Regardless of the defensive front, these two principles are consistent, and again, 73.8 percent of coaches use this terminology when implementing the zone scheme.  But how these coaches teach their blocking assignments will vary, as we will explain below.  The majority of coaches want their covered offensive linemen to be able to finish at a second level defender by the time the play is over.

When a play side lineman is covered on the outside zone or stretch play, it is his job to handle that down lineman.   How he blocks him can vary - some coaches prefer lead or angle step up field, whereas some tell their offensive lineman to bucket step.  According to our research, 48.9 percent teach an up field, angle step as opposed to 36 percent who teach a bucket step.  We've found that the difference lies more in philosophy than it does in technique.

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.  He teaches his players to eye the outside armpit of the defender with the objective to always advance to the second level.  Once the lineman is engaged with a defender, he needs to stay engaged until he feels the next adjacent lineman take his assignment over.

Ruel's Techniques of a Stretch Hook (covered lineman):

�         Short 45 degree lead step

�         Rip to run on second step by driving back shoulder through defender - this provides for a cutoff scenario

�         Get stomach up field on third step - this ensures the defender is cut-off from his gap responsibility.

"We don't ever worry about getting beat underneath, the ball will be outside already," said Ruel.  "But we do concern ourselves with a player who lines up in a gap position.  Here we need to attack the play side armpit with the inside hand first, then work to the second level."

Milt Tenopir, the legendary offensive line coach under Tom Osbourne at Nebraska, believed in the same philosophy of having his covered offensive lineman really work to get to the second level.  "If our linemen is covered, we let him cross over on his second step as long as it's up field," said Tenopir.  "He wants to get started up field because he is going to come off on the next level.  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.  We are trying to put both hands on the far shoulder pad.  It keeps our shoulders pointed up field."

We've found the emphasis on the covered lineman is to have his shoulders pointed up field at all times.  This not only provides for a wider blocking surface, but also keeps the horizontal displacement of the scheme giving the running back more room to operate (we will explain the RB reads a bit later).  As Jim Sweeney, a 16-year NFL center tells his lineman at South Fayette HS (PA), "We always try to stay parallel with our shoulders because we want the back to have a three way go.  If that d-lineman comes straight ahead, his shoulders are square so he can force a cutback (which is detrimental to the outside zone scheme) or make the tackle.  We need to turn his shoulders and he can't turn our shoulders.  We do this by keeping both feet on ground."  Sweeney recalled a story during his ten year tenure as a center with the New York Jets when star running back Freeman McNeil used to come over and watch the linemen during their individual session in practice.  "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."  

But against stunting first level defenders, keeping both shoulders squared becomes a difficult fundamental to accomplish.   So Herb Hand, the offensive line coach at Vanderbilt University (who spent a good part of his coaching career under famed spread coaches like Rich Rodriquez and Gus Malzahn) emphasizes the drag hand technique of the covered offensive lineman.   Hand, who teaches a stretch step, not a bucket step, tells his covered offensive lineman to aim for the outside "V" of the neck of the down lineman whereas the majority of coaches (49.1%) teach the play side armpit as the visual aiming point of the covered lineman.  "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.  "The aiming point for the drag hand is the backside pec of the defender.  That movement will stop the penetration of the defender inside.  The tackle cannot come off the ball with no concern of the defender slanting inside.  He uses the drag hand to catch and hold the defender so he cannot penetrate."

There are certain indicators that would "tip off" some form of angle or stunt to the play side of zone.  These indicators can include:

1. A tight or inside shade first level defender
2. A cheating second level player to the edge of the defense

Although the outside zone or stretch scheme is an outside hitting play, any interior penetration could slow down the course of the ball carrier.  Sweeney doesn't subscribe to the "outside hand free" theory that Hand presents when working against a slanting first level defender.   Sweeney, now a high school offensive line coach, feels it's too tough a task to accomplish.  "I don't like the theory of keeping the outside arm free - you need four hands on defender," says Sweeney.  "We must open the defender's shoulders.  We need to open his shoulders and work to the outside LB.  We can't get a soft shoulder."  Instead, Sweeney spends more time alerting his lineman pre-snap about the possibilities of a stunt or scrape.  "We watch the inside foot pre-snap.  If that foot is back chances are he will slant across my face. 

And if he crosses my face, I just want to continue on my path because it gives the back more space to run."

