So while I was watching today's game I noticed that I wasn't the least bit surprised that we had another slow start.  After the game I did a little research and found out our slow starts are worse than I had thought.  Below I've compiled a breakdown of our first two drives in every game, then compared our average points per drive (using only the first two drives) to the rest of our division and our most recent competitor. 

Week 1: No points on our first two drives

Week 2: No points on our first two drives

Week 3: No points on our first two drives

Week 4: Bye Week

Week 5: No points on our first two drives (although we went for it on 4th down on the Indy. 8 yard line)

Week 6: Excellent touchdown drive for first drive followed by no points on second drive

Week 7: Touchdown drive for first drive followed by no points on second drive

Week 8: No points on our first two drives

Week 9: No points on our first two drives

Week 10: No points on our first two drives

Week 11: No points on our first two drives

Week 12: Touchdown drive for first drive followed by no points on second drive

Week 13: No points in first drive followed by touchdown on second drive

Week 14: No points (in game)

Week 15: No points on our first two drives

So that's a total of 30 drives and 4 touchdowns and no field goals.  Our average is 0.9 points per drive.  If we were to get the ball ten times per game and continued that average, we'd be looking at about nine points per game on average.

For comparison sake, I also looked up the success rates on the first two drives for our most recent opponent, the Rams (6-8), and the rest of our division. (All stats are for first two drives through fifteen games)

Rams: 53 points, an average of 1.77 points per drive.  Over ten drives per game this would equate to about 14 points per game.

Chargers: 62 points, an average of 2.07 points per drive.  Over ten drives per game this would equate to about 21 points per game

Denver:48 points, an average of 1.6 points per drive.  Over ten drives per game this would equate to about 16 points per game.

Oakland: 71 points, an average of 2.37 points per drive.  Over ten drives per game this would equate to about 24 points per game.

Wrap-Up So basically two of these four teams are more than double as successful as we are in our first two drives, while the other two teams are nearly double as successful.  What I find most alarming is that I would only consider one of these teams a contender.

Bottom line here is that we have more of the most important stat, W's.  But if we want to be a serious contender in the playoffs we cannot afford to start off slow--especially with the quality of opponents we would have to face.

So is this due to our team strategy? Perhaps our conservative nature?  Players not "in the game" yet?  Poor planning by coaches (as first few drives are often scripted)? Let me know!