Understanding the personnel Moves: The Panther's Wide Zone Blocking Scheme

[MHS831]

You hear a lot about fit, and recently, the effervescent Black and Blue Bubba posted a podcast by Brett Kollman and EJ Snyder, where they made some pretty good analyses that helped me understand some of the personnel moves (draft picks, free agent signings) we made.  First of all, we are running the "Wide Zone" blocking scheme, which is is form of zone blocking nor to be confused with "outside zone" scheme, as opposed to man or inside zone. 

First, it is important to understand fit.  Why we went after players we did in free agency and in the draft.  The difference between an outside zone scheme and a wide zone scheme is detailed, and the differences are rather subtle.  Basically, in the inside zone, the lane the OL creates is designed to be inside the playside Guard's hip--the outside zone goes outside the guard's hip.  An outside zone attacks an area of the defense, while the wide zone stretches the defense and relies on the back reading the blocks and making the earliest and most effective cut or burst through the hole.   I used this link with embedded videos because it is from Oklahoma State, famous for the wide zone blocking attack.  It also explains a draft pick we made (and it was NOT because Rhule's wife called) and is probably why we liked Chuba Hubbard:  

https://pistolsfiringblog.com/film-study-oklahoma-states-wide-zone-rpo/

In this Jets article, (run the wide zone scheme, but they did not have the personnel to do it) they list 6 linemen in this draft that fit that scheme. We signed Pat Elflien from the Jets, by far their best IOL in the wide scheme and a perfect fit, based on what I have seen of him as a Jet (G) and Viking (C). But the article focused on drafting players, and one of the top 6 wide zone OL mentioned was Brady Christensen, OT, BYU:

https://jetswire.usatoday.com/lists/2021-nfl-draft-offensive-linemen-new-york-jets-wide-zone-blocking-scheme/

So why draft Tommy Tremble in the third round? Yes, he will run some stuff from an hback set, but it is wrong to limit him that way.  The strong side wide zone is the easy answer to why we drafted an athletic beast of a blocker in the open field:  (Watch the strong side wide zone scheme description on this video by Alex Gibbs--very informative. Note that the most important block on the OL is arguably  the TEs)

And then there is this:

So what characteristics does the wide zone blocking OL need to be successful?

1. Communication/Intelligence.  They work as a unit, and they must know where their teammates will be.  Trust the system.  The must react on the fly and take good angles, predicting where the defender will be.

2. They need to be mobile and have good feet, balance and coordination.  Often they will have to block DBs and LBs in the open field.  I provide a video that shows Cam Erving as a guard, and although the chiefs do not run the Wide zone very much (inside zone, man 25% of the time, outside zone 75%) note in the video how well Erving moves and pursues blocks in the open field. 

In fact, David Moore is a GREAT fit for this system, and I seriously think he will make the team and start within a year.  He is short, which is less of a disadvantage for an IOL in this system but he has 34" arms, he can move, and he is a bit nasty.  He can pull, has light feet, a huge anchor if needed, and he does a great job of rolling his hips into the block in the open field. 

Finally, there has been some criticism of the reason we drafted Deonte Brown as a G if we are running the zone scheme.  However, I think that is based on his size, not his tape.  He shows that he can be a lot of things, not simply a man blocker.  If a G can pull and see the need to slip off his block to pick up a bigger threat, then he has the intelligence.  Brown is not going to lead a sweep or anything, but he is going to be able to reach and get to the second level.  I think he needs to lose 15 more lbs, but he can have a role in this offense because he can take smart angles and he has the strength to turn folks on reach and  scoop blocks, etc. 

I feel much more understanding of the Elflien and Erving signings now.  I get the Brady and Tremble picks--we should be awesome at strong side running to the left--we could not really run left last year.  I am excited about Paradis as a fit more than before.

And I think we have the RBs and QB to do this.  I think the focus on stopping the run will open things up for our secondary.  Darnold will not be forced to throw all the time and he will have a great screen game (Think about Christensen, Tremble, and Elflien leading CMC on a screen).  I get it.  I think I understand now why we did what we did.  Did we need Sewell?  Not as much as we probably needed a Slater or Christensen.  I will say that we will not be as strong in pass protection, but if you have a good screen game and stretch the field all day, and there are 4 WRs who can spank your butt on any given play---you are less likely to blitz.  Stunts are not as effective either.