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Case 2: "Uncovered" Blocking Concepts to the Play Side (Reach and Overtake)

Uncovered:  There is no first level defender (DLM) from my nose to the nose of the adjacent lineman play side. (Diagram 2) Can't see the diagram? Click here.

For all intents and purposes, the objective of the uncovered offensive lineman in the outside zone scheme is to take over the play side down lineman while the covered offensive lineman works up to linebacker level (Diagram 3).  While we found the objective clear, the methodology or technique that is used by that uncovered player varied among coaches.  Again, the purpose of the outside zone is to show a horizontal stretch on the defense.   Tenopir  talks about the pull and overtake method by the uncovered lineman.  "When we put the lead foot where it is supposed to be, the rest of the body will come with you," said Tenopir.  "We want the pulling guard (or whoever is uncovered) to get depth and distance on the pull.  He picks the foot up and puts it in the direction we want him to go.  We tell our guard he must get beyond the man (far jersey number) before he can come back on him.  If he tries to pull and come around the back-side number of the tackle, he will never get it done.  He cannot get the linebacker until he gets there." Can't see the diagram? Click here.

Ruel calls his uncovered technique a "stretch scoop."  His objective is to get to the next adjacent down lineman's play side number with the purpose of taking him over. 

Ruel's Techniques of a Stretch Scoop (uncovered lineman):

• Short 45 degree step, target is play side number of adjacent down lineman
• Rip off hand and shoulder though his play side armpit (rip and run)
• Hook him using your shoulders and butt by leaning into him, not by turning your shoulders

That last coaching point is the golden nugget.  Ruel stresses the idea of keeping his lineman's shoulders square and getting the stomach up field to guarantee the defender gets hooked.  "If we don't get engagement by ripping to play side number, then we automatically climb to the second level," he said.  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.  Sometimes that deep step is needed to take over the next down lineman.

Perhaps no other coach knows the zone scheme better than Stan Zweifel.  He's authored dozens of clinic articles and published numerous videos on the outside zone.  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.  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.   Everything that Zweifel teaches in his outside zone progression is based upon the "reach and overtake" mantra that he drills into his linemen from day one.  Their objective is to reach and overtake the next down lineman play side.  If by the third step, the lineman cannot over take the down defender, he will work up to the next level play side. 

Case 3: Back-side Blocking Schemes (To Cut or Not to Cut)

This particular topic was highly debatable among coaches we spoke with.  On most outside zone schemes, particularly ones run at the higher levels of football, offensive lineman would cut block defenders on the back-side of the play - regardless of whether that player was a first or second level defender.  But when we conducted our research, we've found that the majority of coaches we polled (37.8 %) do not teach the cut block back-side.  They teach a run to rip technique, similar to the responsibility of the uncovered lineman to the front side of the play.   There were numerous reasons as to why high school coaches don't tell their kids to cut block, but perhaps no other coach was more straightforward about it then Sweeney.   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:

1. If you're on the ground, defender can get up first and make the play
2. You will miss the cut
3. They can still go over you and make a play on the QB or RB
4. Puts your head in a bad position

Now we realize that we may be biased in these numbers.  Truth is, 80.8 percent of those that took our outside zone survey were high school coaches.  At the high school level, it is illegal to cut block at the second level so why teach it?  So when we asked Zweifel the same question of whether or not his kids cut on the back-side, we expected a different answer.  But what we got surprised us.  "We used to cut those defenders such as a back-side shade technique, but now our guard will try to take a deep drop step and take him over," he says.  "When you cut on the back-side of zone you knock off the rest of the offensive lineman that are trying to trail the play."  He even tells his back-side tackle on zone to execute a "swoop technique" (Diagram 4) with the intentions of getting all the way to the play side of the zone.    "We tell him to take a deep drop step and come out on the strong side A gap.  If any wrong color jersey crosses his face on that path, cut it.  If not, run to the strong side A gap and cut off anything you could possibly see.  We have even told him sometimes to cut the front side 3-tech." Yes, he did just say front side A gap. That 3-technique would be the next adjacent down lineman.  It's all doable depending on the path of the back which Zweifel explains.  "We're a dinosaur when it comes to our path.  Our landmark for our back is three yards outside the tight end and one yard deep," he says.  "So we think there is no chance anyone from the play side A gap back can make a play on the outside zone.  The ball carrier is sprinting to get out there." Can't see the diagram? Click here.

