Location

• The red zone is the last 20 yards before the goal lines at both ends of the field. Since the football field is 100 yards long, the red zone accounts for 40 percent of the football field. By they time a team reaches the red zone, the offense has almost made it to the goal line.
  
  

Scoring

• The offense's proximity to the touchdown line and the field goal line is the main reason why it is easy for them to score once they are in the red zone. The defense has to deal with the extra stress of knowing that the opposing team is less than 20 yards away from scoring a touchdown. Even if they do not score a touchdown by their fourth down, a field goal attempt at this point is easy enough for most place kickers to score a field goal.
  
  

Not Scoring

• While it usually takes a large choke for a team's offense to not score in the red zone, it does happen. Sometimes, they will fumble the ball and other team will pick it up. Other times, the quarterback will throw an interception. Occasionally, the offense will decide to go for the touchdown on fourth down instead of trying to kick the field goal: in this case, sometimes they do not get there, and this allows the other team to get the ball back.
  
  

Red Zone Offense

• When a team's offense reaches the red zone, it is usually a good strategy for them to run the ball. If they try to pass it, they risk throwing an interception. Since passes in the red zone have to be short due to the lack of yardage in front of the quarterback, it is easy for the defense to pinpoint the exact location of the football. Thus, they are more likely get an interception.
  
  

Red Zone Defense

• At this point, the defense has to pretty much make a wall between the running back and the goal line. Many defensive coordinators aim their red zone defense towards stopping the running back, since this is going to be the go to guy for the offense. It is not surprising to see as many as four to six people try to tackle the running back. If they are successful and force the team to take a field goal, the defense then goes into kick-blocking mode. Usually, most defenses are unsuccessful with this maneuver.