Playoffs
07-16-2012, 09:32 AM
It's a Seahawks article, but Seth Payne keeps referencing the Texans...
The Seahawks & the Zone Blocking Scheme (http://www.fieldgulls.com/2012/7/15/3160997/the-seahawks-the-zone-blocking-scheme)
We spend a lot of time talking in generalities about the Alex Gibbs-then-Tom Cable zone-blocking scheme the Seahawks are implementing in Seattle -- the types of linemen the team likes, the types of running backs it takes, and just the basic concepts behind it -- but as with a lot of things in football, the system is fairly complex. We know it's a system that Gibbs and Mike Shanahan used in Denver in the late 90's and it helped them to win a couple of Super Bowls there. Since then, it's been passed down to proteges and copy-cats and elements of it are used in every single offensive blocking scheme.
However, only a few teams are really dedicated to it - the most obvious, apart from the Seahawks, being the Houston Texans and the Washington Redskins, where Shanahan and his former offensive coordinator with the Broncos when they won those two Super Bowls, Gary Kubiak, have successfully installed the system for their respective teams. The Texans are probably the current gold standard for the zone-blocking scheme -- in 2011, Houston ran for 2,448 yards (2nd in NFL behind only the run-first Broncos), on 4.4 yards per carry (7th), at 153 yards per game (2nd) - and featured two of the most effective running backs in the league in Arian Foster and the underrated Ben Tate (942 yards in 2011 with 5.4 yards per carry!).
I can tell you the basics of what the ZBS brings, the top level differences between a ZBS and other types of systems, and I know how to recognize it on a football field, sort of, but I always find it interesting to hear former players and coaches talk about the finer details or more nuanced philosophies behind it. Former NFL defensive lineman Seth Payne was on the Chalk Talk radio program with Doug Farrar and Rob Rang last weekend and his explanation really resonated with me and sort of clarified a lot of the things you hear the Seahawks preach about personnel and identity...
read more: http://www.fieldgulls.com/2012/7/15/3160997/the-seahawks-the-zone-blocking-scheme
The Seahawks & the Zone Blocking Scheme (http://www.fieldgulls.com/2012/7/15/3160997/the-seahawks-the-zone-blocking-scheme)
We spend a lot of time talking in generalities about the Alex Gibbs-then-Tom Cable zone-blocking scheme the Seahawks are implementing in Seattle -- the types of linemen the team likes, the types of running backs it takes, and just the basic concepts behind it -- but as with a lot of things in football, the system is fairly complex. We know it's a system that Gibbs and Mike Shanahan used in Denver in the late 90's and it helped them to win a couple of Super Bowls there. Since then, it's been passed down to proteges and copy-cats and elements of it are used in every single offensive blocking scheme.
However, only a few teams are really dedicated to it - the most obvious, apart from the Seahawks, being the Houston Texans and the Washington Redskins, where Shanahan and his former offensive coordinator with the Broncos when they won those two Super Bowls, Gary Kubiak, have successfully installed the system for their respective teams. The Texans are probably the current gold standard for the zone-blocking scheme -- in 2011, Houston ran for 2,448 yards (2nd in NFL behind only the run-first Broncos), on 4.4 yards per carry (7th), at 153 yards per game (2nd) - and featured two of the most effective running backs in the league in Arian Foster and the underrated Ben Tate (942 yards in 2011 with 5.4 yards per carry!).
I can tell you the basics of what the ZBS brings, the top level differences between a ZBS and other types of systems, and I know how to recognize it on a football field, sort of, but I always find it interesting to hear former players and coaches talk about the finer details or more nuanced philosophies behind it. Former NFL defensive lineman Seth Payne was on the Chalk Talk radio program with Doug Farrar and Rob Rang last weekend and his explanation really resonated with me and sort of clarified a lot of the things you hear the Seahawks preach about personnel and identity...
read more: http://www.fieldgulls.com/2012/7/15/3160997/the-seahawks-the-zone-blocking-scheme