Red Zone Offense Then vs Now

Red zone offense has changed since Tom Walsh last coached in the NFL.

Dec 31, 2023; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams (17) celebrates his touchdown with teammates in the second half against the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports | Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

In the NFL points come in diverse ways. Most of the time you either get six or you settle for three. Getting six means you score a touchdown. And settling is when you get a field goal.

NFL games could come down to who scores touchdowns in the end zone and who cannot.

The redzone is when a team’s offense is within 20 yards of scoring a touchdown in their opponents endzone.

For former great offensive mind and offensive coordinator Tom Walsh, the redzone is the difference between winning and losing games.

Our own Las Vegas Raiders Insider Hondo S. Carpenter Sr. interviewed Tom Walsh to talk about red zone offenses.

“There are two red zones. The high red zone, which goes from the 25-yard line to the 12-yard line. Then there is the low red zone that takes it from the eleven down to the 3- or 2-yard line. Nowadays it goes all the way to the goal line. Used to be when you got down to about the three-yard line, you go to twenty-three personnel. Put in three tight ends and two backs. You had a goal line package that was from the three-yard line on in,” said Tom Walsh

Now NFL teams use different packages and formations in the red zone to score touchdowns. The red zone offenses have changed a lot since Tom Walsh coached in the league.

“Nowadays with the multitude of receiver formations you see teams with three wide outs, four wide outs, some teams end up with a movement go to empty set. The one aspect that I think is the most forgotten in redzone offense today, is that teams forget to run the football. Part of it goes back to the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks. You run the football. The old saying used to be, it does not take an offensive genius to call a run. But the guys that want to become geniuses are always trying to find a way to throw the ball design the next great pattern and all that, so the stats and the quarterbacks gets 37,45,52 touchdown passes. The bottle line though is how many times you are scoring and your proficiency. The most neglected aspect of that is the run game. We had a run package for the high red zone and a run package for low red zone,” said Walsh.

The Las Vegas Raiders have struggled in recent years in the red zone. The Raiders ranked 24th in touchdown scoring in the red zone in the 2023 season.

Ensure you follow on X (Twitter) @HondoCarpenter and IG @HondoSr and never miss another breaking news story again.

Please let us know your thoughts when you like our Facebook page WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE.