Playbooks
Quick Reference
In 13 playbooks
Breakdown
HB Zone Toss out of the I Form Wing set shows the HB taking a lateral toss from the QB and pressing outside toward the edge, with the offensive line flowing to set a zone blocking wall in the direction of the toss. The wing back on the diagram stands isolated on the perimeter, giving you a lead blocker or kickout option to seal the edge defender before the HB turns the corner. This is a pure run play designed to attack the edge with zone blocking rather than a man beater or zone beater in the passing sense, and the primary read is the playside edge: get horizontal width first, read the flow of the D-line and OLB leverage, then decide whether to bounce outside or cut upfield off the block from the wing.
Defensive Reads
Watch for defenses stacking the box or bringing extra run support to the edge since this play needs width to develop and gets stopped by fast flow to the perimeter. Look for user controlled linebackers or safeties flying downhill on the toss action, since a disciplined user defender at the second level can beat blockers to the point of attack before the wall forms. Identify if the defense is in a run blitz or edge contain call before the snap, since crashing defensive ends and pinching D-tackles can string this play out and force a negative play. Check safety depth and alignment, since a safety cheating down into the box pre-snap signals run support that can outnumber your blockers on the perimeter. Zone toss struggles against fast flow defenses that key the backfield quickly, so if the linebackers are reading run keys instead of dropping into coverage, expect this play to get sniffed out and blown up at the mesh point.
Usage Tips
Check the box count pre-snap and only call this against light boxes or defenses that are cheating inside on inside zone and dive concepts since the toss action takes extra time to develop and gets blown up by fast edge defenders.
Use motion or a hard count to identify if the defense is bringing an edge blitz or crashing the corner, since a fast contain defender can blow up the toss before the blockers get set.
Combine this with HB Inside Zone and HB Power O from the same set to keep defenders honest, since all three plays start with similar backfield action but attack different lanes.
User the wing blocker if you are worried about a user controlled defender flying downhill to blow up the edge, and manually seal the alley before the HB turns the corner.
Best called on early downs (first and second) in normal or heavy personnel situations where you want to stress the edge and set up play action shots like PA Boot Flow or PA Sprint HB Flat later in the series.
