keys to winning from here on out

Win the turnover battle. that's it. When our D gets turnovers we come up big.

 

Score more points than the opponent.

 

well obviously that's obvious lol. I notice our Offense and Defense light up when the D gets turnovers.

 

5 Keys to winning, continue doing what we've done to improve this year:

1. Offensive Red Zone TD %
We improved from 51% in 2014, to 60% in 2015 (top 10)
Losing Deangelo is a huge blow here, we need to overcome his loss in the red zone.

2. Win the Turnover battle
We improved from EVEN in 2014, to +2 in 2015
Ben cannot throw unforced INTs
While we improved in net, we turned the ball over a lot more this year
We went from 10 INTs in 2014, to 21 INTs in 2015
We went from 21 Giveaways in 2014, to 28 Giveaways in 2015
We can't count on takeaways, so we must eliminate bad giveaways

3. Eliminate splash plays against / Make splash plays on offense
We improved from -1 in splash plays in 2014 (19th), to + 19 in 2015 (5th best)
2014: 85 for, 86 against
2015: 90 for, 71 against

4. Defensive Red Zone TD % (Prevention)
We improved from giving up 55% TDs (19th), to 49% (6th)
We know we are going to give up yards, and 1st downs.
We need to hold for FGs.

5. Discipline
We were the 4th least penalized team in the league, 2nd least on the road

 

I almost slapped a big, fat DISLIKE on this post for beating me to it.

 

I think this highlights a lot of the major factors. I think I'd hammer on the short to intermediate passing game in practice this week - the deep balls will be there, even more so if we establish routes underneath. I just think Ben needs to focus on the cutting down missed opportunities on higher percentage plays.

To that end, I also wouldn't shy away from Touissant/Todman if Williams looks like a no-go. Neither will replace Bell/Williams, but I dentify their strengths and exploit them so the defense cannot ignore them completely. I don't think either will do well running through traffic, so the line will have to be confident of opening holes between the tackles - a tall bill considering Cincy's front seven. So they will likely need to be used more on sweeps, screens, and check downs. But get them to gash the second level a few times so the safeties cannot just overplay the WR's.