Red zone, green zone, zone of blues

Tom Coughlin refers to the red zone as the green zone, because his take on that is that red means stop and green means go.  Well, whatever you call it, the Giants have the blues when it comes to plays inside the 20 yard line.  And we’re not just talking on offense here. 

These stats might startle you, and for good reason.   When it comes to red zone opportunities (and sorry Tom, that’s what everyone else calls it), the Giants are a lackluster 15 of 36 in converting those chances into touchdowns.  That’s 41.7 %, which ranks them 28th in the NFL, and it’s one of the reasons Lawrence Tynes leads the league in kicking.  And the thing is, 36 opportunities is second highest behind New Orleans….so you could say that  the Giants look like the Saints between the 20’s, and like the Rams inside the 20. 

Then there’s the defense.  The Giants’ opponents have had 29 red zone opporunities, and have punched it across the goal line 22 times…including the Chargers being 3 for 3 this past Sunday despite barely having the ball.  That 22 of 29, or 75.9%, is worst in the NFL.  Worse than the Raiders.  Worse than the Browns.  Worse than the Lions.  Worse than the Chiefs.  Worse than the Rams.  Need I go on? 

You look at these red zone statistics, and it’s a wonder the Giants are 5-4 and not 2-7 or even 0-9.  When he met with the media yesterday, Coughlin began by placing the blame for the questionable play-calling Sunday on himself.  He then talked about the red zone issues and sounded really frustrated, saying that the team began working on this in the spring, then the summer, and now here they are halfway through the regular season and it’s still a problem.  What does he say? 

One possible solution that was brough up is to get rookie WR Ramses Barden more involved in the offense, and maybe try and play the role of a Plaxico Burress.  Yeah, good luck with that.  That’s not the only issue though.  With how this offensive line and running game have performed the last couple of seasons, they should be plowing over people at the goal line.  So either age is catching up to them, opponents have figured them out, or someone just isn’t doing their job.

I wish I knew what was wrong, but I do know that Big Blue needs to fix things soon because the clock is ticking on the 2009 season.

Tags: Browns, Chargers, defense, Giants, green zone, Lawrence Tynes, Lions, offense, Plaxico Burress, Raiders, Rams, Ramses Barden, red zone, Saints, Tom Coughlin