Tim Tebow and the option

Ahhh! Peace and quiet at last.

Time then to take a look at the Denver Broncos offense and in particular the option read/zone read (depending on your preferred terminology) that has propelled Tim Tebow to even higher levels of stardom, predominantly because it's seen as a contrary offense and because the option isn't supposed to work in the NFL... despite the fact that it's been working nicely all season for a number of teams.

This is probably the main reason that we need to look at this, because despite the immense success that Denver has been having people still seem to believe that such an offense can't work in the NFL. This, even in the face of week after week of evidence that should have dispelled that myth, a bit like the Lions being rated as a play off team (sorry Lions fans).

There are several reasons why this play works so well, not least because the Broncos offensive line is pretty good at run blocking, even if their pass protection is... shall we say, underwhelming? Then there's the fact that Tim Tebow ran this play God knows how many times during his college career with Florida, so he has a very good feel for the play and knowing when to keep the ball and when to give it to the running back.

But fundamentally it's about numbers.

See the problem that every offense has is that on any given run play they are basically short handed by two men; the quarterback and the running back. The quarterback hands the ball off and is in no position to block anyone, even if he were inclined to do so. The running back is carrying the ball and thus is also exempted from blocking duties. That leaves only nine men left to block eleven, and to be honest at least two of those blockers are likely to be wide receivers so it's more like seven on eleven, minus any cornerbacks who take the Deion Sanders "business decision" approach to tackling. Option plays try to remedy that problem to a degree.

Now I can already hear all the coaches out there currently repeating the oft used mantra of "It's about Jimmy's and Joe's, not X's and O's!" which when translated from coach speak into normal person speak, roughly means; "Winning in Football is about teaching players the skills of the game, motivating them and using an offense they can understand, not drawing pretty diagrams," or words to that effect.

And while broadly speaking I agree with that sentence, I also think pretty diagrams (or even ugly ones like mine) have an important role to play in helping offenses to mitigate some of their deficiencies, while maximising their potential. Option plays are a great example.

Basically the play involves the offense purposely leaving one player completely unblocked. Now that might sound like quite a stupid thing to do, but the offense has a plan. What they're going to do is to make that unblocked defender make a choice. They're going to give him two conflicting options and make him pick one. Let's throw up a quick diagram so we have a better idea of what I'm talking about;

As you can see in my superbly drawn diagram (stop laughing) I've circled the unblocked defensive player in red. The offense is going to make this player chose between chasing after the running back or staying "home" to defend against the quarterback. Due to the direction that the offensive players are running in (opposites), it's impossible for the defensive end to cover both men on the play. If he's to have any chance of making an impact then he has to make a decision and he has to make it early, committing himself to his decision.

This is where the "option" in option football comes in. The quarterback has the option of either giving the ball to the running back or keeping it himself, depending on the reaction of the unblocked defender; if he races hard down the line then the quaterback keeps the ball and runs around the exposed end himself. If the defender sits back cautiously and just watches the quarterback, or even comes hard up the field on a pass rush, then the QB hands it off to the back (imagine someone like Jared Allen trying to chase a running back down from behind when the back has a 4-5 yard head start).

To give himself a bit more time to make the read and to be sure of the defenders decision, the quarterback will often take two small sliding steps in the direction the running back is headed, all the while with his body turned towards the unblocked defender and the ball extended out into the path of the back (the "mesh" that you're always hearing about). He then either gives it to the back or pulls it out and takes it himself.

It's because this "give/take" decision has to be made in such a short time window - and because of the trickiness of the ball handling - that it really helps immensely to have an experienced quarterback (at least with regards to this play) like Tebow in there running it. This is not a play that you want to just run on a whim with any old quarterback, because the consequences of a bad read or a mishandled mesh can be serious, with your quarterback running right into the arms of a 270 pound defensive linemen or a fumble that is likely to bounce towards the waiting defense.

