Playbooks
Quick Reference
In 13 playbooks
Breakdown
Inside Zone from Shotgun Trips HB Wk is a pure zone run play with the HB aligned weak and taking a downhill handoff behind zone blocking up front. The offensive line steps in unison to the play side, reading defensive linemen and linebacker flow before climbing to the second level, while the trips receivers to the strength are not shown running routes in the diagram, indicating they are not the focus of this concept. Primary read progression is the HB reading the frontside double team and cutback lanes off the play side guard and center, then working backside if the frontside is clogged.
Defensive Reads
Pre-snap, check linebacker depth and alignment, since linebackers sitting tight to the line signal run blitz or a stacked box that can blow up the zone scheme. Watch for safety rotation down into the box, as an eighth man in the run fit is the biggest indicator this play gets stuffed at the mesh point. Post-snap, key the play side defensive tackle and end for penetration, since a hard shoot upfield by the D-line disrupts the zone track before the HB can find the cutback. User-controlled defenders flowing hard to the play side leave the backside cutback lane open, so read the backside linebacker's pursuit angle as the cue to cut back. Cover 2 and Cover 3 shells with light boxes are the most exploitable, while odd fronts with a nose tackle head up on the center clog the interior zone run lanes.
Usage Tips
Use pre-snap motion or a quick glance at the box count to confirm the defense is not stacking an extra run defender inside the tackles before the snap.
Attack even fronts and light boxes with this play, since zone blocking wins vs base 4-3 and 3-4 looks without extra linebackers crashing downhill.
Pair this with HB Off Tackle and Read Option out of the same Trips HB Wk set to keep linebackers guessing between inside zone, outside zone, and QB keeper looks.
On early downs, run this to set up PA WR In or PA QB Choice later in the sequence once the defense starts cheating linebackers up to stop the run.
Avoid calling this into heavy blitz-heavy nano packages that stack the A and B gaps, since the zone scheme cannot account for extra second level defenders untouched.
