In the previous post about the offense, the question was brought up of just how much John Parker Wilson's performance affected our struggles in the red zone in 2006. It's a topic that I looked at in the past, and I will re-post that column here. As a whole, the article breaks down our red zone woes, but here is the relevant part regarding Wilson:
John Parker Wilson, despite an otherwise solid year, struggled a good bit in the red zone. Yes, he did throw five red zone touchdown passes, but all told he was only 14-29 in the red zone, completing less than 50% of his passes. Moreover, Wilson also had 10 rushes (either scrambles or sacks) on aborted passing plays. All told, Shula and co. called 39 passing plays in the red zone in 2006, and it resulted in only 14 completions. Putting a percentage to it, only a mere 35.8% of called passing plays actually resulted in a completed pass, and the average completion -- in the relative rarity that it did occur -- went for only about four yards. Unfortunately, the much more often result was a sack, a Wilson scramble, a turnover, or an attempted pass that fell harmlessly to the ground.
Click here to read the entire thing. It covers a lot of what was brought up in the comment section just below.