In 2016, the Falcons offense was #1 in scoring with 540 points. It was one of the best offenses of all time. They did it with a very sound run game as well as a vertical passing game with Julio Jones at wr and Matt Ryan at QB.
Some of the stats were incredible that year. 6.7 yards per play! That is more than some teams yards passing per play in today's NFL. They averaged 418 yards per game and 33 points per game. They had a very heavy playaction approach which was accomplished with a strong under center wide zone run game
It all started with the coaching staff. The staff was led by Kyle Shanahan, Mike Lafleur, Mike Mc Daniel , Raheim Morris at wide receiver and long time offensive coach Chris Morgan. They also had one of the best Running Back coaches in Bobby Turner, who went wherever Shanahan went in his career. It was a tremendous staff.
The nice thing was they had a very good fullback that they lined up as a tight end and they can run many different formations with him. It gave them the versatility to move him around and get numbers In the run game. They could go 21 or 12 personnel as a result.
Let's break it down and look at some of the pieces.
12 personnel 2x2
Wide Zone
It all started with the wide zone. They did a tremendous job running wide zone and either cutting on the backside or fanning it at times. Here they fan the backside and look at the land the running back has to run thru.
Look at the hole the left guard and left tackle create by fanning the back side. What a job they do.
In the 2nd example they come out balanced in 12 and run wide zone again. They run it left as the 49ers come out in a 3-4 scheme. The 49ers play a 4i on the left and 5 tech with the dt on the right.
It all starts with a reach block by the Left Tackle on the defensive end which allows the TE to get to the LB. The LG also is able to get to the next level as the center and right guard handle the nose and RT
The TE is on the 2nd level the tackle has the DE reached and you can see the excellent blocking starting to develop. Great angles as the front side is sealed. On the 5th step the RB makes a decision and his is to keep it outside.
THE wr is important as he executes a find block. Find the run support and that is the Safety. He makes his block and the TE washes the LB to the sideline. The RB sees it and makes his cut up the alley for a nice touchdown run.
Look at the seem created. The great execution by the LT and excellent seem created.
Here is wide zone vs the Rams. They run it at the 4i as the Rams are in an even front. They are in 12 but with 2 wr to the left of the formation. Here/s the front.
They do a nice job with the edge and angles.
Again, the best thing about this is they fan the backside and try to cut a run lane. The other thing teams will do on the backside which is another effective way of doing it.
These are a few examples of the wide zone. Another 12 run is toss windback.
Toss Windback is similar to split zone up front with the toss action to get the defense moving.
The 49ers come out in an under front as the Falcons are in 12 balanced again. This is a tough front to run against as they have one more blocker than the offense can block. They toss it left with the te coming across to block the OLB on the edge.
They block it like split zone but toss the ball to try to get more movement horizontally from the defense to create run lanes.
#20 the safety will be unblocked on this play.
You can see the blocking develop.. With #20 being unblocked. Center land left guard do a nice job
Nice lane develops and Coleman sees it. Nice job on the cutback and solo blocks on the backside.
The mike is able to get off the block or this was an even bigger play.
Here is just one post on the falcons wide zone and toss windback. More posts coming on the Falcons 2016 top ranked offense.
Again notice the 3 man vertical pattern.
