Inside Zone Triple allows the offense to pitch off an apex or invert defender that would otherwise threaten the zone read and due to the split flow action it forces the play side linebacker and safety to slow down in their pursuit.
The zone read and triple helps to keep defenses simple by reducing the amount of blitzing and man coverage seen by the offense and it is an easy mesh read for the quarterback who can attack downhill immediately when pulling the football. The offense also does not have to direct the play at a specific defender as it would need to from an under center option attack.
The quarterback will align his heels five yards from the ball and read the C-gap defender. The running back will align his toes at six yards from the ball and in the center of the B-gap. This staggered alignment allows the tailback to cutback if necessary. The tailback must pause and not be in a hurry to mesh with the quarterback, this allows for the quarterback to catch the snap and get a good read on the C-gap defender. If the running back gets in a hurry and meshes with the quarterback as soon as the ball is snapped and the snap is a little off center or if the quarterback bobbles the ball before making a clean catch the mesh happens too quickly and fumbles can occur as a result. The ball carrier must make sure the quarterback has secured the football before starting their footwork. The quarterback will then drop step with the near foot to the tailback and sets a 45-degree angle for the mesh and extends the ball with his eyes on the read key. The tailback will step lateral, crossover, and track for the outside leg of the play side guard and is responsible for the mesh and therefore must place his belly button on the ball.
The quarterback thinks give unless the read key is flat and fast, the quarterback always gives versus two rushers off the edge. Receivers must block with play side technique, because the read of the defenders determines which side the ball is going to go. The tailback must press the play side B-gap before making his cut. If the tailback cuts back without pressing the play side B-gap he is on his own because the linemen are working combinations to linebackers and the further the running back can press into the line of scrimmage the easier it is to draw the linebackers up to the combo blocks. If the tailback cuts it back right away because he sees something, the linebackers will start to pursue and will not be drawn into the combination blocks.
It is important that when defenses leave the slot receiver uncovered or when defenses start to cheat the offense throws the bubble. If the defense leaves the slot uncovered or cheats, it makes it tough for the slot to block him and the offense must incorporate run throws or the screen game to make the defense respect the slot and outside receivers. Also, depending on how defenses adjust to the zone read it is important to remember that a tight end can be put into the game to block all four play side gaps and allow the offense to account for anything the defense can do to the play side. It is also important to utilize a 3 over 3 backside concept to account for the defense thieving the quarterback either with an inside linebacker or safety or even one of the invert players and covering down with the safety.
Here you see the inside read against an even front defense with a 5-technique to each side and it’s blocked just as has been diagramed in previous articles, however that doesn’t always happen and the blocking scheme must change to handle defensive adjustments to the inside read.
There are times where the play side 5-technique will move in tight and will typically spike the B-gap.
The tackle should recognize this and make a line call to the play side notifying them to block their play side gap.
The guard will pick up the defensive end that is spiking the B-gap because that means the tackle will be slanting into the A-gap and the center will pick him up. The tackle will either come off on the Sam or edge blitz, whichever is coming.
Against the under defense where you have a 3-technique defensive tackle and a 5-technique defensive end to the backside the blocking changes slightly with the back side guard and tackle who now work a scoop block and pick up the tackle and Sam linebacker.
Against the under front defense with a tight end and running the inside zone to the weak side of the defense, the quarterback will still read the C-gap defender who is lined up in the 5-technique. The back side offensive tackle will take an inside release for the Mike linebacker and the rest of the play side blockers will block normal inside zone. The difference now is the tight end will turn out on the Sam linebacker aligned as a 9-technique, if the quarterback gets a pull read his insertion will be inside the tight ends block.
Against an even front defense with a tight end in the game the C-gap defender is now the 7-technique end that is lined up inside the tight end. The offensive line will block just as they would against an under front and now the tight end will block out on the strong safety. The quarterback will read the C-gap defender and insert inside the tight ends block if there is a pull read.
Against an even stack defense the offense should include a lot of trips formations to the field in order to take advantage of the defenses adjustment.
Normally the offense will see the defense rotate the strong safety down to cover the trips look in a cover 3 look or they will bump the Sam linebacker outside the box and cover over the top with a high safety. If the quarterback gets a pull read there is no outside invert in an even stack defense as the free safety will be aligned on the hash and there will be a lot of open grass for the quarterback.
Against an even stack defense with the trips to the backside the offense can utilize the 3 over 3 backside concept where the number one receiver will block the number one defender, the number two receiver will block the number two defender and the number three receiver will block the number three defender.
Against some fronts the defense will use the back side linebacker to thief the quarterback in a scrape exchange assignment forcing the quarterback to pull the football. If the offense can get a third player in the formation to the backside they can now block that thief linebacker with their number three player. This can be accomplished by initial formation or by motion.
By aligning in an empty set the offense can now motion a player into the backfield and run the zone read with him.
Versus an odd front the backside guard will make an uncovered call which tells the backside tackle to fan block the outside defender and the quarterback will now read the 4 or 4i defender. The play now becomes midline versus an odd front and the quarterback will insert inside the back side tackles block if he gets a pull read.
If the Mike linebacker starts to become a problem by hanging or plugging the B-gap the offense can utilize the 3 over 3 concept by motioning another blocker to block a level block backer to safety and seal him inside.
Against an odd stack defense the main point of contention is blocking the back side stack with the back side tackle. If the back side end is a 5-technique and a C-gap defender the offensive tackle will release inside for the back side linebacker.
If the back side defensive end plays more as a B-gap defender and is aligned inside, the offensive tackle will release outside for the back side linebacker.
Look for part two covering the zone triple soon.
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