Playbooks
Quick Reference
In 2 playbooks
Breakdown
HB Zone Toss out of Singleback Wing 12 personnel tosses the ball to the HB who presses laterally toward the play side before reading the zone blocking wall. The offensive line flows in unison to set the edge, with the wing TE aligned tight to the formation providing an extra kick out or seal block on the perimeter. This is a pure run play, not a play-action or RPO, and the primary read progression is bounce, bang, or cut back based on how the play side defenders flow to the toss motion.
Defensive Reads
Key the play side defensive end and outside linebacker pre-snap, since toss run design depends on how fast they close the edge. Watch for a nano blitz off the edge, as a fast defensive end crashing down can blow up the toss before the lead blockers get set. User the play side linebacker and force him to stay home rather than flowing hard, since disciplined linebackers who hold their gap kill toss runs. Look for safeties cheating down into the box pre-snap, which signals run support and a stacked front that shrinks the cutback lane. Cover 3 and Cover 4 shells with the corner playing off leave the flat exposed, but Cover 2 with hard edge contain from the corner and safety rotation shuts down the bounce read.
Usage Tips
Check the defensive front pre-snap and look for light box counts of six or fewer defenders before calling this toss to attack the edge. Use motion or a hard count to bait linebackers into flowing hard, since toss actions live off defenders overrunning the play side. Pair HB Zone Toss with HB Counter WK and Counter U in your play-calling sequence so defenders that key run flow get punished going the wrong direction on subsequent snaps. Hot route the wing TE to a chip block if you are facing an overload blitz to the play side edge. This play works best on early downs (first and second down) when defenses are more likely to sit in base fronts rather than nickel or dime sub packages.
