Red Zone Takeaways

I don't usually start topics, but I was wondering if any of you brilliant people happen to know any information regarding this. We seem to force a ton of red zone turnovers on defense. In the last three years we have had this uncanny ability to intercept passes in the end zone or recover fumbles near the goaline. Thomas' interception last night got me wondering, where do we rank in red zone takeaways over the last few years? It's got to be near the top and I fully believe it's one of the things that has made this defense so great. I don't worry when teams get down there anymore. I have almost come to expect takeaways. (Spoiled, I know.) Anyways, just wondering about that. Thanks, and I really enjoy reading all of the great info you guys have to offer.

I know that we were the top rated red zone rated defense in the league last year. This obviously has a lot of bearing on our #1 rated scoring defense last year, while we were the 4th overall rated (yards allowed) defense.

Football most times comes down to matchups, exploiting single matchups and mismatches, and taking away an offenses options. The field shrinks when you're in the red zone; meaning that speed won't matter as much as you only have 30 yards to cover vertically. When you have a defense that is not only intelligent, but goes 6'4", 6'3" and 6'3"....well that length gets to balls faster, causing INT's and passes defensed. Throw in Thomas, who has elite speed and quickness (speed helps the defense more than the offense here) and his coverage shrinks the field even more.

The icing on the cake is that our defense brings the lumber when they tackle. Running for the goal line, guys KNOW they're going to get lit up. It makes a difference.

The defense is predicated on taking away the big play down field, usually referred to as "bend don't break". As the defense gets backed up in the redzone, there is eventually only so much room for the offense to play with. The back of the endzone becomes a defacto defender giving our athletic freaks less ground to cover and thus produce even tighter coverage.

It's a big reason to pay attention to the points scored against our D, rather than the yards gained as an indicator of its success. (Though it's great when we can limit both, haha).

To me, I've never understood why anyone would care about any team defensive stat other than scoring totals. The "bend don't break" thing has carried somewhat of a negative connotation over the years. For me, I really don't care if a QB throws for 400 yards between the 20's. If our defense is holding teams to 10 points or less, I'm happy. It's great having so many instinctive players back there. I remember a time when we were mad that Josh Wilson was traded cause he was the best we had. It sure is a nice change from the Kelly Jennings days. (Although, now that I think about it, it wasn't that long ago...)