What GT Does - Zone Running

[ilovetheoption]

"Soothsayer: Beware the ides of March."
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Act I, Scene 2

A public place.

The date was March 15, 1978. A Georgian was in the white house, the number one song in the land was Night Fever, by the Bee Gees, Jacqueline Bisset was on the cover of Vogue, and football was about to change forever.

The NFL had come to a decision, inspired by the peak of Steel Curtain dominance: Defense wins championships, but Offense sells, and the NFL is a business above all else. The game was about to get forever ****tier (note: the prior sentence represents the opinion of @ilovetheoption , who believes that tom brady is going to burn in hell for having weak knees, and enabling the creation of the targeting rule)

On that day, the NFL released a series of rule changes designed purely to favor offense at the expense of defense that would revolutionize the game. Illegal contact downfield by defensive backs was made illegal. The penalty for intentional grounding was reduced. Passes no longer had to cross the line of scrimmage. The most impactful, though, was that offensive linemen were now able to A) Extend their arms, and B) Block with open hands.

Gone were the days of "Knuckles together and elbows out" blocking. Gone were the days where blockers were hitters. In that instant, "offensive holding" began its gradual decent into the joke of a penalty it is today, called only when the defender is tackled in a way that would make Dan Gable proud. The NFL chose offense over defense, and if you watch GT (or, really any football game at any level above "small high school"), you will see the result.

Pass blocking was, of course, revolutionized, but so was run blocking. Suddenly, the idea of sustaining a combo block was feasible in a way it was not in the past, and the result was the proliferation of the Zone Running scheme.

 

[ilovetheoption]

So, with that in mind, lets talk combo blocks, what they are, and why they're SUCH a weapon for an offense.

If you'll recall from the first of these, the primary problem that offenses are trying to solve in the run game is that "maybe a defender lines up where you're trying to run". The gap scheme from the 1900s gave blockers a running start. The Zone scheme instead uses a doubleteam to physically push the defender out of the hole, and just run there even though they're lined up in the way. This is what it looks like:

Looks good, right? Blow that damn DT 5 yards off the ball, and run up the middle, easy peasy. Surely our 2 linemen can block one lineman? Essentially each of them only have to make .5 blocks to achieve 1 block.

 

[ilovetheoption]

And, yeah, I mean, that is, in fact, awesome. The issue, of course, is that BOTH sides get 11 guys, and there are guys called "Linebackers", who will happily let you doubleteam their DT if it means they get to detonate on your halfback in the hole.

THIS is where the combo block comes into play, and being able to SUSTAIN that combo block by holding onto the DT for a second or a second and a half matter so much.

The basic concept is that the offensive linemen will, in fact, doubleteam the lineman, and will STAY doubleteaming him until they work up to the linebacker, at which point one of the linemen will disengage from the doubleteam and go block the linebacker.

This only works if the DL cannot quickly slide off the double, one way or the other, and force one of the OL to disengage quickly. If THAT happens, then you're just looking at this.

Which….not as good. MAYBE your guy is better than theirs, and MAYBE he's got an angle advantage, but then again, maybe he doesn't. Good offense isn't flipping coins.

 

[ilovetheoption]

If, on the other hand, your offensive linemen can hold the DT in the middle of the double, and slide off when and where THEY choose, they can always get the block right, and there will always be a hole for the back.

For example, if the LB goes "under" the double, it looks like this: (notice how both offensive linemen have angle advantages?

 

[ilovetheoption]

If the LB goes "over" the double, it looks like this: (notice how both linemen have angle advantages?)

So, what's the end result? The C has successfully completed 1 block with 1man. The PG has successfully completed 1 block with 1 man, but they've ALSO gotten the benefit of a double-team, blowing that DT out of the hole for the back to charge through. So, essentially, with every combo block, you allow 2 guys to make 2.5 blocks.

Again, you guys are GT, I'm sure you can work out that 11.5>11 is good math.

 

[ilovetheoption]

In practice, this is what it ends up looking like: (please note, this is SUPER SUPER simplified. Most teams won't even have their WR's block, they'll just have them run routes)

 

[ilovetheoption]

Here's what's important to think about: This play is aimed at the playside A gap (between C and PG), the whole offensive line's first step is going to be playside, in unison (in this instance right) (the center's step may be a quick little replacement step before he heads back left for the doubleteam), like this:

 

[ilovetheoption]

This means that EVERYBODY playside (in this instance Right), of the intended hole has a BUILT IN angle advantage (in this instance PG and PT). That's an EASY block for them, because they're already aligned in the right place. The backside T is gonna go try and cut off the mike (or really just get in his way), so that's a makable block. C is going to end up getting S (unless S runs himself out of the play) so HE'S got an angle advantage too. The only hard block is the backside guard, and remember, he's going to end up getting a doubleteam from the Center to blow that guy back off the ball. While that double team is happening, he and the center are also sliding around to the right (while holding, remember) so that he's got an angle advantage, too.

