Explosive Plays: Week 17, 2024

New school Outside Zones and great shot designs against common coverages in this week's explosive breakdown!

18 FORCE

Technically, this is Force. The FB is isolated on the Force/Support defender. However, because of the defensive alignment, it plays out similarly to what I believe has become my favorite variation of Outside Zone: Sammy. Sammy is strong-side Outside Zone with the F isolating the play-side EMLOS. It is Will declared, which I have become a bigger and bigger fan of at every level. Will declared strong side Outside Zones put the Center in combination to the Will, which is the back-side ILB for strong side runs. This is in contrast to a traditional Mike declaration, which would put the Center in combination to the play-side ILB on strong side runs. With the Center working to the Will, the play-side combination works to the Mike instead of to a support defender. What I have found and love about Will declared strong side Outside Zone is that instead of having to either capture or push the play-side of the defense, the blocking surface more often than not simply gets to keep the play-side leverage they already have because they are blocking or comboing to a defender that is aligned to their back-side instead of their play-side. Take for example the Center and his target LB. If he is targeting the Mike on a strong side run, the Mike aligns to his play-side, so he has to combo to him and either he or his combo partner have to capture/reach the Mike or push/drive him out of the hole, forcing a cutback. The Will, however, is aligned back-side of the Center, so pre-snap, the Center already has the play-side captured by alignment. He simply needs to keep his leverage post-snap.

This Force play plays out like Sammy because the OL is working back-side. The Y and RT are comboing the C gap DL to the Sam LB inside of him, the RG and the C are comboing the A gap DL to the Mike inside of him, and the Will is in the box, so the LG and LT are comboing the B gap DL to the Will. All that’s left is the CB fitting off the edge, and the FB is ready to kick him out. You can really see the effects of comboing to a back-side ILB with the RG & C combo to the Mike. Simply staying on track makes it difficult for the ILB to scrape over, and the HB barely has to cut.

19 TRIPLE

Another Will declared strong side Outside Zone! Center is working to the Will (58). Counting it out, that puts the LG & LT on Mike (45) and the Y and F on the Sam (56). Another strong visual of Will declaration is the LT. Because the 3T is playing so tight (and slants post-snap), he simply has to run and not let 45 cross his face, so the HB is at least hitting the C gap. The 9T tries to shoot the crease, and the blocking surface completely captures the play-side. All that’s left outside is the Safety and the CB. Alex Gibbs would be so happy to see this play. Make the Corner tackle! If he could tackle, he would be playing Safety, not Corner!

Be aware that next week’s subject will say 2025 as the entirety of Week 18 will be played in the new year. Paid subscribers will have access to the rest of the article, detailing a bunch man-Lock & Combo beater and an inverted Hi Cross that will dominate Trix/Poach coverage!