What is the "zone blocking scheme"

Can somebody explain to me what the zone blocking scheme is and what it consists of? All I know about it is that Kubiak used it in Denver with his O-line and it pretty much made any runningback a 1,000 yard rusher.....

Every linemen blocks an area, not a specific player. If a player comes into that person's "area", he dives at their knee caps. It works!

Sometimes that person's area is to the left or right when the play starts and every linemen dives at the knee caps of the person to the left of them or to the right. For some reason, this tends to cause defensive players to fall down and miss tackles. Sometimes, the RB has as many as 3 holes to run through, or should I say 3 players to jump over on his way through the line of injuries, err....scrimmage.

haha, they "dive at their knees" you're kidding right?

Specter said:

haha, they "dive at their knees" you're kidding right?

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Not entirely. There are some coaches in the NFL who feel that Denver's ZBS is cheating and that it's wrong. What concerns me is some dufous diving at Mario's knees in practice.

Look at the 2nd post here:

http://www.houstontexans.com/fan_zone/messageboards/showthread.php?t=22732

oh ok then, I guess you were serious. I should have watched the denver games a little bit closer because all I remember is Plummer throwing the ball to the other team. I could see how other teams would get upset seeing as how someone's knee can get blow out that way with a 300 pound guy diving at you.

thanks

the Denver scheme.. near as I can tell (based on what ive been told) is just like any other blocking scheme when it comes to pass blocking.

Its the run blocking that is different. Instead of having an assigned target to block when the ball is snapped, the linemen select thier targets based on who is coming at them, and which direction the ball is being run. What this basicly means (I think) is that the blocking is more fluid and "complete" since the defense cant trick the Oline into blocking someone while they squeeze a guy into the hole. It also means (again..i think) that the greater mobility of the Oline can stretch the blocks out further, and create larger holes to run through.

This is all stuff that I THINK is the case..based on bits and pieces I have picked up. Im sure there is someone here who can give a more technically sound breakdown of how it works.

here's a good primer on normal zone blocking

http://www.davesez.com/archives/000904.php
http://espn.go.com/ncf/columns/davie/1440703.html

However these do not address what exactly DENVER zone-blocking is.

Specter said:

haha, they "dive at their knees" you're kidding right?

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From what I can see, the backside guard/tackle are the cut blockers. A good thread on difference between zone scheme under pendry vs zone scheme denver is directly below this one on the main thread menu