Eventually, this is what you get:

(what’s that you say? The backside end is unblocked? Yeah, we'll get to that)

 

[ilovetheoption]

So, your running back, he's not looking playside at all. Those guys should be able to make those blocks (we've set them up to have the advantage). He's looking at the first defender to the BACKSIDE of the hole, and he's watching which lineman comes off of him. Which every lineman leaves to go bock the backer, he runs to the other side, keeping the REMAINING blocker between him and the defender.

You've heard of 1 cut running? This is 1 cut running. Eyeball that doubleteam, get near the line of scrimmage, and when the double breaks, you GO. NOW. They say "slow to the hole, fast THROUGH the hole". It's why they talk about vision mattering more than speed and power, because if you can read the block, all you have to do is follow it to be 4 yards down the field.

It didn't take long for offensive minds to work this out. It first blew up (as all truly awful things do) in Cleveland, where a back YOU probably (if you're old enough) remember for fumbling was doing this:

 

[ilovetheoption]

So, at this point, the only remaining problem is that backside defensive end.

The first way they came up with to solve that problem is just to run the play to the other side, to the outside, and figure "yeah dude, a defensive end is just not fast enough to catch up with our RB from behind on the far side of the formation, we'll have the play Aimed at the C or D gap".

The 90's Denver Broncos put a LOT of dudes in the hall of fame with exactly that approach. That play has various names. Wide Zone. Stretch. Outside Zone. To my mind, the guys who do it best are Iowa, and they call it "Angle", so that's what I'm going to call it. So you have "Angle" (to the outside) and "Zone" (to the inside).

Angle's a great play. If do right, no can defense, but you guys don't do a ton of it, so I'm not going to cover it here. It requires you to be REALLY good at it to be really good at it, but once you're REALLY good at it, it's an asskicker, because the DEFAULT of the play is a perfectly blocked run to the perimeter, and if the defense over-pursues, it gets worse from there. Again, though, you have to really commit to it, and GT does not).

Truth be told, you can aim the zone anywere, I'm drawing it up at A gap, but the idea is you're reading the first defender backside of the aiming point.

 

[ilovetheoption]

The next way to deal with that end happened by accident in West Virginia of all places, at Glenville State College. The QB was running Angle and goofed up the handoff, and the back was gone. So the QB is standing there holding the ball waiting to get creamed by the unblocked backside end, only the end ran right past him and chased the back. The QB, confused, just ran with the ball where the defensive end had been and up the field.

His offensive coordinator was stupefied, but was smart enough to go "….huh…..that's something" and put it in the playbook. That coach, Rich Rodriguez, is a guy you may have heard of. He added an option ride to zone, called it Zone Read, and rode it to failure at Michigan.

 

[ilovetheoption]

Since then, bells and whistles have been added.

Just like Rich Rod added an option piece to zone to make zone read, people have added a gap concept (puller) to zone to deal with that backside end, and created Split Zone

(I'm sure you can guess that there's a nasty play action off this action, with H faking the block and slipping out into the flat.)

 

[ilovetheoption]

And for the payoff, here's you guys:
Split Zone:


The combo is circled here:

The linebacker goes in, so they seal him in:

The TE misses his block on 94, so this only gets a couple)

 

[ilovetheoption]

Zone (with read action):


Here’s the combo:

(look how far off the ball they drove the DL before breaking off to the LB)

 

[ilovetheoption]

Vs NIU



2 Combos on this one

Everybody ends up sealed left, so the right read is for the back to break right. He does, makes the overhang guy miss, and whohoo.
(He could also have jammed it up hard inside the LT and gotten a hard 4 and I'd have been okay with that.)

 

[ilovetheoption]

FWIW, I think this was a bad ready by the QB. The RIGHT read right here is RPO to the top of the screen (which is why gibbs had to beat the tackle of #12) but I don't know what was called. Maybe that wasn't on.

 

[ilovetheoption]

And…with the last two posts, you have the basically entirety of the GT run game.
Power, Counter, QB Power, Zone, Zone Read, Split Zone.
That's about what you guys do. Little gadget here, little gadget there, but that's the meat and potatoes of your running game.

 

[ilovetheoption]

Ugh, frustration: go to 1:34 in the NFL clip on youtube.

 

[GT_05]

This is brilliant. You taught me a lot. Thank you. IIRC, the 90s Broncos OL was one of the lightest offensive lines ever. Very fast for an offensive line and fun to watch. I’m curious if anyone ever occasionally throws the old gap scheme blocking in to confuse the D. Maybe the D wouldn’t know where to line up since they’ve been looking at zone scheme blocking for so long. When we were on Clemson’s 1 at the end of the game, I was thinking that getting through their defensive line would be like trying to run through a school bus.

 

[ilovetheoption]

I’m curious if anyone ever occasionally throws the old gap scheme blocking in to confuse the D.

Everybody does. You guys do all the time. it's what is so devastating.

In zone, linemen are moving TOWARD the play direction. In Gap linemen are moving AWAY from the play direction.

Doing a a little bit of each makes reads nigh-impossible for LBs to make quickly and accurately.