06-24-2019, 11:48 AM
(06-24-2019, 07:26 AM)HarleyDog Wrote: Great thread with great responses. The stats on 3rd & 2 and 3rd and 3 are ridiculous. Our execution on 3rd down on both sides of the ball were horrible as well.
What most of us seem to forget is that the game of football is, from a broad perspective, quite simple.
On offense ... you need to convert 3rd downs so that the other team doesn't get the ball back. That means that your offense needs to stay "on schedule" (as Lap puts it) or "ahead of the chains" as most game analysts put it. 1st and 10 ... get at least 4-5 yards; 2nd and 4-to-5 ... get at least 3 yards. Convert the 3rd-and-short. Lather, rinse, repeat. If the offense is consistantly in 3rd and 7+, they won't easily convert that 3rd down.
On defense ... you need to keep the other offense from converting 3rd downs. But most importantly, you need to stop them from converting 3rd-and-long. How many times over the past 3 years have we seen the opposing offense in 3rd-and-long and they convert? I have often commented to the wife that putting the Bengals defense in 3rd-and-long is the the same as putting the Bengals defense in 3rd-and-short.
How an offense obtains the 1st down or how the defense stops a 3rd down is of less importance that actually doing so.
