Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Inside Zone out of Shotgun Y Off Trips Wk is a base zone run play with the RB aligned offset to the QB and taking the handoff on a downhill zone track behind a full zone blocking scheme up front. The offensive line steps in unison to seal the play side gap while the back reads the first down lineman past the center, pressing the line before cutting into whichever gap opens up. This is a run play, not a man or zone beater in the pass sense, and the primary read progression is the RB working frontside gap to cutback lane based on how the defensive front flows.
Defensive Reads
Pre-snap, count the box defenders and check for a walked down safety, that tells you if the defense is loading the run. Watch the defensive line alignment, if they are shaded to one gap the zone blocking will naturally flow the cutback lane opposite that shade. Post-snap, key the play side linebacker's first step, if he flows hard with the zone the RB should look to cut back against the grain. This run struggles against gap exchange stunts and cross crashing defensive tackles that clog multiple gaps at once, so avoid it versus heavy stunt playbooks. User controlled Mike linebackers who scrape late can be beaten if the RB presses the hole and forces a decision before the defender fully diagnoses the play.
Usage Tips
Check the box count before the snap and only run this into light boxes with six or fewer defenders in the tackle box.
Use the trips look to bait the defense into rotating a safety or nickel toward the strength, then hit inside zone away from that rotation.
If the Mike linebacker is stacked and scraping fast, hot route a receiver into a quick screen or bubble concept from this same set to punish overpursuit.
Pair this play with RPO Zone Dive or RPO Alert Bubble Dive from the same formation so the defense has to respect both the give and the run action equally.
Run this on early downs, first and ten or second and short, to stay ahead of the sticks and keep the defense honest against your play action shots later in the drive.
