Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Inside Zone out of Shotgun Bunch Wide is a base zone run play with the bunch alignment stacked to the right and a single receiver isolated left. The offensive line executes zone steps in unison, working combo blocks at the point of attack and climbing to the second level to seal off linebackers, while the RB reads the running lane off the play side double team. This is a run play designed to attack gaps created by defensive flow, with the primary read being the playside A gap to B gap based on how the defensive line and linebackers flow to the zone blocking scheme.
Defensive Reads
Identify the alignment of the defensive tackles pre-snap, a 1 tech or 3 tech shaded away from the play side call opens up bigger creases for the zone scheme. Watch linebacker depth at the snap, linebackers sitting shallow in the box or crashing down on zone flow can be gashed if the RB presses the backside cutback lane. Beware user controlled defenders spying the mesh point or shooting gaps as a designed run blitz, this play struggles against penetration up the middle before blockers can climb to the second level. Check safety rotation post-snap, if both safeties stay deep in a two high shell the box is likely light and this run has a numbers advantage. Against odd fronts or bear fronts with extra defenders crashing downhill, this play loses effectiveness since the zone combo blocks get outnumbered before linebackers can be climbed to.
Usage Tips
Run this play against defensive fronts showing light boxes with six or fewer defenders in the box to maximize numbers at the point of attack.
Check pre-snap for run blitzes or overloaded fronts, if the defense stacks the box with eight defenders consider audibling to a pass concept from this same Bunch Wide set like Spacing or Curl Flat.
Use the bunch alignment to your advantage by motioning the stack pre-snap, forcing the defense to declare man or zone coverage before the snap.
Pair this run with Cheat HB Slip Screen or Jet Pull Shallow later in a series to keep linebackers honest and slow down their flow to the play side gap.
On early downs in normal run support looks, trust your zone steps and let the RB press the hole rather than juking pre-emptively, since patience through the mesh point wins reps against gap discipline.
