Making Wide Zone Explosive: A Smarter Way to Attack the Edge

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In today’s article, I want to break down one of my favorite adjustments to Wide Zone — a tweak that makes it far more explosive without abandoning the core philosophy behind it. Before we dive into the Xs and Os, though, let’s start with a simple question:

What is an explosive play — and why does it matter?

There’s no universal answer to what qualifies as an “explosive” play. Some coaches say 10+ yards, some say 12, others say 15. For the purpose of this article, I’m going to follow a widely-used convention: explosive runs are 12+ yards, and explosive passes are 16+ yards. The exact number isn’t the point. The impact is.

Explosive plays are one of the strongest predictors of whether a drive ends in points. More explosives = more scoring. More scoring = more winning. And explosive play differential is becoming as commonly cited as turnover margin in winning analytics.

Let’s look at some numbers to show just how dramatic the difference is.

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The Data: Explosive Plays = Touchdowns

A study from Sharp Football Analysis looked at drives that start inside a team’s own 30-yard line. Here's what they found:

• Drives with 0 explosive plays had a 6.2% scoring rate.

  • Only 4.8% of those drives even reached the red zone.

  • Just 2.3% ended in touchdowns.

  • That’s a brutal efficiency rate over a long field.

But if a drive had just one explosive play — not two, not three, just one:

• Scoring rate jumped to 51%

• Red zone rate: 39%

• Touchdown rate: 28%

Let that sink in. A single explosive play can 10x your scoring chances.

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Explosive Run Plays: Where They Actually Hit

To drill into run-specific data, I did some of my own digging. In addition to crunching the numbers I had on hand from the NFL in 2024, I asked a few AI tools to scan publicly available data to answer one specific question:

What percentage of explosive run plays happen outside the tackle?

The consistent answer across the board: 60–70% of 12+ yard run plays get outside the tackle.

That should immediately get your attention. If we want to be explosive in the run game — and we do — then we need to find ways to get outside the tackle more often.

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Traditional Wide Zone: Stretch & Puncture

Let’s start with what traditional Wide Zone is designed to do:

Stretch the front, cut off the backside, and puncture through the alley.

It’s a time-tested system that creates consistent 3- to 7-yard gains. If you’re a ball-control offense, that’s gold. Four yards at a time = first down. But here’s the tradeoff: it’s hard to consistently explode with that structure because you rarely get the edge.

Here’s an example — 49ers vs. Jaguars (2024). A clean 3-yard gain on Wide Zone. Efficient. But not explosive. From the end zone angle, you can see the front gets stretched, but there’s no real crease to bounce. The run goes north-south and gets what it can. That’s traditional Wide Zone working exactly as designed — but it's not lighting up the scoreboard.

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Explosive Wide Zone: Seal the Front, Force DBs to Tackle

Here’s the shift in thinking:
Instead of stretch and puncture, we want to seal the front.

That means:

• Pulling the count (targeting the backside linebacker instead of the frontside).

• Preventing flow from linebackers and DL.

• Forcing DBs to make tackles in space against our best athletes.

If you spend time on Twitter, you’ll sometimes see this described as “Will-declared Outside Zone.” The idea is to pull the center back one defender in the count — usually to the backside LB — instead of fighting for frontside leverage post-snap.

By pulling the count back:

• We maintain play-side leverage.

• Linemen don’t have to reach as many defenders; they just have to seal.

• It opens up natural outside lanes if the edge is set — or cutback lanes if it’s not.

Take another look at the 49ers, this time running explosive wide zone. Here, they seal instead of stretch. Fullback takes the edge defender. Left tackle and tight end focus on walling off interior flow. The result? The RB bounces it outside with only DBs left to beat. That’s where big plays live.

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Stretch & Puncture vs. Seal & Bounce

In traditional stretch-and-puncture, the O-line is aiming to reach playside defenders. The MIKE is the point. Everyone is stretching to that landmark. That’s what creates vertical seams.

But in explosive wide zone, we change the count. The center is now responsible for the backside LB. That shifts the entire combo structure. Instead of trying to gain playside leverage post-snap, we’re working with the leverage we already have — and sealing defenders inside.

By doing that, we increase the odds of getting the ball outside. And remember: 60–70% of explosive runs hit outside the tackle.

We’re just playing the numbers and giving our best ball carrier the best chance to make one guy miss in space.

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