I don't understand this football situation

[illunious]

You are on the 20 yard line.

[AJo Go All In]

um, you say you are on the 20 yard line, but then give 2 scenarios where you are on the 9 and 11 yard line..

[Gallopin Gael]

What's not to understand?

Essentially you're giveing yourself a free extra shot at the endzone with 2 and 1 on the 11.

You take your shot, put Zach Crockett (Go Raiders!) in to get the 2 yards on 3rd down (assuming that you don't score or make the 1st down) and then have 3 more chances to score 6.

I think the more interesting question would be: Starting on the 20 would you rather have the next play be 2 and 1 on the 11 or 1 and Goal on the 5?

Being sleep deprived and not thinking about it too much, I think my answer might be the same.

[Easy E]

From the 20, better to get 9 yards or 11 yards on the first play?

I also vote for the 9 yard gain. You presumably can make 1 yard, so you get 7 downs to try to score.

[ftball0000]

I would take the 1st and 9, because I would never give up the chance to get a first down, and 2 yards is alot in the red zone. Because you aren't guaranteed to make the first down on the 2nd and 1 situation

-Ftball

[jwvdcw]

[ QUOTE ]
I would take the 1st and 9, because I would never give up the chance to get a first down, and 2 yards is alot in the red zone. Because you aren't guaranteed to make the first down on the 2nd and 1 situation

-Ftball

[/ QUOTE ]

agreed totally. I bet that the average joe schmoe fan will say 2nd and 1, but poll the NFL coaches and they'd take the 1st down.

[illunious]

[ QUOTE ]
From the 20, better to get 9 yards or 11 yards on the first play?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, this is what I meant to ask.

I know very little about football in general, and was watching a game with my friends last night. This question came up, and their explanation of why getting 11 yards is better didn't convince me.

I'm interested in the theory of getting only 9 yards. It seems like 2nd and 1 on the 11th yard line is the best possible position to be in. On the next play you have a chance of a touchdown, but as long as you get 1 yard, you get 1st down.

[illunious]

[ QUOTE ]
2 yards is alot in the red zone.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ahh, this explains it much better. I never considered that it would be much harder to gain 1 yard in the red zone.

Thanks for the responses everyone.

[Jman28]

If the matchup is favorable to the run offense (vs. the run defense) I'll take 2nd and 1 from the 11.

If I have a weak line and am up against a strong run defense, I'd prefer 1st and goal on the 9

[MrDannimal]

I disagree. If it were from a different spot, 2 yards might mean more. I don't think the difference between 9 and 11 yards means much. In fact, there are times when you don't want to be in a little closer. You have 2 fewer yards to run pass route, for example.

I'd like to see a breakdown of how often teams get a 1st down when they have 2nd and 1. I bet the % if 70% or higher that they get it on one of up to 3 tries

It depends on the situation ultimately, which someone else said.

If I'm up 4, there's 2:30 left and the other team has 1 time out left, I'd rather have 2nd and 1, because I can burn extra clock (if not all of it) by getting a 1st.