The Red Zone

People often treat the red zone as sacred. A red zone turn is "unacceptable". Red zone D requires a "heightened awareness". This is the wrong approach. 

Our guy with 'that throw'

It's not that the red zone isn't sacred, but rather that the whole field is sacred. 

A turn is a turn; a D is a D. The fact that individual players put more or less emphasis on certain areas of the field is the result of psychological pressure, not logic. 

But that's not to say that the dynamics of the red zone aren't quite different. Players do treat it as though it were special. 

The result on D is usually one of two things: great pressure and coverage, or, over-pursuance resulting in a score. The result on O can often be something like this: "holy shit I need to score right now" . . . turn. 

The interesting thing about endzone offence is that you need only advance the disc a few yards. A lot of what happens on the field before you get to the redzone is predicated either on flow or on set plays. The object of a set play is, arguably, to get the disc to a power position from which there is a high percentage devastating throw. Flow is what follows after that devastating throw or when the play breaks down. Either can be utilized on the goal line. 

Set plays are often great at getting the disc upfield. One of the major advantages that the offence can have over the defence is that they already know where the disc is going, what is about to happen. It's very common for the first throw of a set play to get off cleanly - after that, good defences smell it out and can adjust in time to stop the aforementioned devastating throw, but that first throw usually comes out. (Note: this is precisely why teams flash zone after the pull). So, set plays are a good start for how to score in the red zone. I need not go into specifics, but the general 'show one thing, then do the opposite for the score' is quite effective.

The problem with set plays is that we tend to know them. We've seen them. While there are some unique ones that will get you a score or two, they probably won't do more than that. 

Flow is also an effective way to score in that the longer you force the other team to play D the more likely they will breakdown under pressure and open a throwing lane. However, the more throws you make, the wider the margin for error. 

A variation of the set play is the guy on your team with that unstoppable random throw. Maybe he's a lefty. Maybe he's got the high release flick. Whatever he has, it works. This is set play-ish because you are expecting the throw and your opponent isn't. Use that guy on the goal line.

I guess what I'm trying to get across in this post is that red zone play shouldn't be different from 'normal' play in that you never want to turn and always want to complete the pass. It is different in how people decide to react. Because you know how they will react, you can exploit them. 

Your options are more limited in the sense that there is so much less space to work with. Nobody runs horizontal in the endzone. Few run zone. Think about why.

It doesn't matter how, but you must score in the endzone. For me, that sentence is the same as saying, "it doesn't matter how, but you must complete an upfield throw." 

There are two unique factors in the red zone: 

1. How much space you have to work with;

2. How players tend to react. 

Figure out how to exploit these factors. Then take what you've learned and implement it everywhere on the field. Your O will be better for it.

Those are some of my thoughts.

tcs