I am getting pumped.

[Mr. Scot]

Had a feeling that was the old Alex Gibbs style.

(man, that guy is a piece of sh-t)

Super effective scheme for running the ball though. Shanahan regularly had average backs be thousand yard rushers using it in Denver.

Edited May 21, 2021 by Mr. Scot

[LinvilleGorge]

It's awesome to have guys who are truly elite players in that you could put them on the field in any system and they're going to be great. But the salary cap dictates you're not going to have many of those on your roster. The next best thing is to target guys who are very good at specific elements that fit your scheme.

[Rags]

Holy poo this is a quality post for the Huddle A fugin + my man

[Mr. Scot]

1 minute ago, LinvilleGorge said:

It's awesome to have guys who are truly elite players in that you could put them on the field in any system and they're going to be great. But the salary cap dictates you're not going to have many of those on your roster. The next best thing is to target guys who are very good at specific elements that fit your scheme.

Steelers have been living off that formula for decades now.

[Mistuh Jones]

Great post, I am too! 

[Seltzer]

Great post OP... nice to have some quality threads this time of year

[ForJimmy]

MHS you are the offseason MVP! Keep doing your thing!

[LinvilleGorge]

7 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

Steelers have been living off that formula for decades now.

Good organizations do. You have to. There's only one position on the field that eliteness is required to consistently compete for championships. Specific positional weakness can be schemed around at every other spot.

[Mr. Scot]

1 minute ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Good organizations do. You have to. There's only one position on the field that eliteness is required to consistently compete for championships. Specific positional weakness can be schemed around at every other spot.

If you have coaches that are smart enough to do it.

We haven't always had that.

[Rags]

11 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

Steelers have been living off that formula for decades now.

I have been watching in agony for the past decade as they constantly draft mid to late round WR and never miss a beat.

Same can't be said for their secondary tho lmao.

[Mr. Scot]

Just now, Rags said:

I have been watching in agony for the past decade as they constantly draft mid to late round WR and never miss a beat.

Same can't be said for their secondary tho lmao.

Secondary used to be stellar back when they had guys like Rod Woodson.

Part of me wonders if that area hasn't fallen off since Tomlin took over, but I haven't looked hard enough at it to say.

I do remember some people thought Tomlin was kind of a misfit for the Steelers since he was primarily a Cover Two guy and they were married to the zone blitz.

[LinvilleGorge]

Just now, Mr. Scot said:

If you have coaches that are smart enough to do it.

We haven't always had that.

I'm not sure that we've ever had that. IMO, the difference between good coaches and great coaches is that good coaches can field a great team when given a roster that fits well to their scheme. A great coach can tweak his schemes to fit the talent at hand and field a great team even when the roster may not fit what he'd ideally like to do.

Phil Snow impressed the hell out of me last year. I thought he was likely going to be in over his head in the NFL. But that guy took a rag tag mismatched defensive roster and fielded a not terrible defense using a scheme that really didn't jive with what he was known for running. Our D wasn't good, but it was a long way from being the worst D in the league and honestly that's what I expected it to be.

[Mr. Scot]

Just now, LinvilleGorge said:

I'm not sure that we've ever had that. IMO, the difference between good coaches and great coaches is that good coaches can field a great team when given a roster that fits well to their scheme. A great coach can tweak his schemes to fit the talent at hand and field a great team even when the roster may not fit what he'd ideally like to do.

Phil Snow impressed the hell out of me last year. I thought he was likely going to be in over his head in the NFL. But that guy took a rag tag mismatched defensive roster and fielded a not terrible defense using a scheme that really didn't jive with what he was known for running. Our D wasn't good, but it was a long way from being the worst D in the league and honestly that's what I expected it to be.

We sure as hell didn't have that under Rivera and Fox.

Fox was famously too damn stubborn to adjust the coverage scheme against Arizona even though we had a corner capable of shadowing Fitzgerald and they didn't have jack sh-t outside of him at the time.