This article is part of our Red Zone Watch series.
After rushing 25 times for 83 yards in Sunday's win over the Chiefs, Lamar Miller is second in the NFL in carries through three games, with his 53 totes five fewer than the Steelers' DeAngelo Williams. However, only six have come in the red zone, including just one inside the five-yard line, which is also his only carry inside the 10. There's little question that Miller is the feature back in Houston, and that he'll likely get the carries from in close when they come (he has 100 percent of his team's carries inside the five and 10-yard lines), but it's important to remember that volume inside the red zone is what we really want. Sure, failures to score could open the door for other players to get attention, but Miller's complete stronghold on the Texans' red-zone carries has clearly not helped his touchdown total yet.
Atlanta Falcons
Devonta Freeman rushed 17 times Sunday against the Raiders, while Tevin Coleman had 12 touches out of the backfield, with the latter also catching two passes and scoring on a red-zone carry, a 13-yarder in the fourth quarter. Creating some worries for Freeman's fantasy owners, Coleman was given four carries inside the red zone, after just one in the season opener, while Freeman's carries in the area dropped from four to three. It wasn't a considerable drop, but it came because Coleman got more. We also haven't seen the Falcons run the ball inside the five-yard line, but it still seems
After rushing 25 times for 83 yards in Sunday's win over the Chiefs, Lamar Miller is second in the NFL in carries through three games, with his 53 totes five fewer than the Steelers' DeAngelo Williams. However, only six have come in the red zone, including just one inside the five-yard line, which is also his only carry inside the 10. There's little question that Miller is the feature back in Houston, and that he'll likely get the carries from in close when they come (he has 100 percent of his team's carries inside the five and 10-yard lines), but it's important to remember that volume inside the red zone is what we really want. Sure, failures to score could open the door for other players to get attention, but Miller's complete stronghold on the Texans' red-zone carries has clearly not helped his touchdown total yet.
Atlanta Falcons
Devonta Freeman rushed 17 times Sunday against the Raiders, while Tevin Coleman had 12 touches out of the backfield, with the latter also catching two passes and scoring on a red-zone carry, a 13-yarder in the fourth quarter. Creating some worries for Freeman's fantasy owners, Coleman was given four carries inside the red zone, after just one in the season opener, while Freeman's carries in the area dropped from four to three. It wasn't a considerable drop, but it came because Coleman got more. We also haven't seen the Falcons run the ball inside the five-yard line, but it still seems like Freeman would get the first shot. Speaking of plays from in close, Mohamed Sanu continues to be a main target for quarterback Matt Ryan, as he's gotten two red-zone targets in each of the first two games, while Julio Jones has yet to be targeted inside the 20. Even without the attention in that area, Jones still had five catches for 106 yards and a touchdown Sunday.
Arizona Cardinals
Larry Fitzgerald continued his dominance from in close, catching a four-yard touchdown to open the scoring in Sunday's 40-7 demolition of the Buccaneers. Of additional note, Michael Floyd scored on a one-yard pass, while Chris Johnson (and specifically not David Johnson) scored on a three-yard run deep in the fourth quarter, though it put the Cardinals up 40-7, so it's understandable why David wasn't in the game.
Baltimore Ravens
Mike Wallace scored two red-zone touchdowns Sunday against the Browns, his first two red-zone targets of the season. The Ravens' running game is a bit of a mess, and given quarterback Joe Flacco's early success with Wallace, not to forget his chemistry with Steve Smith, it seems likely the Ravens could be throwing much more in the red zone than they run. The only problem is that they've struggled to even get that far, running just five red-zone plays in two games, which is worse than all but the Bears, who play their second game of the season Monday night against the Eagles.
Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys scored three rushing touchdowns Sunday against Washington, but only one went to Ezekiel Elliott. What gives? The kid was supposed to dominate the touches out of the Cowboys' backfield, with the best offensive line in the league in front of him. Why wouldn't he get all the carries from in close? In a word: fumblitis (you're right, that's probably not even a word). After fumbling twice, and losing one, Elliott was replaced by Alfred Morris, who scored on a four-yard run in the fourth quarter against his old team (revenge game TD!). Quarterback Dak Prescott also got in on the action, scoring a rushing touchdown too, though it was clearly a pass play with no one open, and he was able to scramble his way into the end zone. It was an excellent individual effort, but the play call was not specifically to take the ball out of Elliott's hands and keep it with Prescott's.
Green Bay Packers
The Packers' offense has struggled in the first two games of the season, especially from in close, with Eddie Lacy failing to score on any of his three carries inside the five-yard line, while James Starks has lost six yards on his two touches from that distance. Instead, it's been Jordy Nelson who has scored from in close, turning his three targets inside the 10 into two touchdowns. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers is never one to shy away from throwing, and his early success with Nelson near the goal line could spell trouble for Lacy's opportunities.
New York Jets
A week after it looked like the Jets wouldn't use Matt Forte near the goal line like they did Chris Ivory, who led the NFL in carries inside the 10 and five-yard lines last year, they blew that out of the water against the Bills on Thursday night, as Forte rushed for three touchdowns, which came from one, three and 12 yards out. The Jets lead the NFL with 32 plays in the red zone this season, splitting their attack fairly evenly (17 pass, 15 rush), while also doing so from inside the 10 (11 plays, six pass and five rush). Eric Decker nabbed a five-yard touchdown, his second red-zone score in as many weeks, while Brandon Marshall had six catches on nine targets for 101 yards, though none came from inside the Bills' 20.
San Diego Chargers
After scoring his first NFL touchdown in Week 1, Melvin Gordon followed it up with another score and the first 100-yard game of his career Sunday against the Jaguars. His touchdown came on a three-yard run in the first quarter, and with Danny Woodhead expected to miss time with a sprained PCL, Gordon should see plenty of work in the red zone for the injury-riddled Chargers.
Tennessee Titans
The running back touch split between DeMarco Murray and Derrick Henry will be a hot topic for most of the season in our weekly Depth Chart Watch article, and we'll do the same here to see how the two are being used (or not being used) near the goal line. The Titans squeaked out a 16-15 victory in Detroit on Sunday thanks to a late drive that ended with a nine-yard touchdown pass from Marcus Mariota to Andre Johnson (no, really!). Of note, Murray was given three carries to Henry's two on the drive, and while Henry was given the only one in the red zone, Murray was targeted once. Mariota threw on seven of eight snaps in Lions territory on that drive, but that's not surprising given they needed a touchdown and couldn't run too much clock. The closest they got to the end zone was the nine-yard line before the score, which is way too far for most NFL coaches to call a run play with less than two minutes left.
Washington Redskins
Quarterback Kirk Cousins targeted 10 receivers Sunday against the Cowboys, but his favorite target from in close was wideout Jamison Crowder, who got four of his eight targets inside the red zone, with two inside the 10-yard line, including one inside the five. Despite the heavy usage, Crowder is 5-foot-9, 174, which isn't exactly the prototypical size for a receiver who gets a lot of attention near the goal line. While he did catch one of the passes for a touchdown, Crowder's usage Sunday isn't likely to be repeated often.
