Football Zone Read Vs 3 Man Front

It's one of the simpelist plays a Spread team can run, but devistating if non held in check.

When looking at the Spread'southward nearly bones run, the Zone Read, one has to admire the simplicity of the play and how effective and efficient it is. Defenses for decades had the advantage against offenses because it was an 11 on ten game (the criminal offence minus a QB). The popular West Declension and Ability "I" offenses of the '80s and '90s took the QB run out of the playbook, and defenses feasted as a result. Equally the Spread began to proliferate through the football game ranks the defensive stranglehold started to show some cracks. The large "pluggers" that defenses had accumulated were now obsolete when put into infinite.

Coaches like Urban Meyer and Rich Rodriguez (see video beneath) began to tear through defenses in the early on 2000s, and Vince Young ran to a Rose Bowl and National Championship behind the simplest of plays, the Zone Read. It is one of the first plays a Spread offense installs when putting together a playbook, and after close to two decades of Spread dominance, it'due south yet a defense killer. As football game moves further into the historic period of the Spread offense, ii things are clear; football has become a game about space and hybrid players. The Zone Read highlights this evolution greater than any other play. Ask a traditional Triple Pick coach and when they lookout man a Spread option assail they meet the Swoop Selection, just with the players spread beyond the field.

History Repeating

The ten personnel two×2 Zone Read is a derivative of the Flex Bone's Triple Option. Information technology is essentially the Dive Option/Veer without the slot back orbiting around as the option dorsum. In a traditional Dive Option, the forepart side slot will load or arc on an overhang. This traditional Triple Pick play tin be seen in the xx pers. Arc Options that have go popular at all levels of football (shown beneath).

Some teams like Bob Davies' New Mexico Lobos are literally running a Flex Bone offense from the Pistol while utilizing Spread formations and implementing zone schemes for the offensive line. Sentinel a Navy game and a coach might be surprised to see Pistol Diamond and other "spread" looking formations. The traditional Flex Bone criminal offence isn't dead, information technology only has evolved. Equally more offenses turn to hybrid players that tin carry and catch the brawl (and don't forget the explosion in dual-threat QBs), the Option isn't probable to die out any time soon. The diagram beneath demonstrates the evolution.

The Triple Choice is non a new scheme, but couple information technology with a shotgun/Pistol backfields and spread the receivers beyond the field, it looks brand new. Spread teams tin can attack a defense by reading any of the xi players on the field. This gives a creative offensive coordinator a lot to work with. Picket any elite Spread offense and a charabanc will encounter unbalanced formations, arcing H-backs and TEs, and fifty-fifty "Bash" concepts (attacking the defense vertically every bit well equally horizontally). As stated earlier, the Triple Choice isn't dead, in fact, it is having a renaissance.

The "New" Pick

Like the namesake suggests, in a Spread law-breaking the players are spread beyond the field from sideline to sideline. This puts stress on the defense past making coordinators decide how they will cover all the men on the field, and if they will focus on the run or defend the laissez passer. Offenses have coupled the old Dive/Veer play with zone blocking schemes to gain an extra man on the play side. In the Zone Read, offenses do not block the man they are reading, this allows them to gain an actress man at the point of assail. By running a zone scheme, offenses have alleviated some of the bug when regarding the defence's front. The O-line simply has to step correct or left and choice upward their homo or climb to a 'backer.

In a shotgun Spread criminal offense, the near basic Zone Read attacks the defensive stop to the running backs side ("read" side). At the snap of the ball, the offensive line zone blocks away from the man they are reading. As the quarterback meets the running back (mesh point) his eyes are squarely on the defensive terminate. The added value that the Bubble screen gives the offense forces the defense to vacate a defender class the box to cover down to the slot receiver. No encompass downwards equals a quick strike to a WR screen and a one-on-one tackle in space for a safety careening downhill. Situations like this are not something a DC wants to live with on every play. Spread Selection offenses view a WR screen no dissimilar than an outside run and in nearly Spread offenses the slot WR is i of their all-time athletes and a human being that tin grab and carry the brawl.

In most pick offenses the quarterback is taught to read the shoulders of the DE. If the shoulders turn perpendicular to the line of scrimmage, the DE is chasing the back or has "Dive" responsibility. In the example of a crashing DE, the QB pulls the brawl and heads for the border. If the DE keeps his shoulders parallel and holds his gap ("QB" player), the QB hands the ball off and the RB runs a elementary zone play. The Zone Read is elementary but it plays on the aggressiveness of a defense force, specially one that is undisciplined. In order to combat the Zone Read, defenses must rely on audio gap principles and knowledge of how the option works (simply like a defense would if information technology were playing the Flexbone). Players take to read their keys, understand what gaps are taken, and whether they are responsible for the Dive, QB, or Pitch.