Now hopefully, after we've gone to all that trouble to fake out the end defender, our linemen should have made their blocks. Depending on the front used by the defense the offensive line will either have a numbers advantage, or at the very least have one on one blocks across the board ("a hat on a hat" as they say). Let's take a look at how this play can end up panning out;

As demonstrated once more by my elite drawing skills you can see at the top that when the end crashes down (or he could just be sitting in that hole) the quarterback will give the ball to the back. That leaves us with six linemen blocking six defenders and a running back looking for a hole. At the bottom you can see the unblocked defensive lineman is pressing hard down the line trying to get to the running back which - along with the blocks of the offensive line - leaves the backside of the play wide open for the quarterback to pull the ball and run through. In actuality the quarterback would take a slightly more horizontal first few steps just to make sure he got around that end ok, but I'm too lazy to go back and adjust the diagram now.

So we've seen how the option read/zone read works (the "zone" in "zone read" comes from the offensive linemen using zone blocking). The question now switches to the opposite side of the ball and the defense's perspective. Simply put; how do you stop this play?

The common approach touted by your TV talking head of choice is likely to go something along the lines of "you play sound, disciplined, assignment football". That is to say that each of the defensive players should stick to their normal run gap and fill it in exactly the same way that they would against any other running play.

Which is probably one of the worst things that you could do against this play.

See the problem you have by playing disciplined, assignment football is that your defensive end, the unblocked guy, is going to sit at "home" and play contain on the edge. He's going to attack downfield at the snap (he has to assume the offense might try and pass) but the second that he sees the quarterback making the read during the mesh with the running back, he's going to stop and start protecting the edge of the defense.

And the quarterbacks just going to hand the ball off every time to the running back.

With the end standing still he's effectively taken himself out of the play, which is precisely what the offense wants. In fact it's probably the best outcome for the offense, because it means you're giving the ball to your dedicated running back and not risking your quarterback taking a big hit. This is worth just settling on for a second because this is - at least in my opinion - going to be the primary limiting factor for this play in the NFL.

Not many coaches are going to be willing to risk their multi-million dollar quarterback taking too many lumps over the course of a full 16 game season every year. While it won't stop the zone read - any play that can surprise a defense and get yards will stay in the NFL for as long as it's effective - I do think that we'll see less and less of it as guys like Tebow and Cam Newton develop as passers. We'll still get the odd treat, just not as often.

Anyway, back to the defense. So if they can't play assignment football to beat the zone read, then what can they do? The simple answer is for the defense to pull a fast one and install a special defensive play just to counter the zone read. Now that might sound like a lot of effort for the defense just for the sake of one play, but it's really only a subtle variation on the way they would normally defend a play like this.

They key for the defense is understanding that the quarterbacks decision of whether to give or take is based on what the unblocked defensive man does. As we've seen, if the unblocked man drives hard down the line then the quarterback will pull the ball back and try to take it around the end himself.

With that in mind the defense can now take the initiative away from the offense and force the offenses hand. All you do is you tell that defensive end to crash down the line the second he sees the zone read play developing, safe in the knowledge that the quarterback will see it, take the ball, and run it himself around the edge. Now here's the clever bit.

Knowing that you've got the quarterback to react as planned (he sees the end crashing so he takes and runs) you now get your linebacker on that side to forget about chasing the running back and tell him that the second he recognises a zone read he should come charging down and fill the outside gap. The quarterback will come flying around the edge thinking he's in for a big gain when suddenly...

BOOM!!

He gets blown up by your linebacker scraping around the edge. Let's have a look at that in a diagram form. I know you can't wait to see more of my artistic talents on display;

As you can see from the large "BOOM!!" marker, the defense has tricked the quarterback into keeping the ball and trying to run around the edge, where he's met by the linebacker making a deliberate and immediate move towards the edge. In reality, obviously the quarterback often sees the linebacker coming and more often than not takes evasive action as only a quarterback can; by diving or sliding immediately into the dirt/plastic.

Which now puts the ball firmly back in the offenses court. If the defense is going to force the quarterback to carry it (he can try handing it off but if the running back so much as hesitates then he's dead meat) and the linebacker is just going to come down and fill that gap, what does the offense do now? Zone read stuffed?

Not quite yet.

If the defense is going to force the quarterback to keep it around the end and then bring a different player down to fill gap, then the logical reaction to this is to introduce another offensive player into the mix and simply read off the second defender; a triple option (quarterback, running back, wide receiver).

