5 NFL Red Zone Trends to Monitor for Week 2

Baltimore Doesn't Get to Face Nathan Peterman Every Week

No team tallied more red zone opportunities than the Baltimore Ravens' 18 in their Week 1 blowout win over the Buffalo Bills.

That doesn't come as a surprise when you consider their average starting field position -- their own 41 yard line. Per ProFootballReference, that was tied for the best of any team in Week 1, crushing the league average of 29.6. So, the Ravens only needed to go an average of 39 yards for a drive to offically reach the red zone, compared to the 50.4 yards for the league as a whole.

They benefited in a giant way from their combination of stout defense and mouth-watering matchup. The Buffalo Bills gained an average of 6.6 yards per drive in Week 1. It's hard to overstate just how pitiful that is. The next-worst mark in Week 1 was 18.9 yards (the Cleveland Browns), and it sits at just above 25% of 2017's lowest mark (25.4 yards; the Chicago Bears). And for a bit more context, the best average starting field position belonged to the Ravens, but that was from their own 33 yard line a year ago.

That's a long-winded way of saying "do not expect Baltimore to continue running so many red zone snaps".

That has a few implications as we move forward. First is that it's still almost impossible to tell who they're going to lean on in the passing game. Despite notching 10 targets as a team, only 2 players (John Brown and Nick Boyle) saw more than 1, and nobody had a market share north of 20%. This also means we're not likely to see Joe Flacco continue putting up three-touchdown games with regularity.

Alex Collins is the one player that did have some encouraging numbers. His four opportunities (one target, three carries) weren't a high mark (especially when you consider the team's total -- his market share sat at 22.2%), but he also wasn't in the game for a full four quarters. Thanks to the huge blowout, the Ravens' backups got significant playing time and Collins last saw a touch in the Ravens' first drive of the third quarter. Up until he left the game, his opportunity market share sat at much more encouraging 40%.

So, yes, the Ravens' offense as a whole isn't likely to see nearly as many scoring opportunities as we move forward, but that doesn't mean there's not plenty of reason to be excited about Collins' ceiling in the running game.