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Hey, welcome back to Football 101. In this video, we're going to be learning about Zone concept runs.
Zone concept runs are some of the most used runs in all football, all the time. You probably hear the terms outside Zone, inside Zone, split Zone, but what are they?
The Zone run scheme is one of two main running schemes. One is called The Zone scheme, and one is called The Gap scheme. The Gap scheme, as its name says, is all about attacking one gap or one hole in the offensive line. But the Zone scheme, which is what we're focusing on today, is about blocking a zone of the field. Think of it like man coverage or Zone coverage. So, in the Zone scheme, we're going to be blocking a zone or one area of the field.
With that in mind, what do we think inside zone is? Well, it's when you block the interior zone of the line. To be more specific, all of the offensive linemen are going to do what's called a front side Zone step, as seen here. This will create a wall for the running back to follow, or a zone. But sometimes this wall won't work out, and so the running back will want to go the opposite way or do what's called a cutback.
The problem is, though, there's what's called a cutback defender. The edge, that is the way the running back is trying to go back towards, will be sitting there unblocked if we just have the whole offensive line going into one wall. How an offense deals with this cutback defender is largely what differentiates each different type of Zone type of run. The most common solution is utilizing what's called a hinge block, as you see here. The backside offensive lineman stays back to take the cutback defender one-on-one.
This leads us to the famous phrase, "Run to Daylight." The running back is taught to run to Daylight. As that phrase says, they're either going to follow the wall or they're going to cut back and attack that cut back zone. This read is relatively simpler compared to the outside Zone read. In inside Zone, the running back really only has one decision to make. He has to either go straight forward and follow his blockers or cut back to the other lane. In outside Zone, he has to make multiple split-second decisions to figure out his best path.
But what you might be asking, what is outside Zone? Well, it's exactly as the name says. Instead of trying to run just straight forward and block up, we are going to be blocking out and trying to be running horizontally first, then vertically.
So now that we've established what outside zone is, what is all these decisions that the running back has to make? So he's going to start on the outside, the furthest blocker away from him, and work back inside. What he's going to do is look at every single offensive lineman and judge where the defensive lineman is. If the defensive lineman is outside of the offensive lineman, then the running back will look to the next one. If the defensive lineman is inside, then the running back knows where to go, and we go there.
For example, look here. The edge defender is currently outside of the lineman. So now we're going to look at the guard. And with the guard, the edge defender is outside of the lineman. So we're going to look at the center. And boom, right there, the center is inside. So we are going to be going between the center and the guard. Another time of this, first we look at the tackle. Oh, look, the edge defender is outside. So let's look at the guard. Oh, he's inside. So we're going to go in between the guard and the tackle.
So how do we handle the cutback defender in outside Zone? Well, sometimes because we're running so far away from him, we just leave him unblocked. But we could also use a hinge block, like we established with inside zone. Or we could use what's called ghost action. This is when we have a receiver run behind the run play to make it look as if we could throw it to him. While nine times out of 10, we won't give this ball to this guy, the defense has to respect it, and the cut back defender has to stay and defend it. Because if he didn't, and we did give it to him, it would be a free touchdown.
Also, another variation of outside Zone is called stretch. You might have heard of this. Stretch has all the same properties of outside Zone, except the guard pulls. This means that the offensive lineman kind of leapfrogs the other offensive lineman and becomes a high-speed lead blocker. Now, stretch can either be ran with the guard pulling or the center pulling. And depending on which one, it'll be called stretch G or stretch C. Now, stretch C is a lot more rare, because imagine how athletic your center would have to be to snap it and get all the way out there. But it is still seen, so don't forget about it.
Now, the final type of run that we haven't gone over yet in the Zone run family is the split Zone. If we take a step back and look at the name, what do we think it is? Well, it's when the zone is split, like there's almost two different types of waves. Now, we aren't splitting into two zones, but we're splitting into two different types of motion. While the entirety of the offensive line goes right, we are going to have our tight end come all the way back to the left. Now, what our tight end does from there usually is handle the cutback defender. This type of block is usually called a BIM block.
Split Zone was very famously utilized by the 2018, 2019 Rams, who took it all the way to the Super Bowl. Another variation of split Zone is having this what's called a hybrid back execute the BIM block. This version of split Zone often is called wham. Wham is actually more common than the traditional split Zone, as it's much easier for the back to get all the way to the cutback defender. It hits a lot quicker, and it hits a lot harder. And for those of you out there who are wondering why it's called wham, just imagine the sound it makes when that back crashes into the cut pack defender.
Wham, though, is also utilized more because it can open the playbook to both power and the split Zone run. Now, before you ask, what's power? That is a gap scheme run, and I can get into that later in another video if you guys would like. So just let me know.
Now you have the basics of the Zone run scheme. Great coaches will completely modify and pull lots of different things out of this scheme. What I've taught you guys here is the basics of the three types of runs ran out of this scheme. I assume that everybody is going to want a gap scheme video to go along this one to round out how runs are done in the football world. But if you want more in-depth about the actual schematics, like where everyone blocks, how blocking assignments are made for Zone types of run plays, let me know, and we can get into all sorts of good stuff there too. Believe me, though, that's a whole another level we have to get to.
For now, in this video, we just covered the basics, like what is every run and some basic components of the different types of runs and things used in this family of runs. And that's basically what we're going to do again for the Gap scheme video, if that does get made. I'm going to leave some Zone runs on in the background if you guys want to stay around and see if you can see what I just taught you. I'll have some pointers on the screen probably. But so, if you want to stick around, test your knowledge. Well, all right, though, until the next time, see you around.
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