The best way to achieve this is to line up a receiver in the slot to the right (presuming the offense is set to the right as in the diagrams above) and then send that receiver in motion behind the quarterback (you can also line him up to the quarterbacks right side in a shotgun/split backs look). Just as he's approaching the rear of the quarterback you snap the ball and the quarterback makes the zone read as normal.

If he sees the unblocked defensive end chasing down the line then he keeps the ball and takes it around the end as he normally would on a zone read, except that now he's going to have a wide receiver running outside of him ready to receive a pitch. The quarterback is now looking out for that linebacker coming down to fill the gap. If he goes towards the quarterback then the quarterback pitches it to the receiver. If the linebacker tries to get wide and cover the receiver then the quarterback keeps it himself and runs right up through the ensuing hole.

Here's how it looks;

The wide receiver has to be careful to maintain the correct pitch relationship with the quarterback, making sure to stay slightly behind the quarterback so that any pitch doesn't go forward. If the quarterback crosses the line of scrimmage and then has to pitch the ball forward that's going to draw a flag.

Once again the offense has the defense in a bind. No matter what the linebacker does, he's going to be wrong. If he tries to take the quarterback then the ball is going to get pitched to the receiver. If the linebacker takes the receiver then he's going to let the quarterback run free inside of him.

All is not lost for the defense though. They will likely have a nickel back on the field covering the slot receiver, so when that receiver motions across the field the nickelback might get across in time to help out (or be as much help as a nickel back can be when it comes to tackling...)

Alternatively the defense can bring the free safety down and involve him in the option dilemma. In this case the defense can play a little game where they make the quarterback try and figure out whether the linebacker is covering him or whether the safety is. If the defense uses the linebacker to cover the wide receiver and brings the safety down to take the quarterback, then the quarterback can end up keeping the ball, running inside and running straight into the safety.

From there the offense can play its own games, by sending the slot receiver in motion, faking the initial step of the triple option play... but then having the fullback cut back to the outside and dive at the legs of the defensive end. Meanwhile the wide receiver stops and comes rushing back towards the quarterback to receiver a hand off going to the right, as the offense now plays a classic outside zone run;

And then of course there is play-action to be had off of that....

I think we'll leave it there for now. Suffice to say that the back and forth that started with a simple zone read can go on for hours as defenses figure out new ways of adjusting to and manipulating the offensive reads, while offense's finds new ways to make it harder for the defense to know who's being read, and hampering their efforts to cheat into position to take away certain plays, applying the constraint theory of offense.

That's one of the things that's so enjoyable about football; the back and forth that goes on between the coaches. And proof I feel that sometimes the X's and O's of football can be just as important as the Jimmy's and Joe's.

And even the Tim Tebow's.
Tomorrow I'll do my picks for this weekend and have a quick word about an interview that Cam Newton gave to ESPN, which I don't have time to write about now. See you then.

P.S. Thanks to Teoita for the inspiration for this article! If you have something you think I should write about or a subject you'd like to know more about, you can e-mail me at; keepingthechainsmoving@live.co.uk

The Outside Zone

Yes, so, diagrams.

Yesterday I promised a little diagrammatic adventure and then got sidetracked, so today I'd better make up for it and break out my elite PowerPoint skills..... stop laughing, they're not that bad.

So for my 600th post (what a waste of life) I'm going to have a look at the Texans running game. Or more specifically, one play from the Texans running game. In fact, to be even more specific, one play, out of one formation, (because Blogger is stingy about the amount of pictures they'll let you upload) from the Texans running game; the outside zone.

The reason why I've chosen this play is because it is actually a very widely used play. Practically every team in the NFL right now runs it, though not all teams do it well, as you might expect. I could have chosen pretty much any team and stuck their name at the top, but I went with the Texans for two reasons; 1) they run it a lot, especially out of the two tight end formation and 2) they run it really well, probably better than most teams in the NFL.

Just understand that I've had to take some liberties with the defensive front and that the arrows are more representative of who blocks who, as opposed to precise pathways taken by the offensive line;

So there you have the basic jumble of men and arrows. But what does it all mean?

Well the key to the outside zone is movement. At the snap of the ball the entire offensive line is stepping to the playside (in this case the right). The goal is to get the defense on the move, get on your blocks, and then let the running back make simple reads on the reactions of the defense (more on this later).

