zone-scoring-pct" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/re ... coring-pct</a>

However, with only 2.3 red zone attempts per game, they were ranked 29th and only .1 attempts ahead of the bottom.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/red-zone-scoring-attempts-per-game" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/re ... s-per-game</a>

Conclusions - Obviously there is an onus on the offense reaching the Red Zone more often in order to capitalize on what can work there. However this is another reason why starting the drive with good field position will help, either via the return game or turnovers. They went out and got Cook and are hoping for an improvement from Quick so that they can win more of those jump balls and fade patterns in the end zone, but there's still work to do in terms of getting there, which starts with the aforementioned table-setting.

 

[albefree69]

PrometheusFaulk apprising us with more interesting facts:
More fun with numbers - the Rams touchdown percentage inside the Red Zone was actually pretty palatable at 51.35 percent. While it's still below average ranked at 19th, they were actually ahead of Indy and Andrew Luck and just a few ticks outside of the Minnesota Adrian Petersons.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/red-zone-scoring-pct" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/re ... coring-pct</a>

However, with only 2.3 red zone attempts per game, they were ranked 29th and only .1 attempts ahead of the bottom.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/red-zone-scoring-attempts-per-game" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/re ... s-per-game</a>

Conclusions - Obviously there is an onus on the offense reaching the Red Zone more often in order to capitalize on what can work there. However this is another reason why starting the drive with good field position will help, either via the return game or turnovers. They went out and got Cook and are hoping for an improvement from Quick so that they can win more of those jump balls and fade patterns in the end zone, but there's still work to do in terms of getting there, which starts with the aforementioned table-setting.

I'm not sure there's a direct correlation between starting field position and red zone TD percentage. Better field percentage would probably lead to more TDs and more total points (especially with Legatron on the team) but that's not what you're talking about here. It will also help with the green stuff. Of course you said that but I'm just clarifying it. Red zone TD percentage starts with every team in the red zone. :lol:

The stuff you said that I put in blue will hopefully address the TD percentage. Along with better play calling and other improvements we've made.

 

[JIMERAMS]

you guys must read my mind. i was watching the replays and kept thinking man every time we get the ball we are inside the 20. hope that changes this year

 

[albefree69]

JIMERAMS forgetting to wear his tin foil skull cap:
you guys must read my mind. i was watching the replays and kept thinking man every time we get the ball we are inside the 20. hope that changes this year

Well we can't actually send me money read minds or control send me money anyone's thoughts but yeah it was pretty send me money bad last year. Hasn't really been very exciting since Tony Horne.

That's all gonna change this year. :bg:

 

[PrometheusFaulk]

PrometheusFaulk apprising us with more interesting facts:
More fun with numbers - the Rams touchdown percentage inside the Red Zone was actually pretty palatable at 51.35 percent. While it's still below average ranked at 19th, they were actually ahead of Indy and Andrew Luck and just a few ticks outside of the Minnesota Adrian Petersons.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/red-zone-scoring-pct" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/re ... coring-pct</a>

However, with only 2.3 red zone attempts per game, they were ranked 29th and only .1 attempts ahead of the bottom.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/red-zone-scoring-attempts-per-game" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/re ... s-per-game</a>

Conclusions - Obviously there is an onus on the offense reaching the Red Zone more often in order to capitalize on what can work there. However this is another reason why starting the drive with good field position will help, either via the return game or turnovers. They went out and got Cook and are hoping for an improvement from Quick so that they can win more of those jump balls and fade patterns in the end zone, but there's still work to do in terms of getting there, which starts with the aforementioned table-setting.

I'm not sure there's a direct correlation between starting field position and red zone TD percentage. Better field percentage would probably lead to more TDs and more total points (especially with Legatron on the team) but that's not what you're talking about here. It will also help with the green stuff. Red zone TD percentage starts with every team in the red zone. :lol:

The stuff you said that I put in blue will hopefully address the TD percentage. Along with better play calling and other improvements we've made.

Right - the area of opportunity that I'm addressing is more the Red Zone attempts than the scoring %. Just using it to illustrate a point that when they get down there, they can score, it's just the getting down there part needs work.

 

[albefree69]

PrometheusFaulk underestimating our needs:
Right - the area of opportunity that I'm addressing is more the Red Zone attempts than the scoring %. Just using it to illustrate a point that when they get down there, they can score, it's just the getting down there part needs work.

As you mentioned, 19th in red zone TD percentage is nothing to write home about. I think we need improvement in both areas and I agree with you that we're well on the way to improving both. :wewt:

 

[PrometheusFaulk]

I like you already Albe. Smart Alec. :bg:

 

[Thordaddy]

I like you already Albe. Smart Alec. :bg:

FWIW Prom , if somebody don't like Al ...there's sumpin' wrong.

Threads like these increase my appreciation of Dick vermeil and conjure the fact that he and the Harbaugh who won a SB had both made their bones in the NFL as special teams coaches , that during our decline of the GSOT special teams was the bastard child where we didn't use starters ,that George Allen was a huge believer in special teams that ,I'm "special" ......well you get the picture :ww:

 

[albefree69]

Thordaddy rambling incoherently:
Threads like these increase my appreciation of Dick vermeil and conjure the fact that he and the Harbaugh who won a SB had both made their bones in the NFL as special teams coaches , that during our decline of the GSOT special teams was the bastard child where we didn't use starters ,that George Allen was a huge believer in special teams that ,I'm "special" ......well you get the picture :ww:

I'm picturing a little yellow bus with lots of other "special" people on it. :rofl:

Stop fooling around with your boat and post more or I'm going to break out my Spanish again. :doink: