This concept was made famous by the Denver Broncos and their legendary offensive line coach Alex Gibbs. Before getting into the actual drills, a few things must be understood. But what we got surprised us. Here's what the Inside Zone Read looks like Live. Landmark is the play side armpit of defender. His main job is to cut off the players gap toward the play side. That caused offensive coaches to try to come up with a new blocking scheme thatd counter the slant and angle scheme and also protect against future defensive schemes that coaches might create. The concept is that the Running Back will be coming downhill and taking a handoff deep in the backfield. Required fields are marked *. Click here. We call it a 'rip-to-reach' because we used to take the inside arm and rip it across the outside arm of the defender. Zone blocking can most simply be described by saying that an offensive line is responsible for a specific zone instead of a specific man (as he would be in a man blocking scheme). This outside zone from the Rams is a great example of an overtake from the BSG and BST. The guard and tackle on each side of the center will combine for the zone blocking double teams. The backside hand goes to the sternum of the defender. This can be particularly difficult for younger running backs as they hear the Stretch play called and want to run the ball to the outside no matter what. There are a variety of different coaching points that must be mastered but one of the key things is that the runner gets the ball at as close to full speed as possible. Basic Zone Blocking Rules: Inside Gap (first rule is to protect inside gap) Head UP (head up is considered from inside shoulder to outside shoulder) Climb to LB. Like the centers technique, the tackle is responsible for cutting off the angle of the defensive lineman by moving horizontally. 1. Where the defensive end goes -- and how the offensive linemen double team him -- will determine which offensive lineman blocks the Mike. Basic Zone Scheme PLAY DIRECTION RIGHT: Left shoulder 10% chance he is mine. The backside guard gives a post arm to help the BST overtake. What's most effective about teaching this methodology is that the front that the defense presents is irrelevant. Currently 5/5 Stars. This eliminates rules for the bend bang or bounces from the running back. 101K views 4 years ago In this description of the inside zone you learn a new and simple way to make sure your lineman know who they will be working with on their combo blocks. The first stage of this example is the double team blocks. When a play side lineman is covered on the outside zone or stretch play, it is his job to handle that down lineman. Blocking Calls / Rules. On this play, the offensive tackle would have man blocking responsibilities for the defensive end, while the offensive guard would have man blocking responsibilities on the Sam linebacker. According to Sweeney, four things can happen when you cut on the back-side and none are good: Sweeney's negatives of cut-blocking on the back-side of OZ: Now we realize that we may be biased in these numbers. The ball carrier is sprinting to get out there." Try to cut off the defensive end, so the running back can get to the edge, If the defensive end widens and youre not able to cut him off, then try to run him to the sideline. This play, known as "Outside Zone" in their system (they called what most people would consider Outside Zone "Mid Zone"), quickly became one of the best plays in their offense. Teams may have outside zone hit a bit wider than wide zone, but outside and wide zone are the same at its core fundamentals. 6. Here we need to attack the play side armpit with the inside hand first, then work to the second level. The PST kicks out the end and Quentin Nelson is able to sustain his block long enough to allow the running back to shoot the gap. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Even if they cannot gain the edge, running backs will work outside-in until a gap pops open. What we've found most interesting is that unlike the inside zone, the outside zone does not have to be a cornerstone of your offense. The wide-zone run scheme is a play based on horizontal movement. Take the first available running lane. Case 3: Back-side Blocking Schemes (To Cut or Not to Cut). Here is one last example of how the flow and horizontal pressure of outside zone can exploit defenses. One of these players on each side of the field will come off their initial double team block to get to the second level and pick up the Will and the Mike, respectively. If the center can reach the nose he will make a "you" call to the strong guard telling the strong guard to pull and block the play side linebacker. Various trigger concepts: By "trigger" concepts we're referring to the actions off zone option such as the flash or speed sweep, the outside zone option as well as the reverse package. Contact us if you are interested in contributing content. Pat Ruel, the assistant offensive line coach for the Seattle Seahawks, teaches a stretch hook concept (a combo horizontal stretch and hook) for his covered linemen to the play side of zone. Zone blocking is a style of blocking for offensive linemen that was created by offensive coaches in response to a new style of defense that had emerged. The PST kicks out the EMLOS. "But we do concern ourselves with a player who lines up in a gap position. