A Beginner's Guide to Zone: Covered and Uncovered Rules

One of the most popular methods for teaching inside zone is to teach it using "covered" and "uncovered" principles.  The was the style of zone that powered Tom Osborne's dominant Nebraska Cornhuskers rushing attacks of the 80s and 90s.

A lot of what got mistakenly referred to as triple option in Osborne's offense was anything but: he'd simply stretch the defense laterally with Outside Zone blocked double option plays (and a quick flash fake to the Fullback) to get the defense flowing hard, then gash them up the middle with a called Inside Zone dive to the Fullback when the Linebackers were overpursing to the outside.

There are various "flavors" to using covered and uncovered rules for your zone blockers, but the basic concept is as straightforward as it gets: if you're covered, you block that guy, but if you're uncovered you read the next defensive lineman to the play side as you work up to a linebacker.  However, like all things Zone, the devil is in the details.

The first issue that a coach who wants to use Covered and Uncovered rules as the basis for his scheme needs to define is "What is covered?"  It's surprisingly more nuanced than it looks at first glance.  Just saying "a defensive lineman on any part of your body" can lead to odd situations where you wind up trying to base block a stunting defender or wind up working away from the call and leave a hole for a Linebacker to run through and kill the zone.  It also fails to account for defenders parked in gaps or linebackers who walk up late.

My preference is to define "Covered" as when there is a defender shaded into any part of the Offensive Lineman's play side gap or head up on Offensive Lineman.  If we're referring to the play side guard, for example, this could be a 3 tech or a 4i or it could even be a 2 tech, since that 4 tech may likely pinch.  That means that "Uncovered" is everything else: nothing in the gap or head up on the offensive lineman.

On Inside Zone plays, the covered Offensive Lineman will simply base block the defender head up or in his play side gap.  He'll step with his head, hip, and foot to the inside to get position and drive block the defender straight back.  On Outside Zone plays, he will reach block the defender by stepping "big toe to pinkie toe" with his play side foot to the defender's outside, swinging his hips around, and driving him vertical with head, foot, and hip on the defender's outside.

The uncovered Offensive Lineman is where the magic really happens in the Zone and what truly makes zone blocking such a dynamic scheme up front.  As Bill Mountjoy (expert on the zone and pro-style offense) says "where there is no uncovered lineman, there is no zone."

The uncovered Offensive Lineman will take a "bucket step" (a drop step at a 45 degree angle with his play side foot) and work through his play side gap to get hip-to-hip with his play side teammate to overtake the defender.  This results in a combo block.  When the Uncovered Lineman successfully overtakes the defender, the Uncovered Offensive Lineman's technique will physically "wipe off" the Covered Offensive Lineman from his block to get to the second level

If the defender stunts away from the Uncovered Lineman across his teammate's face into the next gap over, the Uncovered Lineman simply works up to the second level and blocks a Linebacker while his teammate continues to base block the defender.

This is one of the simplest and most popular ways to teach zone, but like the Count System we discussed earlier in the series, it's not without its own pitfalls.  The first is defining what "head up" actually means--it needs to be narrowly defined as "a defender with his helmet between your feet" to avoid confusion over whether a defender is shaded backside or head up.

The other major issue is that, by itself, the covered and uncovered rules don't necessarily fully account for defensive post-snap movement or run throughs, though they handle this better than the Count System we discussed in the last post.  There is still some additional teaching necessary.

In fact, many zone teams combine both styles into a multi-layered set of rules to better account for the gray areas: the count clarifies which pair of Offensive Linemen will block which pairs of defenders while the Covered and Uncovered rules clarify what technique to use to get the job done.

However, as I've coached Zone and worked through some of the growing pains of doing it, I've found what I feel is a simpler way and better way to teach it, which I'll discuss in the next post.  Check back tomorrow for the third theory (and my personal favorite) style of Zone: the Track Zone!

A Beginner's Guide to Zone: The Count System

Perhaps the most popular inside zone scheme is based off the use of a count system to get a hat on a hat.  This was the preferred method of Joe Gibbs in his heyday with the Redskins and is also how Chip Kelly prefers to begin teaching his zone schemes.

The idea of count systems to help the offense block the most dangerous defenders is nothing new or revolutionary--count systems were used by veer and pro-style teams at least as far back as the 1960s--but it's also a very sound starting point because it helps to clean up one of the most important questions for the offensive line: who to block.

No matter how big or strong your linemen are, and no matter how much you work on technique, the simple truth is that if your OL aren't all on the same page about who to block, you're going to be in trouble.  Even a poorly executed block on the right defender will be far more effective than a great block on the wrong guy while a defender runs free.  With defenses free to align in numerous confusing ways, the Count System clarifies all of this with an extremely simple set of rules that can be taught to all age levels.

