Red Zone Woes

Penn State is taking a lot of heat recently for their lack of scoring in the Red Zone and rightfully so, they are dead last in the Big Ten. So where has it gone wrong, who is to blame? Are the players just not executing the plays properly or are the plays sent in doomed to failure even before the snap of the ball? When asked at his press conference Tuesday, Paterno had this response:

They are jumping offsides and there were a couple of mis-assignments when we had an opportunity to do a couple of things. Maybe a better play called here or there, although even there I think our guys have done a pretty darn good job with the play-calling. You look at it, analyze it and try to stress how important it is that we don’t make mistakes in the Red Zone.

Last season scoring wasn’t a problem and with the returning skill position players it wasn’t expected to be one this year. But Anthony Morelli isn’t Michael Robinson and while we often forget, Michael bailed Penn State out quite a few times in the red zone last year, especially when things broke down.

Like the losing seasons this decade, I don’t think you can blame any one part; it’s a combination of things. I’ve been a critic of some of the goofy play calls (the reverse to A.J. Wallace that fools no one anymore) but those calls always happen out of the Red Zone, generally speaking the plays called are pretty good. Looking at last week, two of the scoring plays were excellent calls. The touchdown screen pass to Hunt was either a great call, or wonderful luck because Minnesota blitzed on the side the screen was called to, Hunt chipped the man blitzing, slipped into the flat and was wide open for the score.

Sometimes it’s a good thing to be all alone

Similarly, the pass to fullback Matt Hahn for a score later was just a wonderful call no if, ands, or buts. Williams was in motion from the right to the left side of the formation showing the defense in zone. At the snap of the ball Williams and Norwood, both on the left side, flooded the zone and the linebacker covering that side worried about the curl or quick slant over the middle and completely ignored the fullback coming out of the backfield. Hahn slipped into the flat, caught the ball and strolled into the endzone: beautifully planned and executed.

So, I don’t have a major beef with the plays, per se, so is it the players? To some extent, yes. At Ohio State on a 4th and 1 on the goal line, Rich Ohrnberger jumped early and nullified Penn State’s shot at a touchdown. On PSU’s winning overtime drive against Minnesota, they were flagged for an ineligible man downfield on a screen attempt that was botched badly, setting up the 4th and 9 before the pass interference call. Mental mistakes are killing the Lions, but more importantly, if the offense is going to stall the special teams have to be ready to bail them out and Penn State can’t execute a simple field goal this year so it’s a double whammy.

Another major factor in this discussion is the maturity of Anthony Morelli. As he gets more comfortable with the offense, the Red Zone scoring will go up. Right now Morelli is having problems with the intermediate routes, he seems to default to the long ball when he gets into trouble; down in the Red Zone there is no long ball. Last week he took a couple steps forward and I think he is getting better as the year goes on.

So what is the answer? In a word: patience. As Morelli gets more comfortable, the scoring will go up, as the offensive line gets more experience, the blocking will get better and give Tony Hunt more room to roam. Making any changes at this point would do much more harm then good in my opinion; stay the course. It appears, after looking at the play-calling in the Minnesota game, that the coaches are trying to give the team every opportunity to score, they just have to go out and execute better. That and a freakin’ person who can catch a ball and place it on the ground would be nice.