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. That's how the zone blocking scheme was created. That PSLB thats unblocked is now the responsibility of the tight end. endobj It gave the OZ play a chance to cut into C gap. The offensive lineman is told that he must read covered or uncovered. Teams will use their H back to block outside out but then release him for a pop pass. For years, offensive linemen were given man blocking responsibilities. So why teach it? Tenopir talks about the pull and overtake method by the uncovered lineman. The BSG then gets up to the second level. The first player backside (of the center) is labeled as -1. The face goes to the play side defender's armpit. Aiming points and angles are some of the most important rules for the OL Select an applicable Action of either Block, Legacy CAPTCHA, Managed Challenge, or JS challenge. The two-back outside zone uses the same zone-blocking principles of the one-back look with a fullback or H-Back leading to the edge of the formation to track the first defender who shows as. Although Ruel doesn't teach a bucket step for those uncovered offensive linemen, we've found that the majority of coaches, 32.8 percent, teach a bucket step for that uncovered lineman. Even if offensive linemen lose ground, the back can run off of those blocks and create positive plays that exploit fast-filling linebackers. The defense counters with four defensive linemen, as well as the Sam linebacker lining up in tight toward the line of scrimmage. Starting with the center, the philosophy is to cut off the person in your next gap. The outside zone uses the same blocking rules as the inside zone. This eBook takes my blocking chapters from my Power Wing Beast Offense and Wildcat Multi Spread Offense playbooks and combines them into a basic blocking book for any youth football offense. Please reload the page and try again. If players are stacked, the lower number goes to the defender closer to the line of scrimmage. The second player is a -2, and so on. It's basically the same principle X&O Labs uncovered back in March when we released our inside zone report. This will allow them both to peel off successfully to the second level. Teach zone blocking technique whether covered or uncovered; Identify a "point" defender and work simple line rules off of his alignment; The incredibly fast tempo of the Oregon offense puts enormous pressure on the defense. endobj <>/XObject<>/ExtGState<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI] >>/MediaBox[ 0 0 612 792] /Contents 10 0 R/Group<>/Tabs/S>> They must be taught through practice and game reps to get a feel for when the Tackle does not have his man sealed so they can turn it upfield to gain yards. 2. It's not as wide. It all starts with. But how these coaches teach their blocking assignments will vary, as we will explain below. stream Your email address will not be published. It is very similar to what Hand teaches, but his rules refer more to the perimeter defenders than to first level defensive linemen. OL = Outside Zone blocking. Download now just $7. This provides for numerous cutback lanes for the ball carrier to insert himself. The past season I coached our 8th grade team and we went 10-0 and won our league championship. The backside guard will step toward the play side to ensure no penetration from a blitzing linebacker or backside lineman. ", We've found the emphasis on the covered lineman is to have his shoulders pointed up field at all times. Select the appropriate domain. Once the guard has slowed down the man in his gap and the center has overtaken him, he will then move to cut off the linebacker. Third, the offensive linemen must keep their eyes on the linebacker. E. Bucket Step -6 inch directional step towardAiming Point. That tells the running back to adjust his track to be inside of those two defenders. The tackle to the read side will be blocking the end on his side, and stepping with the opposite foot as the rest of the OL. Uncovered: There is no first level defender (DLM) from my nose to the nose of the adjacent lineman play side. Some teams base their entire offense on it, including the NFL 's Washington Football Team, New Orleans Saints, Seattle Seahawks, Kansas City Chiefs, Green Bay Packers, and Los Angeles Rams. 4 hands on DLM, 4 eyes on LB. "As the covered lineman takes his stretch step to