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Shotgun·Wing Tight·13

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Breakdown

QB Zone out of Shotgun Wing Tight is a designed quarterback zone run that uses the same inside zone blocking scheme as your HB run game but hands the ball off through the mesh point to the QB instead of the HB. The offensive line zone blocks with double teams at the point of attack and climbs to the second level, while the HB fakes the handoff to help sell run action and can chip a defender before releasing. The primary read progression starts with the frontside gap, but the QB reads the flow of the linebackers and defensive line to decide whether to press the initial hole, cut backside, or bounce it outside if the alley opens up.

Defensive Reads

Watch linebacker depth before the snap, if they are stacked tight to the line in run fits expect an aggressive gap shoot that can blow up the zone scheme quickly Check safety alignment for an eight man box, a heavy box with both safeties near the line signals the defense is sold on run and QB Zone loses its numbers advantage Identify if the defense is running a scrape exchange, where the defensive end sits on the QB keep lane while a linebacker crashes the dive, this coverage answer specifically defeats zone read style plays Look for cornerback and slot defender leverage, if they are playing off and deep in zone coverage the box is likely lighter and this run has room to hit Post snap, track user controlled defenders flying downhill immediately, aggressive human blitzers diagnosing the mesh point fast are the biggest threat to blow up this play behind the line of scrimmage

Usage Tips

Use this play against defenses that key on the HB and load the box expecting a traditional run, since the QB run action often catches linebackers flowing the wrong way

Call this on early downs in normal or 2 back personnel situations where the defense expects pass out of Wing Tight, since 13 personnel with a tight formation disguises run intent well

Motion the wing tight end pre-snap to identify man versus zone, if the defender follows across the formation you know you are getting man coverage and can expect the box to stay light

Pair QB Zone with Read Option and Same Side Zone in the same set to keep linebackers guessing on mesh point reads, this forces defenders to respect both the give and the keep every snap

Avoid calling this against heavy blitz packages or nano blitz looks with extra defenders crashing the A gaps, since the QB has no lead blocker and takes a bigger hit than on standard HB runs

Other Plays in Wing Tight