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The national media has been taking new head coach Scott Linehan to task about the Rams Red Zone woes, which several writers have said is a problem with Linehan's offense throughout his history as an offensive coordinator.
Gregg Rosenthal of NBC Sports said " . - Keep in mind Linehan's history in the red zone. It is not good"
That's pretty much the tone of the comments hitting the internet and other publications.
When examining the statistics, something these pundits fail to offer in their commentaries, the results are not that clear, not enough that some failure in Linehan's red zone offenses may have been due to the talent available in Minnesota and Miami, especially when Daunte Culpepper, Randy Moss, and the Viking backs were hurt.
In Miami, Linehan hardly had an ideal situation at QB as well.
That could be why the Dolphins were 26th in the NFL in scoring TD once in the red zone. That % was .404 in 2005.
However, in 2003, and 2004, those Viking offenses were actually pretty efficient in scoring TDs from the red zone.
In 2003, Minnesota ranked 7th in the NFL in red zone TD % at .564.
In 2004 the Vikings were 12th , at .569 with several teams very close to that ranked above them. Just a score or two more could have catapulted the Vikings to a top ten finish that year too.
Those Vikings teams got into the red zone alot 56 in 2004, the sixth most in the NFL, and 58 in 2003, fifth most in the league.
In 2005, Miami got into the Red Zone 52 times, 12th most in the NFL.
The Rams offense, as good as it was, fared little better than Linehan's teams under Mike Martz.
In 2004, the Rams were only 14th in the NFL at .548 for red zone TD %
In 2003, they were 15th at .500
In 2005, with Martz out much of the season, as well as
Marc Bulger, the Rams limped in at 19th, with a .471 %.
The teams that dominate the top of the NFL in red zone TD% share one obvious trait, that appears to be the #1 catalyst for Red Zone efficiency. THEY CAN RUN THE BALL !!
In 2005, for instance, the top seven teams were Seattle, San Diego, New England, Washington, Indy, Pittsburgh and Denver, who all had backs that know hos tyo find the end zone.
In 2004, the top five were San Diego, Kansas City, Philadelphia, Indy, and Carolina, again, all teams that could run the ball, with Donovan McNabb providing some of that for the Eagles.
In 2003 , the top five were the Chiefs, Packers, Eagles, Seahawks, and Texans, with all but Houston having very good running attacks.
The stats seem to indicate that Linehan has actually not had a bad history in the Red Zone, especially lacking a top running threat in Minny.
They also make it clear that it's less about the coach, and more about the blocking and running, when it comes to Red Zone numbers.
In other words, it's going to take a better effort by the line and
Steven Jackson to make the Rams offense a good one in the red zone. Perhaps Stephen Davis can do for the Rams what he did in Carolina and Washington in those key goalline plays.
At any rate, to those pundits climbing on Linehan's back, lay off, because the stats don't back you up too much.