the outside V of the neck, his back-side hand placement is the thing that will slow him down enough to catch the five-technique defender if he slants inside," said Hand. Backside hand through the sternum. To preface, the count system does not equal man blocking. Truth is, 53 percent of coaches feel that it doesn't need to be a top play in your offense for it to be successful. With the wide zone run scheme, offensive linemen work laterally as they try to gain the edge. It works great as a horizontal flow and is common to use on boot legs and play action. With inside zone, vertical steps backside are used to create double teams. Your email address will not be published. Versus a dominant nose or 2i technique (Diagram 11). It's all doable depending on the path of the back which Zweifel explains. In the mid 90's, Alex Gibbs put in a zone blocking scheme for the Denver Broncos. If you have an offensive lineman that can move and effectively cut off the defensive players, outside zone is a perfect install. by Anonymous. Teams who run outside zone from under center typically require the running back to make a quicker decision, as the ball will be in the hands of the running back closer to the line of scrimmage. Some general rules that are applied to these systems: Contrary to its name, outside zone doesnt usually hit outside. Herb Hand, Vanderbilt University (Bounce, Bang, Bend). Outside zone (lateral hook/seal): Reach/block the outside shoulder/first step points outside of D-lineman's outside shoulder. We are trying to put both hands on the far shoulder pad. "He was the best in the business at that time and he used to tell us he always wanted to see our butts so that he can make the right cut. Unlike a full zone principle, this scheme involves down blocks and pulls at the point of attack. A primary goal of almost all offenses is to get the ball to a speedy player in space. "We must open the defender's shoulders. Once again, it was a pleasure to report on the offensive line principles in the zone scheme. The count is just a good starting point for the who the OL will block with anticipation of taking care of anyone that enters their gap. If by the third step, the offensive lineman is not in a position to overtake the down lineman, he's up on the next path to cutoff whatever comes. Zone is great because it takes into account any spikes or slants from the defensive line. Flag football is a great game to play, especially during the offseason. Behind the Inside Zone it is the second most popular scheme at the professional and college level. The responsibility of blocking these two players will land with either the offensive tackles or the offensive guards. Although this component won't be disclosed below, we will be covering this aspect in depth on May 24th when our Boise State/Oregon trigger concepts report debuts. GOD - Gap on Down; GOLD - Gap on LB Down; GOO - Gap on Outside (pass) The two plays are based on the teaching that in any inside or outside zone play, there are "covered" and "uncovered" linemen. Follow us for breaking news and latest updates: Thanks for subscribing! When the EMLOS is aligned in a wide-9 technique or way outside the PST, the PST now has to kick that player out. Zone-locking or man-locking principles may also be applied to pass blocking. Next is the play side guard. Zone running plays are designed to block general areas across the line of scrimmage while the running back finds the best opening. Teams who use outside zone as a primarily outside zone run play may have their running back trying to get to the edge no matter what. The blocking techniques, though, are different, as the plays are designed to get the defense moving laterally across the field and create seams in their coverage. The Outside Zone blocking scheme is one of the most universal schemes in football. We were first in the league in scoring and first in our league in points allowed on defense. He's authored dozens of clinic articles and published numerous videos on the outside zone. Click here to sign up - it's FREE! Finally, our wide outside runs are: 28-29 halfback sweep, with tackle and tight end angle rules with a guard on lead pull; 28-29 halfback toss, with a guard hooking, a tackle pulling and a tight end on an angle block. "We tell him to take a deep drop step and come out on the strong side A gap. Team Tempo - Inside Zone blocking. As a result I normally give the players the option if they would like to get the ball dropped down to them. In this instance the Running Back will line up next to the Quarterback opposite of the play call. In this case, the Center = 0, RG = 1 and RT = 2. We need to open his shoulders and work to the outside LB. Get 3 free templates to help you build an organized and structured team. Outside zone is a run play that takes advantage of the cut-off blocks and leverages the offensive line to get an aggressive