Attacking the Zone Read

Before a defense can "set on" the Zone Read a coordinator must decide who should carry the ball. The Zone Read is fundamentally an pick play, the defense can dictate who carries the ball by alignment and consignment (and then muddying the waters by switching responsibilities). If an offense has a stud RB the defense tin force the QB to go along the ball by the way they marshal to any germination. Offenses with an immobile QB will still use the Zone Read so the "read" side tackle can climb to the next level. This scheme allows for a blocker to get downfield without wasting him on a defender that won't brand the play.

In the diagram in a higher place, the defense dictates the ball carrier by setting the 3 technique to or away from the back. By using gap substitution, the defense can dictate the ball carrier. When the 3 tech. is set to the RB the DE to that side "holds" his gap because the 3 tech. is occupying the "B" gap. This almost guarantees the QB volition hand to brawl off to the RB because the DE does non hunt because he has the QB in his option rules.

In the side by side diagram, the 3 tech. is fix away from the dorsum. The "read" side DE has no one in the "B" gap beside him allowing him to chase the Dive. Using gap exchange rules, the defense can create a plus-one when the QB pulls the brawl. The Will attacks the outside shoulder, while the Mike scrapes to the inside shoulder of the QB. The employ of alignment is demonstrated in the clip below. Alabama shifts their defensive line to the RB (three tech. to the "read" side). This movement to an Over Front creates a "hold" by the play side DE (QB thespian) and guarantees the RB getting the ball.

via GIPHY

Setting Up the Crime

Albert Einstein divers insanity as doing the aforementioned matter over and over while expecting different results. Lining upward against an selection squad the same style every play will get a defense beat. Confronting tempo Spread offenses a defense cannot get too complex or the players won't be aggressive to the ball considering they volition be trying to line upwards or run the called defense. Every defense needs a base, a unproblematic way to line upwards and set on an offense's formation, but that base has to be flexible enough to adapt to what offenses give it.

The best defensive coordinators are the ones who could moonlight equally offensive coordinators and still be great at their job. In order to attack the Spread, a defense force must exist uncomplicated, still flexible enough to give the QB a unlike read on each play or alter the open gaps post-snap. Most offenses will selection the all-time front vii player and read him in the run game. This makes the defence's best player "wrong" on about every play. To counteract this a defense either has to move the player or move the front.

The cardinal to beating any Spread squad is to move the "B" gap. If a squad likes to "jog" the back, or change what side the RB is on before the snap of the ball, a defense must have a plan to move the front. The base front diagrammed earlier in the article sets the front to the field to allow to the Sam a full encompass downwardly and defend the RPO. That existence said, an criminal offence tin can set the backfield and decide who gets the brawl by how the front aligns (and in Pistol ii×ii they tin practise this without tipping their cap). This betoken lone is why a defensive coordinator needs multiple options for defending the Zone Read. Here is a list of pinnacle schemes used:

1. Gap-Commutation: This was discussed before in the article, and uses the DEs to either "concord" or close down ("chase") any open gap.
2. Spin the Coverage: Teams that spin to a single-high safety roll their coverage to the read side to let the LBs to plug their gaps, while the dropping condom takes care of the QB. This puts the defense in one-on-one tackling situations on the edges.
3. Full Line Movement: Knowing that the DE to the back is the "read" player, teams utilise full line movement to force the QB to pull because the DE will disappear into the line. When the QB pulls he runs into both an ILB who has rocked back to secure him. This creates a wall to the play side and will forcefulness the RB, if handed the ball, to cutting dorsum to the open LBs. This is peculiarly skilful if a defense has able-bodied defensive linemen.
4. Edge Blitz: By sending a homo off the edge, and right for the running back or QB, a defence can dictate who receives the ball. In this scheme the LB who is non blitzing rocks dorsum, or takes the assignment from the blitzing LB.

Conclusion

When attacking the Zone Read use the offense's rules against them. Exist creative and change the gaps pre- and post-snap. The defense must create situations where defenders are changing their responsibilities, but go along gap sound against the run. That guarantees a defence force always has a plus-one versus the run and laissez passer. The key to defending any Spread Choice attack is to force the lesser athlete to carry the ball and make sure to punish the QB when he runs the ball. Modern Spread teams are adding blockers into the mix too. The expansion of hybrid players has led to an explosion in inventiveness for offenses. The "spread-to-run" concept is one that nearly teams will encounter on their schedule. Understanding how to defend a foundational play allows the defensive coaches to and then expand and cover circuitous schemes. At the terminate of the day, a defense must know their responsibilities. Information technology is up to the coaches to change the await and either force the offense into a corner or make the QB read the defense in muddy waters.

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Source: https://matchquarters.com/2016/07/25/attacking-the-zone-read/

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