We’re heading into the first Sunday of the season with bye weeks but before that happens it’s important to look back at what happened this past week in terms of scoring chances inside the 20 and the 10-yard lines and how defenses held up as we are nearly to the quarter pole of the 2019 campaign. This week was one of the busiest Red Zone weeks across the board and there’s a lot to talk about.
Red Zone Passing Attempts
Matt Ryan , QB ATL – This was the most Red Zone attempts for Ryan in a game so far on the young season and doubled his total on the year up to 14. The seven attempts in Week 3 netted three passing touchdowns and two went to a receiver that we’ll see later in this piece and one went to his main target in Julio Jones . The Falcons offense hasn’t really gotten the ground game working yet, but it’s clear the passing attack has picked up where it’s been the last few seasons and Ryan continues to show that with weeks like this. Week 3 also proves that they aren’t all big plays that are getting the Falcons into the endzone and in fact, there’s already been five passing scores inside the 20.
Kyle Allen , QB CAR – Allen got his second start of his career on Sunday against the Cardinals as Cam Newton was ruled out with a foot injury. The last start was a meaningless one at the end of last season when the playoffs had already been setup but this one, clearly had more on the line as Allen tried to save the Panthers from starting 0-3 on the year. He did just that with a great showing in the desert with eight Red Zone pass attempts and three of his four touchdowns coming inside the 20. He only completed three of those eight targets and Curtis Samuel was the main one targeted with four, however all three completions produced touchdowns so he was efficient. Allen will get a second straight start on Sunday against a porous Texans pass defense and so it could be another good start for him.
Russell Wilson , QB SEA – Wilson put up a spectacular stat line on Sunday against the Saints as he tried vigorously to bring the Seahawks back after being down quite a bit at half time. In the process he had one of the most stat filled games he’s ever had including 10 Red Zone pass attempts with two passing touchdowns and he added two Red Zone rushing touchdowns as well. The Seattle offense is known to be a rush-first system, however, Chris Carson ’s continued fumbling issue and the hamstring injury to Rashaad Penny limited them in that department, not to mention the Saints weakness is the pass defense. It’s unlikely that we’ll see another stat line like that from Wilson though if he will repeat it, Sunday could be the time against the Cardinals and what they just allowed to Kyle Allen and the Panthers.
Daniel Jones, QB NYG – What a debut for Jones huh? Granted it looks a lot better considering the Buccaneers kicker missed the field goal, however, there’s no denying his day in the air and on the ground that had them in the winning position. All told he had nine pass attempts in the Red Zone with six inside the 10 good for one of his passing touchdowns and then added two Red Zone rushes for two touchdowns as well. The targets were fairly well spread out amongst his targets with Russell Shepard garnering the most targets with three, though he only caught one. Next up for Jones and Co. is a divisional match-up against the Redskins and a pass defense that has been a bit misleading this year to this point.
Red Zone Rushing Attempts
Phillip Lindsay , RB DEN – Lindsay had one of the best games of his career on Sunday in Green Bay and what could be the game of his season with two scores on the day and a ton of goal line work. He carried it seven times inside the 20 and four times inside the five. There has been concern about the timeshare with him and Royce Freeman but with Sunday’s game that might dampen those concerns a bit going forward. Don’t necessarily expect many more performances like Sunday’s but it’s nice to know that the running back that challenged Saquon Barkley for offensive rookie of the year last year, hasn’t lost a step with the change at QB and system.
Mark Ingram , RB BAL – Ingram is here for a second week in a row, simply because of his dominant performance against the Chiefs. Now, you might be thinking, everyone has great days against the Chiefs, of course, that’s true but, Ingram had three touchdowns on the day which is a different level of great. By the way, his quarterback also shined with seven passes and five rushed inside the 20 in the shootout at Arrowhead. We said last week that Ingram appears to be winning the carries battle in what was thought to be a crowded backfield at the start of the season and he’s been very productive with those carries in the early part of the year, especially in short-yardage and goal-line work. Next comes the Browns and that front seven has been pretty successful in limiting the damage giving up on the ground, but they haven’t faced a run game like Baltimore has shown to this point.
LeSean McCoy , RB KC – McCoy looked like he was 25 again on Sunday as he seemingly did whatever he wanted to against the Ravens, typically, stout rush defense. In the Red Zone, he had three carries, two inside the five, and scored once on the ground while also catching two balls and scoring through the air. He did pay a price for such a good day though as he did appear to worsen the ankle issue he came into the game with and thus putting his status for Week 4 up in the air a bit. McCoy clearly loves the Andy Reid offense, just like he did in Philadelphia at the start of his career and when healthy, he will have the lion’s share of the work in Kansas City even when Damien Williams is healthy as well.
