08-26-2019, 04:18 PM
(08-05-2019, 07:34 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Ross's success in the red zone had nothing to do with skill. It was all about getting favorable coverage matchups against red zone defenses.
If his 7tds catches were based in any way on any skill then he would have been able to use it anywhere else on the field. IN fact he would have been able to use it EVEN BETTER between the 20's where defenses have more space to cover and receivers have more room to get open.
If that were actually true everyone would be really good in the red zone. While your partially right that it is related to the coverage being ran in the red zone, it is also related to his skill set. In the red zone you still get a lot of press man, usually with an inside or outside shade depending on the player. Ross is good at two things slant and fades, so when guys play his outside shoulder he runs a slant and runs away from the defender and when they play his inside shoulder the go to a fade. He actually had a nice Sluggo in the red zone against Denel Ward of Cleveland hitting him with the slant off the jam and pushing it back out into the fade for an easy TD. While it doesn't seem complex his skill set of being very fast does make a difference, it just seems counter intuitive that speed is that big a deal in a compressed field.
It is true this should translate between the 20's as well but the big difference there is usually you get sight adjustments and I believe that is really the issue for Ross. He never had to make sight adjustments in college and so he struggles at the line adapting tot he defense while being on the same page with his QB. I would argue though that was a failure of the coaching staff to put him in a position to win. Dez Bryant could run three routes his whole career and the simplified their offense to ensure he could run those routes nearly every play.