The other big advantage of this play is that it is a multi-front beating run. That is to say that while many run plays undergo changes - sometimes significant changes - in the blocking scheme depending on what front the defense presents, the outside zone doesn't. The blocking rules remain the same pretty much regardless of what the defense does, making it much easier for the offensive line to cope with the variety of modern defenses. It also reduces the number of plays that have to be practised since this play, along with the inside zone and a few others, can cope with so many different defensive looks. And practice makes (closer to) perfect.

So what are the rules for the offensive linemen? It all comes down to whether the linemen is covered or uncovered. If he has a defensive linemen "over" him (any part of the defensive linemen aligned opposite any part of the offensive linemen) then you're covered. If you don't have a defensive linemen "over" you then you are uncovered.

The uncovered linemen, like the center in the diagram above, works towards the playside and helps the man next to him (the right guard in this case). A covered linemen, like the right guard in the diagram above, has to check the man to the backside of him (in this case the center). If that man is uncovered then he will help you with your block (as in the diagram). If he's covered, then you're on your own!

What you're trying to achieve is as many double teams at the line of scrimmage as possible, with the offensive linemen then working together so one of them can slip off the block of the D-linemen and work up to the linebacker. The decision about which offensive linemen goes up to the next level and grabs the linebacker depends heavily on what the D-linemen does in response to being blocked, which in turn is often heavily dependent on how he lines up in the first place.

In the diagram above (I'm starting to get Deja vu writing that), if the defensive tackle were to line up on the inside (left) shoulder of the right guard, then the chances are that the Center will end up taking over that block and the right guard will end up working to the next level and grabbing the "Mike" linebacker. If the D-tackle aligns head up over the right guard then it's probably an evens bet who will end up sustaining the block on him, and much will depend on whether he tries to drive inside and split the double team, or whether he goes outside and tries to cut off the running backs lateral movement. If the tackle lines up on the outside (right) shoulder of the right guard, the likely hood is the right guard will end up staying on him, with the center moving up directly to get the "Mike" linebacker.

This process is repeated up and down the line of scrimmage as the offensive linemen work as a unit to get all the D-linemen blocked first, before moving up to knock those linebackers out of the way. Before we move on to the running back and his reads, it's worth quickly examining the blocks of the wide receivers. The "X" receiver on the left side will simply run up, ignoring the corner to his side and go get the free safety. The "Z" receiver, who is lined up on the right (in the direction we're running the play) will have to make a decision as to who he blocks.

A variety of factors come into play, such as how deep the corner and the strong safety are, and how wide the receiver is split. Normally the receiver will come off the line at full speed, aiming at the inside shoulder of the corner and trying to get him to back pedal (due to the threat of play action). The receiver can then make the decision whether to turn out on the corner, or whether to cut inside and get the strong safety at an angle, with a good shot of knocking the blindsided safety clean off his feet (if your name is Andre Johnson for example. Not so much if your name is Randy Moss).

Sometimes the coach might dictate that the receiver always block a certain player, in which case it will almost always be the safety. There are two main reasons for this; 1) due to the way the play is run, and as we shall see when we get to the running backs read, the safety has a much better chance of influencing the play by making the tackle, and 2) let's be honest, corners are not renowned for their tackling, even when given the clear opportunity to. Someone like Antonio Cromartie of the Jets will often see a fake step to the outside by the running back as an opportunity to give up on the play.

So now that we've covered all the blocking assignments, we can get down to the nitty gritty detail of the backs reads. The outside zone is often described by TV pundits as a "one cut" system, which indeed it is. The back makes a series of simple "yes/no" "inside/outside" type reads, makes his cut and then bolts upfield to get as much yardage as he can before being brought down or reaching the endzone, whichever happens first.

Basically what the running back does is to read the actions of two players, starting with the second defensive linemen across from the center towards the playside (in this case the right). It's worth noting that a "nose" tackle who has aligned on the playside (right) shoulder of the center does not count and the back should ignore him. The back should also ignore any linebackers lined up well off the line of scrimmage. He is only interested in down linemen. If all this getting a bit confusing then fear not, another diagram is coming shortly.

