As many have pointed out, one of the many great things about Sat night's victory over Clemson was that we did so without playing a perfect game. We played very well, of course, but we can all point to some areas where improvement is possible going forward.
To this end, throughout the game, my friends and I were talking about our 1st down play calling, and more importantly, what felt like a very inefficient performance. I decided to go back and track the numbers from the game, and I think they confirm our views (though admittedly having never done this before, I do not have the relative context to know for sure).
Here are some play call stats:
1st Down Plays Run: 36
Number of Negative Yard Plays: 8 (22%)
Number of No Gain Plays: 7 (19%)
Number of 1-3 Yard Plays: 6 (17%)
Number of 4-9 Yard Plays: 8 (22%)
Number of 10+ Yard Plays: 7 (19%)
Average Yard per 1st Down Play: 6.9 yds
Red Zone 1st Down Plays: 6
Taking in all those numbers, it seems to me that gaining 3yds or less on 1st down 58% of the time isn't good. Especially when you consider the strength of our OL/running game. And more specifically, gaining no yards or losing yards on 41% of 1st downs seems completely unacceptable. Even if the incomplete passes are removed, there were still 11 plays (31%) of 1st downs where we went nowhere or backwards.
I'm not using this post to suggest alternative play calls myself, but rather just to share my findings and highlight an area where I think some improvement would be impactful. I put this right up there with the need to improve our red zone efficiency.
To this end, throughout the game, my friends and I were talking about our 1st down play calling, and more importantly, what felt like a very inefficient performance. I decided to go back and track the numbers from the game, and I think they confirm our views (though admittedly having never done this before, I do not have the relative context to know for sure).
Here are some play call stats:
1st Down Plays Run: 36
Q1 - 8 1st Down Plays: 5 run / 3 pass
Q2 - 9 1st Down Plays: 5 run / 4 pass
Q3 - 4 1st Down Plays: 3 run / 1 pass
Q4 - 10 1st Down Plays: 3 run / 7 pass
OT (combined) - 5 1st Down Plays: 4 run / 1 pass
Run Plays: 20 (56%) - 15 to a RB (Kyren (13) / Tyree (2))
5 to Book
Pass Plays: 16 (44%) - 10 Complete / 2 Incomplete / 2 Throwaways / 2 Sacks9 to a WR (McKinely (4) / Davis (4) / Skoronek (1))
2 to a TE (Wright (1) / Mayer (1))
1 to a RB (Kyren Williams (1))
And more importantly, performance stats:Number of Negative Yard Plays: 8 (22%)
Number of No Gain Plays: 7 (19%)
Number of 1-3 Yard Plays: 6 (17%)
Number of 4-9 Yard Plays: 8 (22%)
Number of 10+ Yard Plays: 7 (19%)
Average Yard per 1st Down Play: 6.9 yds
Weighted higher as it includes a 65yd run, a 45yd pass, and a 53yd pass
Median Yard per 1st Down Play: 1.5 ydsRed Zone 1st Down Plays: 6
Average Yard per 1st Down Play in Red Zone: 1.5 yds
Number of No Gain or Negative Yard Plays in Red Zone: 2 (1 Run / 1 Incomplete Pass)
Number of 1-3 Yard Plays in Red Zone: 3 (3 Runs)
Number of 4+ Yard Plays in Red Zone: 1 (1 Pass)
Taking in all those numbers, it seems to me that gaining 3yds or less on 1st down 58% of the time isn't good. Especially when you consider the strength of our OL/running game. And more specifically, gaining no yards or losing yards on 41% of 1st downs seems completely unacceptable. Even if the incomplete passes are removed, there were still 11 plays (31%) of 1st downs where we went nowhere or backwards.
I'm not using this post to suggest alternative play calls myself, but rather just to share my findings and highlight an area where I think some improvement would be impactful. I put this right up there with the need to improve our red zone efficiency.
