RB on outside zone

I have one final thought that I would like to share with you. Zone plays take a LOT of TIME to put in, & need a LOT of time in practice (for men to get all the REPS they need to work TOGETHER vs various looks). In fact - it takes SO MUCH time, that it limits the number of other things you can do.

The above comes from NFL coaches! If THEY have trouble teaching it, then you can imagine how hard it is in HS or below. If you do not spend at LEAST 50% of your time alloted in practice to RUNS on zone blocking, you may be wise to forget it! I cannot fathom running the entire Wing-T offense AND zone plays as well!

This has been my experience in this offense on THREE levels as well!

READ THE FOLLOWING:

Posted September 19, 2006

Packers still adjusting to zone-blocking scheme

By Pete Dougherty
pdougher@greenbaypressgazette.com

The Green Bay Packers probably aren't going to beat anyone this year until they get a running game.

The Packers' slow transition to their new zone-blocking run scheme, with two rookies starting at guard to boot, has played a major factor in their 0-2 start. Though they ran for 103 yards in their season-opening loss to Chicago, they had three key third- or fourth-down runs stuffed, and they gained almost half their rushing yards (44) in the fourth quarter with the Bears protecting a 26-0 lead.

Then this past Sunday, they rushed for only 63 yards in a 34-27 loss to New Orleans, a game they led 13-0 in the first quarter.

"We're targeting the right people, we're just not getting it done on the back side," offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski said of the Packers' run blocking. "Until we get that going, the run game will be stalled."

Since the preseason, Jagodzinski has preached the zone-run game will come around eventually because of its simplicity — there are only a handful of basic run plays, and the linemen, tight ends and fullbacks learn the combination blocks and techniques from running those plays again and again.

"It's like any new offense, you're going to have some growing pains," coach Mike McCarthy said. "But the beauty of the system Jeff has installed is you're doing the same things over and over and over again. They're using the same techniques, the same rubs, we're giving them similar looks as much as we can from a play-call perspective."

However, the run game has been a liability so far in this young season.

Jagodzinski has seen the scheme installed before, two years ago, when the architect of this particular version, the highly successful Alex Gibbs, brought it from Denver to the Atlanta Falcons.

Atlanta led the NFL in rushing that first season but also had an inherent advantage because the Falcons' quarterback, Mike Vick, has elite-halfback running skills. He not only padded the rushing total substantially — he ran for 902 yards in 2004 — just the threat of his bootlegs significantly slowed back-side pursuit.

But Jagodzinski points to the Denver Broncos, who hired Gibbs in 1995 to implement his system, which uniquely integrates specific teaching methods and techniques into an offense. The year before Gibbs' arrival, 1994, the Broncos ranked 23rd in the NFL in rushing yards per game (91.9 yards) and 24th in average yards per carry (3.4 yards). In 1995, with Gibbs teaching the run game and new coach Mike Shanahan calling plays, the Broncos finished fifth in rushing yards (124.7) and second in yards per carry (4.5).

The Broncos no doubt expedited their adjustment to Gibbs' scheme with the fortuitous drafting of Terrell Davis in the sixth round that year — though he was a late-round pick, Davis turned out to be one of the NFL's premier backs in the second half of the 1990s.

Packers halfback Ahman Green has good vision for this one-cut run game, but at 29 and coming off quadriceps-tendon surgery, he's not the explosive back he was in his prime. So, if the Packers are going to run the ball respectably this year, their linemen will have to master the new techniques sooner rather than later.

"Once it starts working, you'll all go, 'Oh, OK,'" Jagodzinski said. "So will I."

Through two games, the Packers' run-pass ratio has been out of whack in part because the run game has floundered. Though McCarthy said his game called for more passing than running against the Saints, he didn't want anything like the 3-to-1 ratio of passes (55 throws and two sacks) to runs (20) that he ended up with. Though 2-minute and a couple no-huddle change-of-pace drives contributed to a pass-heavy offense, the Packers halfbacks' measley average of 2.5 yards a carry forced more passing as well.

Probably the two biggest problems in the first two games have been that the line as a whole has blown too many key back-side cut blocks, and the rookie guards have been liabilities.

The back-side cut blocks are a staple of the zone scheme, because if well-executed, they allow the halfback to cut back when the defense overflows to wall off the run side. Both McCarthy and Jagodzinski said the back-side cut blocks have been a problem in the first two games, especially against New Orleans. Not only have rookie guards Tony Moll, Jason Spitz and Daryn Colledge missed their share, but so have starting tackles Chad Clifton and Mark Tauscher, and tight ends Bubba Franks and David Martin.

Cut blocks are more difficult to practice than other blocks, because the Packers won't execute them against their own defensive players for fear of injury. So, they have to be practiced against blocking dummies only, which as stationary targets don't simulate games. Precision is crucial, because the cut blocks have to do more than just slow the defender, they have to get him to the ground.

"Speed and tempo, the way we drill it, it's the best I've ever been around as far as teaching the zone schemes," McCarthy said. "You've just got to transfer it to the games. If you take one step and cut, it's not going to happen. If you take three steps and then cut, then it works. It's more confidence and the speed of it. We're plenty athletic enough inside to do it."

The Packers also need faster development from Moll, Spitz and Colledge in all aspects of line play. Colledge started at left guard in place of the injured Spitz (bruised thigh) against New Orleans, and though he played better than in the exhibition season, the second-round draft pick did nothing to suggest he deserves to remain in the starting lineup when Spitz is healthy. McCarthy said Spitz will be listed as questionable (50 percent chance of playing) for this week's game against Detroit.

"Just OK," was how McCarthy described Colledge's play.

Moll has had more problems getting movement at the point of attack than with anything else.

"We feel like he's got to be a lot stouter, a little firmer," said Joe Philbin, the Packers' offensive line coach. "It's unfortunate some of those showed up again this week. That's an area we have to address. His pad level is his biggest enemy at this point. It's not a lack of toughness or anything. It's more the technique and leverage he plays with."