There are many run plays in football, and many schemes. Can you tell the difference? If so, is there a huge difference? Can they work off of each other? We are going to discuss the difference between gap run and zone run schemes in football!
Being a new coach, or a young coach, you will need to know the difference in gap and zone run schemes. And need to know what is the difference between them. This way you know exactly what you are looking for in each run play. And able to communicate that to your coaches and your players. If they understand the why behind it, they will be able to grasp it and execute it.
Gap scheme is exactly what it sounds like, blocking and protecting the gap. Sometimes it could be considered a man block in certain situations. Traditionally, gap schemes are most known for down blocks with a kick out or a wrap up. The first one everyone thinks about in gap scheme is power. Where we get down blocks from one side of the line, with a guard pulling and wrapping around to find the open gap to block the unblocked LB to that side. We also have a H back or TE kicking out the end to make sure the pulling guard has a gap to go into to get to that LB
With all of the down blocks, you make sure your offensive line protect any penetration in the gaps to get our QB or running back to follow the pulling guard. The reason why it could be considered a man block, is when your rules say gap down backer, this means you are aiming for the person in one of those spots. You have to block that player and that is who you are responsible for. With the kick out block, you are responsible for that last man on the line of scrimmage.
Trap is another example, where we have down blocks to one side, a backside guard going to the opposite, but this time he is kicking out the last man on the line of scrimmage. With power, we had a TE or H back kicking out. Now we get down blocks to protect our gaps, and have a kick out with a different player. Very similar to power, but just adding another gap scheme to your tool belt.
The most popular run scheme over the last few years has been zone. There is inside zone, outside zone, stretch, and wide zone. This run scheme is slightly different than gap scheme. Lets discuss a little inside zone to make sure we can see the difference. With zone, we do not have down blocks and kick outs. We go by which way the play call is going, and going to an area.
This means, our offensive line can pass off a guy to another lineman moving the same way. If I am a guard, and I have a defensive tackle head up me, and it is inside zone right, I am stepping and aiming to the right side play number. The center is going to be stepping and moving up to the right as well. So, initially, it seems like the guard will be blocking the tackle and the center will go to the LB, if this was gap. But, in zone, if that tackle slants inside, the guard will let him go.
What!? Letting a defensive guy go? Yes, in zone they can let the defensive line slant inside (depending on covered or uncovered rules, which we will get to in a later blog). Since the center is stepping up and moving to the right, he would pick up that slanting tackle. The guard would then move on to find the LB instead of the center.
With blocking an area and not quite a man or gap, this allows the running back difference options. He can read the blocks and how the defensive line is playing. He will either run it up the middle, bounce it outside, or cut back. A lot of yards from zone plays are the cut back lanes for the running backs. Since defensive players get pushed in different areas, this can create those cut back lanes.
That's it! We are being simple and this is the easiest way to describe the difference between gap run scheme and zone run scheme! We will more in depth with run plays later in the blog! But, being a new coach, or a young coach, we have to be simple and know how to describe these plays to our coaching staff, and to our players.
Always be simple!
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Video and audio version of the blog post:
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