In fact it's here;

Now the chances of an NFL back facing the above situation, with 3 defensive tackles lined up that close, is extremely rare outside of very short yardage (on third down), short yardage situations around the goaline, or the Jets playing Buddy Ryan's old "Bear" front. In the course of normal open field play the Nose tackle wouldn't be there (more likely he'd be on the other shoulder of the Center) but I've stuck him in there for the convenience of showing that the back will ignore a player aligned in such a way.

The people that the running back is interested in are "E" and "T" (keep the 'phone home' jokes to yourself please). "E" is the second down lineman to the playside of the center, so the back reads him first, hence why I've put a little number one over his head. What this defender does will dictate whether or not the back needs to bother reading number two ("T").

If the backs first read, "E", goes inside of the man blocking him (the right tackle) then the back will simply bounce the play to the outside. Normally the tight end, "Y", will help his tackle out, then go up to grab "S" which is the "Sam" linebacker. Typically the tight end will block that guy inside to out, pushing him towards the sideline and creating a running lane inside for the back. This would send the back towards the strong safety, which helps explain why it is preferable for the "Z" receiver to block the safety and not the corner (told you we'd get back to that eventually).

If the backs first read, "E", works hard to try and get outside of the right tackle (as shown in the diagram) then the back now switches to his second read, which is "T". He has two options now. If "T" goes to the outside as well (as he does in the diagram), then the running back will cut inside of him, looking for the center to get up and onto the "Mike" linebacker.

If "T" goes hard inside, trying to split the double team between the right guard and the center, then the center will take over that block and the right guard will go up to get the "Mike" backer. That will leave a large hole between "T" and "E", into which the running back cuts.

There is another option which I'm not going to diagram here and that's the possibility that if both "T" and "E" go outside and the running back then cuts back inside, that the left guard will have pushed his man all the way across as well, filling the gap vacated by the center which the running back was planning to cut into. In this case the running back just keeps working to the backside, cutting behind the block of the left guard. Ray Rice of the Ravens and Adrian Peterson of the Vikings are particularly adept at this (Rice is basically the master of the cut back run).

One thing that should be noted here is that when a back does cut back inside, often he is not actually making a huge cut. This is because when the play starts everyone is running to the right; O-line, D-line, quarterback, running back, everyone. The running backs aiming point when he starts running is actually the original starting point of the tight end. In most "huge cutback" runs that you see in games, the back is actually only making a small cut to the backside, due to the fact that everyone has shifted over so much. That's just an interesting little tidbit for you to keep an eye out for.

So there you are, the outside zone play described in full. It can of course be run from pretty much any formation you can think of, with favourites among the NFL teams being the I-formation, often with the fullback offset to the weak side or line up in the weakside slot. You can use motion to put a receiver in a better blocking position. And it can also be run to the weakside, providing you're using an unbalanced set. There are also many compliments to this play, such as the inside zone and the QB keeper. Maybe one day, possibly even next week (short of something else more interesting coming up over the weekend) I'll cover the inside zone as well, in full diagrammatic glory.

For now though, two things.

Firstly, I forgot to put up the results of my weekly picks, a reoccurring problem these days not at all related to the fact that they haven't exactly gone well. This week I was 8-5 in large part thanks to the miraculous (and bloody inconveniently timed) resurgence of Matt Cassel and Dwayne Bowe in Kansas, the complete ineptitude of the Bears, the inability of the Jets to shut down Wes Welker, the miraculous (and bloody inconveniently timed) resurgence of Ben Roethlisberger in Pittsburgh, and the inability of the Giants to go more than one game in a row without turning the ball over five times.

That means I'm now 45-32 for the season. I hate Eli Manning...

Which makes it all the more fun that tomorrow I'm going to use screen shots of him getting sacked and fumbling the ball to make a point about TV broadcasts, as well as looking at something about cornerback play that really bugs me and that I've been harping on about for a long while now, especially this season; bump and run. With emphasis on the bump. (Quick, go back and italicise 'bump' to show the emphasis. They'll never know that you didn't think of it until the editing stage, unless of course you end up writing down what you're thinking like a complete fool.... hello there).

Then on Friday Night (*cough, Saturday Morning), I'll be back again to do my picks for week 6, which at first glance is looking like it's going to be a tough one.

In the meantime spread the word, hit ye Facebook share button, leave a comment, or even just e-mail me at;

keepingthechainsmoving@live.co.uk

Or don't. See if I care.