Alvin Kamara , RB NO – Kamara scored his first touchdown of the year on Sunday, did you realize that? He also punched it over the goal-line for the first time in five games dating back to last year’s playoff run for the saints. Kamara’s five Red Zone carries were 2.5x what he had totaled on the year coming into the Week 3 match-up and it definitely gave his owners a bit of relief to see him post a day they’d been expecting since taking him in the top-three in pretty much all drafts. Up next is the Cowboys who have been pretty good against the run but it’s possible that a trip to the Pacific Northwest got Teddy Bridgewater and company rolling again, not to mention Sean Payton always wants to beat his previous employer.
Aaron Jones , RB GB – Jones, ahead of the Thursday night game against Philly, had his second straight game with three carries in the Red Zone and he turned those carries into two scores against Denver. He did deal with a bit of a minor injury later in the game that ceded some carries to Jamaal Williams but that was just a circumstance thing rather than performance thing. Jones will continue to be the lead back in a new balanced attack from the Packers and his work in the Red Zone is secure, especially after Thursday night’s showing (spoiler alert, he might be in this section again next week).
Red Zone Receiving Targets
Austin Hooper , TE ATL – Let’s hear some love for Hooper who always seems to be a guy that the Tight End Whisper likes a bit, but this week showed up big time. Mentioned above, Hooper was the top target for Ryan this week and turned his three targets into two catches and two scores against the Colts. The three targets on Sunday were the first in the Red Zone for Hooper this year despite being targeted a total of 22 times in three games. The added looks perhaps were because of the fact that Calvin Ridley was nursing an injury and wasn’t at full strength, but Hooper continues to be a Red Zone threat in the Atlanta scheme even with Ridley and Julio Jones fully healthy.
Greg Olsen TE, CAR – For the second time this piece let’s roll back the clock, this time with the Carolina tight end who’s been riddled by injuries the last few years. Granted, a telephone pole would likely have a great day against the Cardinals as long as he was playing tight end, but Olsen came in having a solid enough season to start with. He’s increased his Red Zone looks each of the first three weeks going from zero to one to three against Arizona nabbing two of those looks for scores. He’s had at least four catches in each of the first three games and got a bonus playing against a Cardinals team that has allowed the most points to TEs since last year and it does get tougher this week against Houston who’s allowed the sixth-fewest points to the position so far in 2019.
Nelson Agholor , WR PHI – Agholor continues to be the benefactor of not having Alshon Jeffrey or DeSean Jackson on the field along with him, though Jeffrey returned against the Packers Thursday night. He used his top target status to reel in two of three targets, though none of them for scores. As long as Jackson is out, Agholor will continue to be a key player in the Eagles’ offense and that includes the Red Zone even if it didn’t show this past week.
T.Y. Hilton , WR IND – Hilton was a question mark to play for Week 3 but did make it on the field and then had another solid week against the Falcons. He had a second three Red Zone target game and pulled in two of them for catches and one of those for a score. Hilton continues to be the top target for Brissett and their connection is rock solid with the only way to slow it down being if Hilton and his nagging injuries make him miss a game. This weekend he draws a nice match-up against the Raiders who have allowed the eighth-most points to receivers in 2019.
Red Zone Defenses
San Francisco 49ers – The Niners defense is making it for the second time in three weeks but hey, they’ve been very good in the Red Zone so why shouldn’t they be here? They’ve allowed eight trips to their 20 in three games and only given up two touchdowns, and not a single one in Week 3 against Pittsburgh. Now you can make the argument that they haven’t faced the most impressive set of offenses in Tampa Bay, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh with Mason Rudolph in his first start, however still only allowing a 25-percent score rate is impressive. They’re on their bye week in Week 4 but they still look solid heading into Week 5.
Jacksonville Jaguars – Jaguars are starting to look good when they don’t have to face the Chiefs, just like everyone else in football. They have faced the opposition 10 times in their Red Zone and allowed four touchdowns, however, two of those came against the Chiefs in Week 1 and only once each in Weeks 2 and 3. There continues to be drama with Jalen Ramsey with him either being sick or injured or expecting a child and that’s not including the trade demands he’s brought up the last few weeks. Overall though, the Jags were picked to be a top-five defense this year and that includes them not allowing a lot of scores including in the Red Zone. Jacksonville gets Denver in Denver in Week 4 but the Bronco offense isn’t all that impressive, especially against a run-stuffing D like the Jaguars have.