Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
23 Zone Open is an outside zone run out of Singleback Ace 12 personnel, with both TEs attached to the formation and a wide split flanker set on each side. The line flows laterally in the direction of the play call with the fullback or TE reaching the edge defender, while the HB reads the double team blocks and presses the line of scrimmage before picking his lane. This is an off tackle zone run, and the primary read progression starts at the play side edge, then bounces to the B gap cutback lane if the frontside gets sealed, and finally to the backside cutback if the defense overpursues.
Defensive Reads
Watch for a linebacker cheating toward the play side edge before the snap, that indicates a run blitz or edge crash designed to blow up the reach block. If the defense shows a single high safety with the corners playing off, they are likely selling out to stop outside zone with numbers, so cut back inside quickly. Key the play side defensive end, if he stays home and squeezes hard down the line, this is your cue to bounce the HB to the cutback lane behind the double team. User controlled linebackers flowing hard to the sideline immediately create the cutback lane, so patience behind the line is critical against aggressive human defenders. Against zone blitz packages with a linebacker looping around the edge, the reach blocker often gets beaten outside, so anticipate an earlier cutback read than usual.
Usage Tips
Run this early in a drive to establish tendencies before dialing up HB Stretch or Jet Sweep off the same Ace 12 look to keep linebackers honest.
Check the box count before the snap, if the defense has six or more in the box, consider hitting HB Pump Draw or a quick game pass instead to avoid a stacked front.
Use manual motion or a hard cut off the TE reach block to press the edge, then let the HB read the block angles in real time rather than committing to a lane pre-snap.
This play excels on second and short or first and ten when defenses are guessing between run and PA Boot Roll out of the same formation.
Pair this with PA Sprint HB Flat or PA Roll Rt later in a series so the play action rollout sells outside zone flow and freezes second level defenders.
