Eagles Almost Defenseless in Red Zone

Filed under: Eagles, NFC East

On paper, Philadelphia should have no problems with host Dallas on Sunday. The 8-4 Eagles are better than the 4-8 Cowboys in all the major statistics: scoring, scoring defense, rushing, rush defense, passing and pass defense. Philadelphia leads the NFL with a plus-15 turnover ratio. Dallas is tied for 20th at minus-3. The Eagles are 4-2 on the road. The Cowboys are 1-5 at home.

But then there's the red zone.

The Eagles are dead last, by a whopping margin, in preventing the opposition from crossing the goal line once their 20-yard line has been pierced. Philadelphia's foes are 26 of 33 in those situations, a 78.8 percent inefficiency. No other team has allowed touchdowns more than two third of the time. The Philadelphia Daily News reported that no team has finished a season with a worse red zone defense in 22 years. During coach Andy Reid's previous 11 seasons with the Eagles, only the 2002 Buffalo Bills and 2003 San Diego Chargers gave up touchdowns at even a 70 percent clip.

"It's too much,'' Reid lamented. "We've got to do a better job there. (Defensive coordinator Sean McDermott) is beating himself up over that. We've got to just continue to put guys in the right position, and guys, when they have the opportunity to make plays, they have to make plays. It's really that simple. So we'll keep on working on it so that we get better there.''

 

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Source: http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2010/12/10/eagles-almost-defenseless-in-red-zone/

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