Shame of the Game- Bucs (Preseason)

[Landshark]

Jonas Gray with honorable mentions to Marcus Thigpen and the red zone offense.  The fumbles gave the Bucs all their points.  The red zone offense made four trips inside and managed only one touchdown.   Unacceptable.  Lets see what the first cuts bring.

[Pappy13]

Jonas Gray with honorable mentions to Marcus Thigpen and the red zone offense.  The fumbles gave the Bucs all their points.  The red zone offense made four trips inside and managed only one touchdown.   Unacceptable.  Lets see what the first cuts bring.

But at least the offense drove the ball down the field and into the redzone on 3 of 5 possessions in the first half against a pretty decent defense. This is progress. Next step is to actually punch it in.

[Cathal]

Yeah. Red zone offense has been terrible. They usually drive pretty well down the field but when it counts they always settle for a field goal.

[Landshark]

But at least the offense drove the ball down the field and into the redzone on 3 of 5 possessions in the first half against a pretty decent defense. This is progress. Next step is to actually punch it in.

Previous offenses were doing that as well

Yeah. Red zone offense has been terrible. They usually drive pretty well down the field but when it counts they always settle for a field goal.

Remember Tony Sparano fist pumping on field goals?

[Pappy13]

Previous offenses were doing that as well

Remember Tony Sparano fist pumping on field goals?

Yes, but those FG's were from 40 yards out. They were seldom from within the red zone. On all 3 of those drives Miami had a very good chance at coming away with 7. Hartline had his hands on a ball in the back of the endzone that he could have caught. Gibbs had his hands on a ball in the back of the endzone that he probably should have caught. And that was without a TE. Put in a TE who can run a route or catch a pass and we are in business. Don't look at the scoreboard guys, watch the game.

Shame of the game falls directly are Charles Clay who stunk it up out there and the special teams who turned it over twice.

[dolphins4life]

Shame on me for not watching the game

[Spider-Dan]

Yes, but those FG's were from 40 yards out. They were seldom from within the red zone.

First, a "40-yard" field goal is kicked from the 23-yard-line.  Second, here are the numbers for Carpenter's attempts that were closer than 40 yards, under Sparano:

2011: 18 (out of 34 total attempts; MIA ranked 24th in Red Zone TD%)
2010: 15 (out of 41att; MIA ranked 14th in RZTD%)
2009: 17 (out of 28att; MIA ranked 2nd in RZTD%)
2008: 11 (out of 25att; MIA ranked 9th in RZTD%)

During the heyday of the Wildcat, MIA was pretty effective at punching it in.  As that declined, Sparano became the red zone FG king.  This is the fist-pumping that we all remember so fondly.

[Phishfan]

First, a "40-yard" field goal is kicked from the 23-yard-line. 

It is snapped from the 23 and kicked from the 30. That is what makes it 40 yards. Add 10 yards for the end zone and typically 7 yards behind the line for the hold.

[Spider-Dan]

When I said "from the 23-yard line," I meant the line of scrimmage; the point that determines whether or not a team is in the "red zone."

If you kick a 35-yard FG that was held at the 25-yard line (by the holder), your line of scrimmage on 4th down was the 18 (i.e. you were in the red zone).

[CF DolFan]

When I said "from the 23-yard line," I meant the line of scrimmage; the point that determines whether or not a team is in the "red zone."

If you kick a 35-yard FG that was held at the 25-yard line (by the holder), your line of scrimmage on 4th down was the 18 (i.e. you were in the red zone).

A 40 yard FG, hiked from the 23 yard line, is not in the red zone.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

I once again award it to anyone who would start a shame of the game for a preseason game. 

[Pappy13]

First, a "40-yard" field goal is kicked from the 23-yard-line.

Which is out of the redzone. All of Carps misses last year were from 40 or greater. The 2 FG's that Miami kicked the other day were both from within 30 yards I believe. As you get closer to the RZ the accuracy of FG's typically goes up.

Second, here are the numbers for Carpenter's attempts that were closer than 40 yards, under Sparano:

2011: 18 (out of 34 total attempts; MIA ranked 24th in Red Zone TD%)
2010: 15 (out of 41att; MIA ranked 14th in RZTD%)
2009: 17 (out of 28att; MIA ranked 2nd in RZTD%)
2008: 11 (out of 25att; MIA ranked 9th in RZTD%)

During the heyday of the Wildcat, MIA was pretty effective at punching it in.

  As that declined, Sparano became the red zone FG king.  This is the fist-pumping that we all remember so fondly.

All true, but not sure what it has to do with Miami getting into the RZ on 3 of 5 trips in a half. If they could keep that up it would average out to 96 RZ attempts over 16 games and even at 25% conversion rate would be 24 TD's. Now of course I'm not saying Miami is going to do that over 16 games, but that's the point that I was making was that 3 trips into the RZ in a half and coming away with 13 points while not ideal, is better than only getting there once and scoring a TD on the lone trip, wouldn't you agree? Not only do you end up with more points but you also keep the ball away from your opponent thereby lowering their chances of scoring as well. I just feel like Miami as a group we are just a lot more AWARE of when we score FG's rather than TD's mainly because we get into the redzone so infrequently. Get there more often and only coming away with 3 points doesn't seem like such a terrible thing.

[Spider-Dan]

The question was not "Was Carpenter missing from the red zone?" but rather "Is making it to the red zone and then settling for a field goal progress for the Dolphins?"

Based on the fact that Sparano was pumping his fist on many red zone field goals at the end of his tenure, I say no.  Miami was #12 in the league in red zone attempts during Sparano's final season.

I doubt any of us are pining for the halcyon days of 2011.  Simply increasing the number of red zone attempts is not progress.

I would also add that for this particular team (who has a giant vacuum at tight end and a running game comprised entirely of hopes and dreams), red zone attempts are particularly worthless.  If you have a great running game or short passing game, it's easy to convert red zone attempts into TDs.  MIA needs to be scoring TDs over the top.

[Pappy13]

Simply increasing the number of red zone attempts is not progress.

Scoring more points is and more red zone opportunities is one way to better your chances for that, but I'm derailing the thread again. Carry on with the negativity! I'll try to find a different thread for optimism. 

[Landshark]

Scoring more points is and more red zone opportunities is one way to better your chances for that, but I'm derailing the thread again. Carry on with the negativity! I'll try to find a different thread for optimism. 

In case you didn't notice, this is the ANTI Fins chat.