Texans seeing Red(Zone)

[Lucky]

They're one of the premier offenses in regards to placing themselves in scoring position. But, the Texans are middle of the pack once they've reached their opponents 20-yard line. Jordan Godwin (who?) of The Chronic explains how new OC Rick Dennison plans to change all that.

"Scoring in the red zone is predominantly a matter of execution," Dennison said. "It has nothing to do with bad luck, as some people might like to think."

Based on his résumé, Dennison could be considered a red-zone guru. When he was the offensive coordinator in Denver from 2006-08, the Broncos consistently ranked near the top in red-zone scoring. They finished second in the league in red-zone rushing in 2008, but after he was moved to offensive line coach last season, Denver dropped to 21st in that category.
When the Texans hired Dennison in January, he immediately set out to determine why they had trouble scoring in the red zone.


"It's really a matter of a lot of little things coming together to work against you," Dennison said. "One of the first things I noticed was that there were times when the (offensive) line and the (running) backs weren't working together as well as they should."

I think Dom...er Rick is right. Lack of execution hurt the Texans in the red zone last season. It also hindered the play calling, as the Texans made some horrendous mistakes when passing in red zone situations. Dennison is a veteran o-line coach, and an ex-NFL ILB. He understands trench warfare and his hiring is one of the major reasons I'm more confident in the Texans offense than ever before.

[Malloy]

I'm looking forward to what his presence in Houston will do, I too am optimistic (to a fault)

[TimeKiller]

Thing is, Texans are an elite offense with a poor running game. If Dennison can make carrying the ball a halfway decent to average option there is absolutely nothing that can be done to stop them from putting 30 on the board each and every week.

[Texan_Bill]

I thought Red Zone (RZ) was a Falcons fan.

[Goldensilence]

Originally Posted by Texan_Bill

I thought Red Zone (RZ) was a Falcons fan.

It was only a matter of not if, but when Bill

That said I hope Gary feels comfortable enough to hand over the play calling reigns to Rick so he can focus on managing the game and not making bone headed play calls at the wrong time. If we can get a decent contribution from the running game, this offense is really going to be difficult to stop.

[Dutchrudder]

"Scoring in the red zone is predominantly a matter of execution," Dennison said. "It has nothing to do with bad luck, as some people might like to think."

Based on his résumé, Dennison could be considered a red-zone guru. When he was the offensive coordinator in Denver from 2006-08, the Broncos consistently ranked near the top in red-zone scoring. They finished second in the league in red-zone rushing in 2008, but after he was moved to offensive line coach last season, Denver dropped to 21st in that category.
When the Texans hired Dennison in January, he immediately set out to determine why they had trouble scoring in the red zone.


"It's really a matter of a lot of little things coming together to work against you," Dennison said. "One of the first things I noticed was that there were times when the (offensive) line and the (running) backs weren't working together as well as they should."

Hmmm, I wonder if trading Jay Cutler had anything to do with that...

[HOU-TEX]

Originally Posted by Dutchrudder

Hmmm, I wonder if trading Jay Cutler had anything to do with that...

I think they began the transition from the ZBS to a power scheme last season.

[gary]

Originally Posted by Goldensilence

It was only a matter of not if, but when Bill

That said I hope Gary feels comfortable enough to hand over the play calling reigns to Rick so he can focus on managing the game and not making bone headed play calls at the wrong time. If we can get a decent contribution from the running game, this offense is really going to be difficult to stop.

I am very comfortable right now.

[badboy]

Originally Posted by Lucky

They're one of the premier offenses in regards to placing themselves in scoring position. But, the Texans are middle of the pack once they've reached their opponents 20-yard line. Jordan Godwin (who?) of The Chronic explains how new OC Rick Dennison plans to change all that


I think Dom...er Rick is right. Lack of execution hurt the Texans in the red zone last season. It also hindered the play calling, as the Texans made some horrendous mistakes when passing in red zone situations. Dennison is a veteran o-line coach, and an ex-NFL ILB. He understands trench warfare and his hiring is one of the major reasons I'm more confident in the Texans offense than ever before.

The last sentence about oline and Rbs not working together is the key. Our 3 main guys Slaton, Foster and Tate are young enough and new enough to do what the coach says, I hope. Hopefully Dennison and the oline coach are on same page. This scheme is set up for the oline to get the back in the open so I think if the RBs do as expected, we will have no problem. In the red zone, we WILL see improvement

[76Texan]

Originally Posted by HOU-TEX

I think they began the transition from the ZBS to a power scheme last season.

So is the power blocking scheme better than the ZBS in the red zone???

And oh BTW, the Broncos did pretty well in the red zone with Myers at Center, LOL!
In fact, they did better with Myers in their last 11 games than with Pro-Bowler Nalen in the first 5 games, LOl!

