I think it’s important to address some things teams will do to stop the spread offense. When the zone read offense first came into popularity, the simple inside zone read play was killing defenses. Many defensive coordinators then devoted their attention to developing stunts to stop this play. The fundamental strength of zone blocking, however, is that offensive linemen are blocking zones and not men – no matter what stunt the defense does (i.e. if they twist or blitz or whatever), the offensive line will still have everyone accounted for as long as they block their zone. Given this, defensive coaches have developed more stunts to disrupt the reading aspect of the inside zone play than the actual inside zone itself.

Arguable the most popular stunt against the spread is a “switch” stunt with the backside defensive end (the read key) and the backside inside linebacker. The backside defensive end comes hard down the line to stop inside zone run, influencing the QB to keep the ball instead of give. By coming hard down the line, the DE is effectively taking the inside linebacker’s normal A-gap responsibility. The LB, then, fills for the stunting DE off the edge. Thus the QB gets a keep read but runs almost immediately into a LB coming around the edge. This stunt is effective because it appears to take away both plays, and can lead to a big hit on the QB attempting to run the ball. Moreover, it forces the offense to adjust and think about running inside zone in new ways.

There are two decent ways of beating this stunt. The most basic response is to run inside zone with two backs in the backfield. Use the FB to block “back” on the backside DE, simply locking him off from disrupting inside zone (We call this inside zone “back”). This eliminates the read but allows a team to run inside zone even if the DE is attempting to give a keep read. An adjustment off of this is what we call inside zone “ark” (Ark means “Around the read key”). Instead of having the FB block the read key, he runs around the read key and turns the corner, looking to block the stunting inside LB – the QB likely gets a keep read then runs with the ball, with a FB leading him through the alley. IF they don’t have a switch stunt on, this can be an even better play with a keep read, as the FB will likely have no one to block until the free safety – with a good cut off this block, a QB keep can easily become a touchdown with “ARK” blocking.

You can’t talk about the zone read offense enough when discussing the modern brand of offensive football. I think I provided a pretty good introduction to the concept in my earlier posts, but I would like to get a little bit more specific here, in particular, the way in which the play is actually executed.

First and foremost, this is a zone running play – a handoff to a running back who is running behind offensive lineman blocking zone principles. This mean the each offensive lineman steps in a direction (let’s say right) and on an angle (let’s say 45 degrees), then blocks whatever defender shows on that path. This creates a flow of both blockers and defenders to the right, allowing the running back to find where any crease develops between defenders. Generally, we say there are two kinds of zone runs – inside and outside zone. Inside zone (or “IZ”) attacks the A gaps, while outside zone (“OZ”) attacks the C to D gaps (but again, that is really just the running back’s direction, the play is rarely run to a particular whole – instead the running back runs whatever hole develops in reaction to the defenders).

Now I want to talk about the mesh. For the purposes of this post, let’s just assume we’re running IZ to the right, with a read. This means our offensive linemen are all stepping at an angle to their right, blocking whatever shows in their path, and that we are leaving the backside defensive end (our left) unblocked. We are in a shotgun formation, with the QB five yards behind the center and the back about six yard deeps, splitting the outside leg of the left guard. On the snap, the QB catches the ball and pivots his feet so that his body is square to the read key (the name for the backside defensive end) and extends the ball straight in front of him. The RB takes one step with his right foot aiming at the right tackle then comes downhill, aiming for a point somewhere on the center (this varies from team to team). The RB goes very slowly here, to allow time for the read – on IZ or OZ read, RB’s are always taught “slow to the hole, fast through the hole.” The RB on his first steps makes a wide pocket for the ball and bites over it – unlike conventional running plays, it is the RB’s job to get over the ball, not the QB’s to get it in his stomach. As the RB begins to bite over the ball, the Qb begins to make his decision – If he needs more time, he can lean with the RB to prolong the “mesh period” (time when both the QB and RB appear to have the ball) – this is called “riding” the back. When the QB has made his decision, he simply lets it go in the back’s stomach, or with two hands removes it and gets out as quickly as possible.

Here is a video I made with a few clips to show the zone read. The Red Circles identify the read key on each play…Alex Smith of Utah gives the ball in the first clip in response to the end playing contain. Oregon’s Dennis Dixon keeps the ball for a long touchdown, followed by Pat White doing the same. The final clip shows West Virginia running a pitch option off the shotgun zone read.