The basis of the count system is that the Center will make a call on each play to declare the "Zero" man in the front (some teams may also label him "Mike").  The Zero man is the first defender (Defensive Lineman or Linebacker) who is head up or to the play side of the Center on the play.  The Center and Offensive Line will go to the line to see how the defense is aligning, then the Center will make his call ("#58 is Zero").

From there, the rest of the offensive linemen begin their count.  The play side Guard will count the next defender to the play side as #+1, the play side Tackle will declare the next one to the play side as #+2, and if there is a Tight End he'll declare the next defender to the play side as #+3.  The backside Guard would declare the first man backside of "Zero" as #-1, while the backside tackle will declare the next man backside of Zero as #-2.  If there is a stack (a Linebacker lined up directly behind a Defensive Lineman) the low man (Defensive Lineman) will get the low number.  On the snap, each offensive linemen will then block his number in the count.

The benefits of this system are readily apparent.  By giving the linemen a simple rule that starts in the middle of the play, we insure that the five most inside defenders (and therefore the five most dangerous defenders to the inside zone) are accounted for by the blocking.  If you add extra men to the line, like Tight Ends or Wingbacks, they simply pick up the next number in the count to their side.  That makes the system a good fit within a multiple formation offense that may utilize Tight Ends, Wing Backs, Unbalanced Lines, Empty formations, and shifts.

The count system is also extremely flexible as a basis for teaching other schemes.  You can base your pass protection scheme around it by having the offensive linemen all block their number in the count (or skip the linebackers in they count to create a BOB--Big On Big/Back On Backer--scheme).

You can take the count a step further and use it to adjusting the blocking to get other run schemes or read different defenders in the shotgun.  Want to install an Iso play?  Simply tell the offensive linemen to the play side to skip over the first linebacker to their side.  How about veer blocking scheme where the offensive line all block away from the play?  Simply declare Zero as the first man head up or *backside* of the Center to get the linemen moving in the proper direction.  Do you want to run Midline?  Tell the offensive linemen to skip over the first Defensive Lineman to the play side.

Chip Kelly, when he was at Oregon, probably did more adjusting of the count to read different defenders than anyone in football and had a great deal of success doing it.

However, a pure count system isn't without its downsides.  Without an additional set of rules and coaching points, this is a pure "Man" scheme, which is as old as football itself but provides absolutely no protection against stunts and post-snap movement by the defense.  If you only teach the count system, you could wind up with bizarre situations like the C trying to chase down the MLB as he loops through C gap and the Tackle trying to chase a DE as he long-sticks down to A gap.

So what are the additional sets of rules?  Check back tomorrow as we dive deeper into the other rules that make the Zone a Zone.

Series Intro: A Beginner's Guide to Inside Zone Blocking

There is probably no single blocking scheme or play in football today that is more ubiquitous than the Inside Zone.  It's ran as a base run at every level, from the NFL on down to the youth leagues, and I'd wager that the majority of schools in high school and above have it in the playbook as a key part of their attack.  Some may call it "Tight Zone," some may call it "Middle Zone," and others may simply call it "Zone," but Zone is Zone.

The play isn't anything new.  Zone blocking has a long, complex, and often murky history that goes back to at least Vince Lombardi in the 1960s with his "Do-dad" or "Area" blocking, which was even a part of the famous Lombardi Sweep and described in detail by him in his 1973 book "Lombardi On Football."  It was a key element of Joe Gibbs' one back offense of the early 1980s and has been featured prominently in offenses as diverse as Chip Kelley's hurry up, no huddle spread; Nick Saban's dominant Alabama pro-style teams; and New Mexico's triple option oriented attack.  Tubby Raymond even experimented with incorporating it into their "Belly" play in his latter years at Delaware.

Yet, for many coaches, particularly beginning coaches who didn't grow up playing offensive line in zone offenses, there's still a mystique about zone.  While the play looks extremely simple (each lineman gets a hat on a hat and you run the ball up the middle), it has all sorts of subtle technical and schematic challenges that make the play far more complex than it appears at first glance.  A well run zone is the type of base run you can hang your hat on.  A poorly coached zone will leave you looking like this guy on the sideline.

Compounding the issue is that there are actually several different methods for how to teach zone blocking.  The top three most popular "families" of zone are:

1.  The "Count System" (used by Joe Gibbs in his heyday with the Redskins)

2.  The "Covered and Uncovered System" (used famously by Tom Osborne at Nebraska)

3.  The "Track Zone" system (my personal favorite and taught by Chris Ault at Nevada)

This article will be the first in a series of articles that explore the basics of each of these popular styles of inside zone, as well as the techniques involved for the offensive line and backfield, the basic thought process in calling the zone,  and then finally we will explore how this one blocking scheme can become an entire offense unto itself via the addition of different backfield actions and read.

I hope you enjoy the series and pick up something to help you and your team be successful next season!