Case 4: The Path/Reads of the Ball Carrier

Although this topic was not in our original survey, we did do our research to find the most common aiming points of the ball carrier.  While they ranged from 1-3 yards outside the tight end or EMLOS, we selected two of the more specific responses we received.   Hand tells us the specifics of his ball carrier's path in outside zone from the shotgun formation.

Herb Hand, Vanderbilt University (Bounce, Bang, Bend)

• RB aligns behind the tackle to his side, five yards off the ball in gun so we can stretch the defense.  If the running back aligns even with the QB on the exchange, the running back automatically gets pushed downhill toward the line of scrimmage.  We want the running back coming straight across and pressing his outside read.
• The aiming point is to track the outside hip of the play side tackle (note:  Hand does not play with a tight end).  The defense needs to stretch. The idea is to stretch the front side and get a cutoff somewhere on the back-side to split the defense.
• The aiming point of the back is chasing the outside hip of the tackle.  His first read is the first DL on our outside the tackle.  His second read is the next down lineman inside the tackle.
• If the first read is reached, the back bounces and goes outside (Diagram 5). Can't see the diagram? Click here.

• If the first read is not reached, but is stretched and running outside, the back looks for the second read.  If the next down defender is reached, the back runs a bang (Diagram 6) Can't see the diagram? Click here.

• The bend occurs when the first and second read are both stretching and running outside.  In order to get a bend, someone on the back-side must get a cutoff block (Diagram 7) Can't see the diagram? Click here.

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Keith Grabowski, the offensive coordinator at Baldwin Wallace College (OH) teaches his tailback the six second rule.  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.  In Grabowski's scheme, the fullback or H block gets assigned for force.  It is very similar to what Hand teaches, but his rules refer more to the perimeter defenders than to first level defensive linemen.  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.

Diagrams 8-10 (Keith Grabowski's RB reads on force defender) Can't see the diagram? Click here.

Case 5: Problem Areas Among the Front (Pin and Pull Technique)

The last thing we wanted to address were the various "pin and pull" techniques that some coaches are using to get to the perimeter.  Unlike a full zone principle, this scheme involves down blocks and pulls at the point of attack.  It is used when lineman struggle with reaching the down defender in front of them, so help is needed by the next adjacent lineman.  When we conducting our research, we've found there are three particular scenarios in which coaches are using the pin and pull technique.

Versus a dominant nose or 2i technique (Diagram 11)

Tenopir used to call this the "play boy" scheme because it's a fold block with the center and play side guard.  If the center can't get the nose reached, he asks for help.  The play side guard blocks down on the nose and the center pulls around the guards block and up on the backer.  The center goes through or pulls for the Mike LB.  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.  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. Can't see the diagram? Click here.

Versus 3/7 Play Side (Diagram 12)

Zweifel will do this when he sees a C gap down defender to the play side.  "We got it from Glen Mason while he was at the University of Minnesota.  They called it the 28/29 Edge play. It gave the OZ play a chance to cut into C gap.  It's used against and eight man front. We base block the TE, block back on the 3-technique, pull the guard, and the center.  The Center has B gap entry.  We take the fullback on force.  The TB chases the butt of the tight end on this.  It's not as wide.  Take the first available running lane.  Stick your foot in the ground and making a slashing cut north and south.  Any time you run and pin and pull, it is a cut on the back-side - no scoop.  We will cut the one technique back-side with the back-side guard or if he has a three technique, we'll cut it with the tackle.  We need to cut on this scheme because we think the 5-tech can run the play down on the edge technique." Can't see the diagram? Click here. 

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.   "When you do both you're marrying two different principles so we need to really work on this.  If I were going to run both schemes, it would be all I would do during inside run sessions.  I would have no other time to run other schemes."

Concluding Report

Once again, it was a pleasure to report on the offensive line principles in the zone scheme.  It's a terrific complement to the inside zone and the myriad of schemes that come off the zone concept can provide the defense with tremendous conflicts.  We hope that you can take a couple things from this report and bring it back to your program to become more successful.

If you would like to discuss this topic further with Mike Kuchar, Senior Research Manager, X&O Labs, please feel free to email him at mikek@xandolabs.com.

Copyright 2011 X&O Labs