The Zone Read is the play that propelled the modern shotgun spread to popularity. Michigan Head Coach Rich Rodriguez is widely credited with the invention of this play while at Glenville State in 1991, when Glenville State quarterback bobbled a shotgun snap on a called hand-off, then kept the ball off back-side tackle, running in a gab vacated by a defensive end – for more about the creation of the zone read, I suggest this article – The Evolution of a Broken Play.

The play is based on a basic option principle, and comes from a need to run the ball in between the tackles when seemingly outnumbered. Imagine an offense in a 4 receiver 2×2 set with one back, and the defense aligned with 1 defender opposite each receiver and 1 safety over the top, leaving 6 men in the box. If an offense wants to run a basic hand-off play, they must block 6 defenders with 5 blockers….not possible. 

The Zone Read is a way to deal with that extra or 6th defender – in this case, it is the backside defensive end (If we want to hand off to the RB going right, the unblocked man is the DE on our left). The lineman all block zone principles – they step at a 45 degree angle to their right and follow that path. The QB receives the snap, brings the ball to the RB, and looks at the DE. If the DE stays where he is, or runs up the field to play outside contain, the QB hands off to the RB and has essentially “blocked” him (accounted for him so that he cannot make the play). If the DE comes down the line and attempts to stop the RB from running on his path, the QB pulls the ball and runs it in the area vacated by the DE. (I don’t have the resources right now, but I will soon post some videos or images to help get this point across).

This play has several advantages. Firstly, it allows the offense to even the score in the box – run the ball against 6 defenders with 5 blockers. Also, it is a form of option football; the offense is reacting to the actions of the defenders, and therefore has an advantage by definition. Moreover, it is a relatively simple play. The mesh between RB and QB does require practice and the QB must become very proficient at making the read, but on the whole the zone read is simpler and has much less room for error and turnovers than conventional pitch-oriented options. Finally, if you are blessed with a good athlete at the QB position (like the QB’s that have flourished in this offense: Pat White, Dennis Dixon, Tim Tebow, and Vince Young to name a few), this is a good way to use his athleticism and allow him to both carry the ball in the open field and serve as a decoy to open up the inside running game.

While I’m sure many football fans and players are taking it for granted these days that the spread offense is the way to go, especially given its enormous success at the NCAA Division 1 Level, it’s important to really consider the tactics and reasoning behind employing a spread offense.

First and foremost, the spread offense is a numbers game. If an offense aligns in a more conventional, pro I set with one or two tight ends, they will likely face at least 8 defenders in the “box” area – in other words, they will see at least 8 defenders playing to stop the run. By splitting out tight ends or running backs into a spread look, however, the offense will force the defense to spread with them, drawing players out of the box. This notion is especially true of the zone read style spread, which is founded almost exclusively on this principle: the fewer guys there are in the box, the fewer guys you have to block to run the ball inside effectively.

Second, spreading the field horizontally via alignment creates vertical gaps in the defense, or just more space in general. In cluttered areas like the stacked 8 man “box,” it is the bigger more powerful team that wins. In open space, the game changes entirely and favors the better athletes. Thus the spread, by creating more gaps and space, allows a smaller team to gain an advantage with their speed.

Finally (and I will cover this in more detail soon), spread alignments and the shotgun formation create better angles and opportunities for option football – the shotgun alignment allows for the zone read play and allows the offense to better use the QB as weapon in the ground game (it is important to remember that in the old school pro set style of football, the QB represents essentially a wasted player in the run game). In shotgun spread sets, offenses are able to use angles to more effectively practice option football. And of course, when run correctly, nothing can be more effective than an offensive scheme based mostly on reacting on the fly to defensive play.

It is for these 3 main reasons (among various others) that teams today choose the spread offense. It is dynamic and explosive, constantly breeds big plays, and allows teams with smaller and weaker personnel to gain an advantage with speed and quickness.

This is my new blog dedicated to discussing offensive football, in particular the spread offense. I will focus on all facets of spread variety offenses, especially the very hip run-oriented zone read offense of coaches like Urban Meyer and Rich Rodriguez, the pass happy air raid spread like that of Mike Leach, and the newly resurfaced run ‘n shoot. Shoot me an email or comment anytime with a question or requested direction for new posts.