[thunderkyss]

Has anyone seen the numbers for how we did in the red-zone last year? I rewatched the Monday night Tennessee game, and there was a stat that said we were #4 in the league at that time.

It didn't look right to me, so I had to rewind it again, sure enough, that's what it said.

We must have really stunk it up the rest of the season, because that game was already past the halfway point.

[Double Barrel]

"One of the first things I noticed was that there were times when the (offensive) line and the (running) backs weren't working together as well as they should."

That's Football 101 stuff right there. Kinda' sad that four years into Kubiak's regime that they are still trying to get the most basic of fundamentals down.

I'm not trying to be over-critical here, but seriously, it's not rocket science.

[drs23]

Originally Posted by Double Barrel

That's Football 101 stuff right there. Kinda' sad that four years into Kubiak's regime that they are still trying to get the most basic of fundamentals down.

I'm not trying to be over-critical here, but seriously, it's not rocket science.

No, it's not rocket science. But it's definately a whole lot of chemistry.

If you read TC's blog spot with Eric he mentions playing next to Brisel:

"Until the fifth game last year I had played over 20 straight games next to Mike Brisel. We had gotten to the point where we hardly said anything to each other during games because we knew what we were both going to do. Other times, we would just make a inaudible sounds to communicate. When you play on the road, chemistry like that is invaluable. Also, when the defense does something new, we end up picking it up more of the time."

In my research into the ZBS I learned how important it is to the scheme. Much more so that straight ahead power blocking. One of the articles quoted a player as saying that when that bond/chemistry is present there are times when mere eye contact would let each other know what the other was going to do. I suppose much like "inaudible sounds" Eric mentions. It doesn't happen quickley. It takes time, that's all. Not rocket science for sure. But chemistry indeed.

[AnthonyE]

Originally Posted by thunderkyss

Has anyone seen the numbers for how we did in the red-zone last year? I rewatched the Monday night Tennessee game, and there was a stat that said we were #4 in the league at that time.

It didn't look right to me, so I had to rewind it again, sure enough, that's what it said.

We must have really stunk it up the rest of the season, because that game was already past the halfway point.

What's funny is that despite sucking in RZP the rest of the season, were 4-2 in those games.

[Brisco_County]

The reason why I'm optimistic about Dennison's coaching is that he has identified specific problems and has a plan for fixing them.

[ATXtexanfan]

Originally Posted by Brisco_County

The reason why I'm optimistic about Dennison's coaching is that he has identified specific problems and has a plan for fixing them.

took the post right out of my mouth.

[valleytexfan]

Originally Posted by Lucky

Jordan Godwin (who?) of The Chronic

The guy's done some good stuff, I must admit.

[76Texan]

Originally Posted by thunderkyss

Has anyone seen the numbers for how we did in the red-zone last year? I rewatched the Monday night Tennessee game, and there was a stat that said we were #4 in the league at that time.

It didn't look right to me, so I had to rewind it again, sure enough, that's what it said.

We must have really stunk it up the rest of the season, because that game was already past the halfway point.

I think we're gonna have to dig deeper to see what Dennison mean by the O-line and the RB did not work well together as they should.

Was it a general statement that entails the start of the season to the finish or was it particularly aimed at the red zone running situation (and if so during which period of time).

For the time being, let me just count the way (hopefully I don't miss much).
Red zone after the MNF game.

Indy
5-3-2
5 RZ chances, 3 TDs, 2 FGs.
A penalty set us back.

Jax
4-2-1
4 RZ chances, 2 TDs, 1 FG
1 INT ruined a scoring chance
1 penalty brought about a FG

SEA
5-2-2
1 blocked FG.
We scored what, 34 points, and it was one our poorest Red Zone performance!!!

St Louis Rams
4-1-3
Another poor RZ performance against a "weak" team!?!

Miami
3-2-1

NE
5-3-0
1 Int

.........

And no, the failed chances were not due to Meyers in the middle!!!

But really, what does it matter where you score from?

We had some fumbles that prevented us from scoring from the RZ.
We had Ints and penalties,
We had dropped balls,
We had a questionable "illegal pick" called on us
We had non-calls that should have been called in our favor (justifiably so).

All that asides from having 4 different RBs and changes in the interior O-line.

If only we had won one more game, preferrably against Indy, there would be a whole less negative talks from the fans about quite a few different "issues".

[alphajoker]

0 - 4 in red zone opportunities vs the Cards...surprised this hasn't been discussed yet, unless I've overlooked it. Should we be concerned?

[The Pencil Neck]

Originally Posted by TexMexVato

0 - 4 in red zone opportunities vs the Cards...surprised this hasn't been discussed yet, unless I've overlooked it. Should we be concerned?

Not yet.

Our offense looks better and the running game appears improved. The red zone execution should improve as well. The 1's only got to the red zone once and they wasted a play screwing around with the end around.