Peaking In The Red Zone
Tuesday, December 1st, 2009On November 13, Cincinnati head coach Brian Kelly decided to bring QB Tony Pike back from a forearm injury by only putting him into the game once Cincinnati entered the West Virginia red zone. Pike responded by throwing a touchdown pass on each of the two drives in which he entered the game.
Kelly’s novel approach to integrating Pike back into the offense shows how well he knows his starting quarterback. Pike leads the FBS this season with the highest percentage of red zone pass attempts that have resulted in a touchdown (minimum 25 red zone pass attempts). Here are this season’s leaders:
Red Zone Red Zone Red Zone Player Team Pass Att. TD TD% +----------------------+-----------------+---------+--------+--------+ Tony Pike Cincinnati 32 15 46.9% Joe Webb UAB 28 11 39.3% Sean Canfield Oregon State 44 17 38.6% Max Hall BYU 55 21 38.2% Kellen Moore Boise State 71 27 38.0% Jordan Jefferson LSU 29 11 37.9% Jonathan Crompton Tennessee 50 18 36.0% Russell Wilson N.C. State 51 18 35.3% Rusty Smith Fla. Atlantic 29 10 34.5% Chris Todd Auburn 27 9 33.3%
Before last Friday’s game against Illinois, 50 percent of Pike’s red zone pass attempts were touchdowns, but after throwing only 4 touchdowns in 10 red zone pass attempts, his percentage dropped to 46.9.
Here are the active career FBS leaders in percentage of red zone pass attempts that have resulted in a touchdown (minimum 50 red zone pass attempts):
Red Zone Red Zone Red Zone Player Team Pass Att. TD TD% +----------------------+-----------------+---------+--------+--------+ Sam Bradford Oklahoma 139 52 37.4% Max Hall BYU 183 65 35.5% Tony Pike Cincinnati 79 27 34.2% Kellen Moore Boise State 130 44 33.8% Russell Wilson N.C. State 89 29 32.6% Colt McCoy Texas 195 62 31.8% Sean Canfield Oregon State 96 30 31.3% Rusty Smith Fla. Atlantic 188 56 29.8% Austin Davis Southern Miss. 72 21 29.2% Jerrod Johnson Texas A&M 110 32 29.1% Tim Tebow Florida 148 43 29.1%