NFL Network's RedZone Colts stat of the week: Week Nine

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Colts were 0-4 in TD opportunities in the redzone against the 49ers this past Sunday. They had to settle for field goals, which kicker Matt Stover converted. He was 4-4 in the game. The TD pass from Joseph Addai to Reggie Wayne does not count as a redzone TD because the play started at the SF 22 yard line. So, for the Colts, Sunday's game weakened their impressive redzone offense and defense stats.

Indy's offensive redzone efficiency drops from 66% to 56% after going 0-4 in the redzone. This brings the stats back "down to earth," so to speak. If the Colts went the whole season scoring 66% of their redzone TDs, I have to think that would be some kind of NFL record. No offense scores TDs with that kind of frequency in the redzone over at 16 game haul. 56% is still a damn fine percentage, especially when you factor in that the Colts have generated more redzone opportunities with their offense (25) than they've allowed with their defense (only 14).

Speaking of defense, the 49ers only had one drive into Indy's redzone all game, pushing up the Colts drives allowed to 14. However, the 49ers converted that redzone drive into a TD, knocking up Indy's redzone defensive percentage from 46% to 50%. This means that 50% of the time that a team drives into Indy's redzone, they score a TD. That's not great, but it isn't bad. It does need to be improved upon.

One key change between this year's defense and defense in previous years is the Colts are focusing more on limiting redzone opportunities for opponents by getting them off the field early in their drives. SF had 12 drives in the game and only one of the drives found the redzone. Indy forced 6 three-and-outs on the SF offense, and one other drive resulted in a turnover (Bob Sanders' INT off the Kelvin Hayden deflection). I believe the Colts had 6 total three-and-outs forced all of last year. They forced only 45 three-and-outs in 2008. I still throw up in my mouth a little bit when I think of last year's third down defense.

Much of SF's success occurred in the first half. It was then that Frank Gore got his lucky 64 yard TD run, and it was just before halftime that the 49ers had their lone successful drive of the game, going 89 yards for a TD in just over a minute. In the second half, the 49ers were shutout. They did not work any drives into Indy's redzone, nor did they score any points. They were also limited to only 4 drives in the second half. They had 8 in the first.

We'll continue to keep track of these stats as the year progresses.