running attack that will wear down the defenses pursuit. endobj Used for Outside Zone Blocking when covered and facing an OUTSIDE SHADE defender. Click here. Regardless of how the handoff takes places the Jet man will be getting the ball and stretching the edge of the field. You should receive a confirmation email shortly asking you to verify your subscription. . What this does is result in a lot of double-team blocks at the line of scrimmage. He picks the foot up and puts it in the direction we want him to go. He cannot get the linebacker until he gets there." These indicators can include: Although the outside zone or stretch scheme is an outside hitting play, any interior penetration could slow down the course of the ball carrier. Any time you run and pin and pull, it is a cut on the back-side - no scoop. stream Zone blocking is a style of blocking for offensive linemen that was created by offensive coaches in response to a new style of defense that had emerged. Zweifel will do this when he sees a C gap down defender to the play side. There is nobody in his play-side gap, so he helps the tackle overtake the block and then looks inside for exactly this type of flow from the linebackers. The idea is to "stretch" the entire defense the width of the field. This can only be accomplished through practice with the backs running at full speed. The Outside Zone allows an offense to do this in a variety of different ways. Navigate to Security > WAF > Tools. Zweifel tells his uncovered linemen first to take a deep drop step to gain depth with the second step being a crossover to try to get on line to overtake next down defender. The main philosophy in the outside zone is to cut off every defensive lineman. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Copyright text 2022 by Football Advantage. If the center cannot reach the nose, he will make a "me" call to the strong guard telling him to block the nose and the center will pull to block the MLB. the difference between an inside and outside zone, and how . Sure, some teams have chosen to man block the play, 73.8 percent of coaches still use a covered and uncovered principle when running the outside zone. The scheme attacks space instead of players and offers a versatile play that doesnt demand vertical movement and instead stresses defenses on the perimeter. Offensive coaches needed to come up with a solution, and that solution was zone blocking. He teaches his players to eye the outside armpit of the defender with the objective to always advance to the second level. We tell our guard he must get beyond the man (far jersey number) before he can come back on him. It could help your offensive lineman with their footwork and open more holes for your running back to hit. Sweeney doesn't subscribe to the "outside hand free" theory that Hand presents when working against a slanting first level defender. A core component of their ground game has been a zone-blocking scheme, which Ferentz brought to Iowa City over 16 years ago, and continues to be a critical aspect of their rushing offense. INSIDE ZONE FROM WEAK OFFSET PRO I FORMATION Inside Zone Strong Inside Zone Weak Inside Zone Lead Strong Inside Zone Lead Weak OUTSIDE ZONE Coaching Points-Outside Zone Outside Zone Strong GENERAL FORMATION & PLAY SETUP COACHING NOTES : Inside Zone Ballhandler Notes : Inside Zone O-Line Rules Inside Zone O-Line Technique Notes : Miscellaneous Zone Running Game Notes: (3 pgs . Before we talk specifics, we wanted to give you a general consensus of why teams are running the scheme. As you can see from the description and illustrations, the slant and angle defensive scheme posed a big problem for man blocking schemes. The same read rules apply as before, but now if the DE goes upfield, the QB keeps it and runs off the FB block. :0d-D$:7l+kWqmW8\6*#$Iwf?jBhs(. Case 5: Problem Areas Among the Front (Pin and Pull Technique). For clarification, the first blocker is the tight end, the second blocker is the fullback and the third blocker is the wide receiver play side. Its great for QBs, RBs, WRs, LBs, and DBs. It provides a lot of advantages for offensive linemen, no matter what defensive play is called. Outside zone plays follow the same basic rules listed above with a few general guidelines that should be followed. On the backside, the LG & LT (-1 & -2) will take care of the Nose and Will (-1 & -2) and the QB will read (or boot) the BSDE (-3) to account for him in the blocking scheme. Some offensive linemen may still have only one blocking responsibility, again depending on the offensive play and defensive scheme being used. Rules to live by with Zone Blocking Know if you are covered or uncovered. This could ultimately lead to catastrophe. We have even told him sometimes to cut the front side 3-tech." The 3rd level defenders have taken bad angles because of how hard the Jaguars pressed outside. The