In these modern times, the zone read has become one of the most heavily discussed plays in football. Many collegiate and high school offenses are built around it as their base offensive play, while many other systems have incorporated it as a change-up to their traditional arsenal of run plays. The bottom line is that the techniques and principles on how to defend the zone read cannot be glossed over and must be addressed in detail by just about any defense. The diagram below illustrates a basic zone read play by the offense against one of our base defensive fronts. The QB is reading the defensive end to decide whether he will hand the ball off to the RB or keep it himself. In this example we are assuming an inside release by the offensive tackle.
One of the most basic answers to the zone read is a gap exchange by the defensive linemen being read and the linebacker behind him. This is something that can be taught very easily and quickly absorbed by players. When coaching the gap (or “scrape”) exchange, the technical details and points of emphasis are extremely important to ensure sound execution and thorough understanding of the concept by the players. First, I’ll talk about the responsibility of the defensive end that is being read by the QB on the play, as illustrated in the following diagram.
The defensive Lineman’s responsibility is simple, he must bend down the line and tackle the RB. It is extremely important to instruct him to “put the RB on the ground” every single time. There are 3 reasons why this is such an important point of emphasis:
1) He is the extra man if the ball is handed off. As shown in the diagram, there are 5 offensive linemen to block 5 defenders. Those defenders can be cut, reached or washed by the offensive linemen and eliminated from the play, which could mean a big gain for the offense unless the end makes the tackle. He is the only unblocked man, and the key to stopping the RB.
2) Teaching him to always put the RB on the ground eliminates him from being fooled with his eyes by a well-coached QB who is creative with the ball. We never allow a bending D-Lineman to tell us he “saw who had the ball.” His one job is the RB. No exceptions.
3) It gives the QB a clear and decisive read to keep the ball. In most cases, even when the QB is a good athlete, he is the one we would rather have carrying the ball. Bending the end hard should induce a keep rather than a hand-off if the QB reads the play correctly.
If the defensive lineman who is assigned to the RB does his job every time, the threat of the RB carrying the ball on the play should be virtually non-existent. The other two D-lineman and linebackers (excluding the LBs to the mesh/read side) defend their gaps and the end eliminates the B-gap dive, leaving nowhere for the RB to go. Anytime the end is assigned to bend and tackle the RB, we assign the inside linebacker on that side to exchange gaps with the end and tackle the QB. Most of the time the QB is the one who will end up with the ball, provided he makes the right read. An example of a scraping linebacker playing the QB is illustrated below.
The coaching points for our linebackers when scraping for the QB are actually very important, and much more complicated than simply telling him to exchange gaps and make a tackle. Proper technique is very important, and ignoring the techniques coached can have serious repercussions on the defense. The key instruction that we give our inside linebackers is to “press” his gap first (meaning attack downhill), before scraping for QB. This is important for several reasons:
1) He is still responsible for defending that gap if the offensive tackle decides to block the End, rather than release and climb to the second level. If the OT blocks the end, the linebacker is now the extra (unblocked) defender and must fit his gap rather than scrape for QB.
2) It sets up the scrape and makes the offensive tackle’s block difficult. A well-coached OT is usually taught to re-direct and kick out a linebacker scraping for the QB. Pressing the gap downhill forces the OT to pivot at a sharp angle to make that block and may and have our Linebacker unblocked with a clean shot at the QB.
3) Scraping right away rather than pressing the gap first can cause our bending D-lineman’s path to be obstructed. If the OT isn’t worried about the threat of the linebacker plugging the inside gap, he doesn’t need to release inside so aggressively and can alter his path upfield more quickly. This could result in our end being walled off by the offensive tackle’s body and could delay him from getting to the RB.
All 3 of these scenarios are illustrated in the following diagram:
The outside linebacker is important in all of this because he is the additional QB player if the inside linebacker gets blocked by the offensive tackle, which is always a possibility. In the examples pictured in the previous diagrams, his presence provides us with an extra unblocked player for the QB, so we are not outnumbered in either phase of the zone read play. However, there are things that offenses can do to eliminate him from the equation, such as lining up in a 3 x 1 formation to pull him out of the box. If this happens, the defense must have an answer. One simple and effective option is to check to a 1-high or 3-deep coverage and rotate the safeties to strength when an offense lines up in a 3 x 1/trips formation. This would balance out the defense and bring the OLB back into the box as an extra defender. An example of that solution is shown below.
There are several other tricks offenses can use to occupy your “extra” defender, such as adding a pitch phase to the play or bringing an extra man like a TE or FB to block for the QB keep play. There are a variety of solutions that defensive coaches can use, from blitzes/stunts that act as zone-read “busters” to built-in rules and tweaks within coverages that are designed to gain additional defenders against the run. Whatever the solution, defending the zone read as well as any other form of option football must be addressed early, often, and in great detail.