Over the last several decades, the NFL has been a copycat league in which any variation that creates a practical schematic advantage soon spreads across the league until teams design new ways to stop those plays. These trends occur on the offensive side of the ball, and, in turn, the defensive side must learn to adapt. That means there are eras in the NFL when a particular offensive style takes the league by storm, until most teams effectively adjust to it, and then a defensive scheme takes the league by storm.
The current offensive variation taking over the NFL is not a new concept; it is the re-emergence of an offensive system that was dominant in the 1990’s under Mike Shanahan and offensive line coach Alex Gibbs. That offensive system in the wide zone or outside zone, depending on who is describing the play, has become the crown jewel of recent offenses led by Rams head coach Sean McVay and 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan. This season, the Seattle Seahawks have taken over the NFC, and the wide zone scheme has allowed the Seahawks offense to blaze a trail to the Super Bowl.
It is clear that several teams, like the Las Vegas Raiders, are working to replicate the Seattle Seahawks’ success by hiring Kubiak.
The popularity of the wide zone is due to the scheme’s ability to accommodate more athletic offensive linemen. Rather than needing to knock the defensive line off the ball vertically, the offensive line will instead stretch the defense to create multiple vertical lanes for the running back to hit. For the play to be effective, backs like Kenneth Walker III have to be able to decide which lane to hit within three steps in the backfield.
The Complexity of Defending Against the Wide Zone
What makes the wide zone such an effective play against NFL defensive schemes is that, with multiple lanes, the defense never truly knows where the point of attack will be. Therefore, defensive linemen must read the offensive linemen rather than trying to get penetration, and the linebackers must slide and stay in position to fill when a vertical lane opens. That means instead of playing downhill with raw aggression, the front seven of the Seattle Seahawks opponents must focus on building a moving wall to stop the wide zone plays.
The amount of focus needed for a defense to stop the wide zone allows offensive coordinators like Kubiak to take advantage of the defensive front seven and run deep crossing routes behind the linebackers. Those pass plays have allowed elite wide receivers like Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Raheed Shaheed to be wide open on play-action passes. In addition, coordinators can install deceptive plays like tight end leak plays to draw more of the defense’s attention, or risk giving up a big play to a Seahawks tight end.
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