Packers here choose to help their backside guard with their center. %PDF-1.5 In our example, the offense will have a fullback and running back in the backfield, a quarterback under center, and one tight end lined up to the right. He will identify the force player then make the decision on whether or not that player can make the play based on his leverage on the player who is blocking him. That 3-technique would be the next adjacent down lineman. Play-action package off OZ action: Now, this is where the fun begins. The count works out from there. The outside zone or also called the zone stretch is probably the most recognizable play in the zone blocking scheme. Team Run - Inside Zone blocking. That movement will stop the penetration of the defender inside. Outside zone is one of the hardest plays for the defense to stop, simply because it takes the element of power completely out of the situation. This is referred to as the second level of the defense. They called it the 28/29 Edge play. That pressure allows for the BST get down the line of scrimmage and to be able to overtake the first-level defender. So when we started compiling the report, we've found that the most heated discussion is whether or not to full zone or man block the scheme. You can see in this example, from a standard shotgun set, the QB uses the backside defensive ends alignment against him, and simply 'reads' what he is doing, it provides a very simple rule for . He helps seal that scrape and AJ Dillon is able to get outside on edge of the defense. Heres how it looks: The play is designed to go to the right. Their objective is to reach and overtake the next down lineman play side. Offensive linemen, when facing twisting defensive linemen, can also either lock on man-to-man or pass it off in a. His objective is to get to the next adjacent down lineman's play side number with the purpose of taking him over. Think inside shoulder to outside shoulder. With the track of the running back, Jacksonville has forced the secondary of the Browns to flow hard over the top and get sealed off to the play-side. Inside Drill - Inside Zone blocking. "We're a dinosaur when it comes to our path. After logging in you can close it and return to this page. Outside zone can be run from different formations, depending on where the coach wants the play to hit. To start on offense, the count will begin with the Center and then work to the front side. toInside Zone Rulesin that they use the covered/uncovered read and playside direction. There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. He then would need to try to fight through or around the defender who was now in his space to get to his blocking responsibility, which is the linebacker. The occurs after contact. According to Zweifel and other coaches we spoke with, the problem with running both the pin and pull and zone schemes is not having the practice time to devote to it. Vertical push on IZ (inside zone). We hope that you can take a couple things from this report and bring it back to your program to become more successful. The aiming point is to track the outside hip of the play side tackle (note: The aiming point of the back is chasing the outside hip of the tackle. The difference is the wide zone blocking is horizontal, either going toward one sideline or the other. 2 0 obj Fourth, the offensive linemen must know which one will stay on the defender and which one will peel off to pick up the linebacker. Rather than attacking upfield at the snap, the offensive linemen typically move at a 45-degree angle towards one of the sidelines, often leaving the backside defensive end unblocked to generate a . Zone blocking philosophies can differ, but since it attacks space and gaps, the scheme can be incredibly versatile and effective against whatever front and look the defense presents. cd0uw0o! Maximizing the Outside Zone Blocking Scheme. Both ultimately accomplish the same thing. In my philosophy, blocking outside zone is similar to how you would block inside zone. Once the running back reads the tackle, he will bend it back toward the middle if he sees him pushing the defensive end to the sideline. Get our blocking diagrams to every defensive front Steps and Combos The next thing you need to study about the Inside Zone is Offensive Line Steps and Calling Combination Blocks. The tackle cannot come off the ball with no concern of the defender slanting inside. C BT BG PG PT Q ET MB Y As Kelly puts it, "the. One of the best dvds out there on the inside zone and outside zone. This play is diagramed against a 3-4 scheme. <> It simplified the roles and responsibilities for each offensive lineman since he was only asked to worry about one defender. The guard to the read side has to avoid the defensive linemen and go. In 2011, Oregon averaged 9.8 yards per play as they ran this play 36 times for 353 yards and 2 touchdowns.