Deficiencies in red zone prove costly
It was the final whiff in a Steelers 0-fer in the red zone againstthe Jaguars.
The 0-for-3 performance Sunday left the Steelers among the most underperforming teams in the league in red-zone efficiency. Over the past three games, they have scored touchdowns on just 42 percent of their trips inside the opponent’s 20. For the season, they are converting 50 percent of their red-zone trips into touchdowns. Only nine teams are converting touchdownsat a lower percent.
Roethlisberger said the offense lacks detail overall, and that can be magnified in the redzone.
“It can be because it’s a shorter field,” Roethlisberger said. “Things happen quicker. You have to understand reads quicker. Sometimes, teams give you looks you’renot prepared for.
“When I say not prepared for, it’s not a look they had given someone else that you saw on film study. That happened to us the first time down there on a third down. They gave us a look we weren’tquite ready for.
“You have to be able to make in-game adjustments as well. You have to have your practice field stuff ready to go.”
The Steelers were in the no-huddle twice on those three plays early in the third quarter. Roethlisberger said he didn’t recall exactly what prompted him, or offensive coordinator Todd Haley, to call pass plays in that situation.
Turn on talk radio, and you might hear how Bell’s running style isn’t conducive to running in the red zone. But he actually has been among the most effective redzone rushers in the league since his rookie season in 2013. Of Bell’s 29 career touchdowns, 17 have come betweenthe 1 and 5.
Bell, in fact, has a 100 percent touchdown rate on three runs from inside the 5 this season.He scored 1-yard runs twice against the Baltimore Ravens and once against the ChicagoBears.
A year ago, Bell scored on three of his five rushes from 5 yards or closer. Overall, he has scored touchdowns on 14 of his 34 carries from 5 yards or closer in his career.
Overall this season, he is second in the league in redzone rushing yards with 51, behind only Chicago’s Jordan Howard. Only five players have scored more redzone touchdowns.
“I want to do what it takes to win games,” Bell said. “I think the biggest thing for me is as long as we’re getting in the end zone whether it’s me, receivers, Ben scrambling, the defense making touchdowns, I don’t care. I just want to get Ws. The easiest ways for us to get Ws, we need to go out there and do that.”
Roethlisberger has enjoyed some productive seasons in the red zone, but not recently. He has completed better than 50 percent of his passes in the red zone just three times in the past seven seasons.
This season, Roethlisberger is completing 44 percent of his passes. He is 29th in the league in red-zone completion percentage, 20th in red-zone passing yards and is tied for 15th in touchdowns with five.
Last season, Roethlisberger completed 50 percent of his passes, was 21st in redzone passing yards and threw 13 touchdowns and two interceptions. The top red-zone passer in 2016 was Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers, who completed 59 percent of his passes for 409 yards with 33 touchdowns and no interceptions.
Eighteen quarterbacks threw for more red-zone touchdowns than Roethlisberger last season, including Javksonville’s Blake Bortles (18), Tennessee’s Marcus Mariota (18), Minnesota’s Sam Bradford (14) and Baltimore’s Joe Flacco (14).
One of the issues for Roethlisberger has been the absence of a prime red-zone receiving target. Brown led the Steelers with nine redzone catches and four touchdowns last season, but that pales in comparison to what other teams are doing with their passing game when they get close to the end zone. Twenty-six others had five touchdown catches or more, including Green Bay’s Jordy Nelson — the league’s best red-zone threat — who had 19 red-zone catches and 11 touchdowns.
Through five games, the Steelers once again don’t have a receiver close to being among the league’s top red-zone threats. Brown, Smith-Schuster and Bell each have three red-zone receptions.
There was a time when Brown was one of the top red-zone receivers in the NFL. In 2014 and 2015, he had eight red-zone touchdowns. But he only has five red-zone touchdowns in the past 21 games.
The return of Martavis Bryant was supposed to help the Steelers productivity in the red zone, but he does not have a catch in the red zone and only has three targets. In his rookie season in 2014, Bryant had four catches in the red zone, all for touchdowns. In 2015, three of his five catches in the red zone went for touchdowns.
Other than two red-zone touchdowns in the opener at Cleveland, tight end Jesse James has been quiet. He doesn’t have a catch in the red zone in the past four weeks and hasn’t been targeted in the red zone the past two weeks.
New tight end Vance McDonald doesn’t have a catch, either. Perhaps that is why Smith-Schuster quickly has developed into one of Roethlisberger’s favorite red-zone targets. He is tied with Brown for the most redzone targets (6) and has the most red-zone touchdowns (2).
“I try to communicate with JuJu without overwhelming [him],” Roethlisberger said. “Sometimes, you can get caught up with a guy who is young, but is doing so well, you think you can keep putting more and more on his plate. I try to be careful not to overload him with details.”
Given the offense’s redzone struggles, the time might be now to put more on Smith-Schuster’s plate.
Or maybe feed Bell a little more, too.