NFL wide zone and playaction, boots and screens off it.

 1. In the NFL you see the wide zone as a major component in most teams run games.They use it along with different plays off it that makes it tough to defend.

Here are the plays you see off the wide zone:

1. Boot- Sail, flood route concepts

2. Play action - Deep over game

3.  RPO's- #2 vertical or slants by #1 or #2

4. Screens- TE screens, bubbles, etc.

Wide Zone-

Coach Jackson does a great job on our wide zone. Please check his article to discuss the features of that play. But we wanted to look at some of the plays off it. 

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Rams run wide zone, against the Bears.

As Coach Jackson noted,   the reverse pivot to get the ball to the tailback deeper

The ball actually bounces outside and Rams get 11.

Washington goes trips 3x1 to the left side  with the tight end with a tight end backside. They get nice leverage based on alignment. Nice job blocking it as they get nice leverage on the defensive end.  12 personel puts them in a bind as they stay cover 2 shell vs Herbert and Oregon

Boot 

The Rams do a nice job checking the boot out of 12 personnel,depending on the matchup they like.
Here they run it at Mack, who they know is coming. 

 Diagram 2 they run it away from the ss at Adams who they anticipate is blitzing. 

Here the Rams check Boot out of 12 personnel away from the drop down safety.

They see the safety down and they check it to the short side

The Jets run boot and hit the te who blocked and released for  a nice 6 yard gain.

Boot comeback

Here the Rams keep the TE and go max and run boot comeback off the wide zone. and hit the wr for a 14 yard gain off the wide zone action.

2. Playaction

Here is the Bears playaction, qb stays in the pocket and hits Robinson on the post corner. Can be thrown into the boot throwback category as well

The Rams do something similar, Difference here is they go max because the Dolphins were killing them early with edge pressure.
They went wide zone, max protected and hit the deep over, (dover route)

Wide Zone boot with max protection and the dover concept. more of a quarter role. The Rams hit it for 18.

TE Screen 

Here the Rams  run a tight end screen off the wide zone. They see Adams prowling and anticipate him coming and run screen at him.  All off the wide zone action

The 49ers run the wide zone as good as anyone and here is the tight end screen they run to Kittle

RPO's 

Here is the Bears running wide zone rpo to Allen Robinson.  Colts are in a cover 3 look and Foles makes a good read to Robinson on the lb and hits the 14 yard rpo. 

Here's the Bears version of the wide zone rpo. Similar play from Matt Nagy, Andy Reid's former qb coach. Here's the wide zone rpo, that the Cardinals run vs the Dolphins out of 12.

Running it off wide zone action allows for more of a vertical passing game

As stated earlier the Browns are a top wide zone team. Here they run 2 boots below out of different formations. Te 1st one you see a lot of but they do it with the Z coming across rather than the tight end. Great execution and 24 yard game. After that they run it out of 13 personnel and catch the Jags 2 plays later. All well designed plays off their wide zone.

The jets love the boot game under coach Mike Lafleur. They motion the wr in return motion, he goes left then comes back rt. Dolphins are in zone coverage, and the Jets execute nicely. The tight end blocks and then released to the flat for a 16 yard gain. 

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On the next example they run it off their power game. They sell power and hit the tight end dragging across.

Hope you enjoyed the wide zone and plays you are seeing run off it.

Please keep an eye on some of my posts, more to come!