effyou515
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 | | Subject: cOMFORT ZONE Sun Nov 18, 2012 8:36 am | |
| By Mark Kaboly
Published: Saturday, November 17, 2012, 10:54 p.m.
Updated 9 hours ago
Baltimore running back Ray Rice slammed off the left side and rambled 36 yards on the first play from scrimmage during the Ravens’ season-opening 35-7 win over the Steelers last year.
The play was part of Baltimore’s zone blocking scheme that’s given the Steelers fits over the years, including the handful of times they’ve faced it this year — Oakland, Philadelphia, Tennessee, Washington and Kansas City.
Both times the Steelers allowed more than 100 yards rushing this year was against zone blocking scheme teams — Raiders (119) and Chiefs (142). Last year, they struggled against zone running teams as well in losses to Baltimore (170) and Houston (180).
The version the Ravens have had the most success with is the “outside zone fullback lead power,” which is designed for Rice to follow the lead block of fullback Vonta Leach.
It’s a play the Ravens have used a lot this year in helping Rice rush for 657 yards and seven touchdowns.
“It’s a copycat league, and everybody likes to run it,” Steelers nose tackle Casey Hampton said.
The zone running scheme became popular because of the success offensive line coach Alex Gibbs had in Denver during the late 1990s.
The biggest upside is that the assignments don’t change for zone scheme teams because of the defensive front. And the scheme isn’t easy to defend, thus explaining its popularity as half of the 32 NFL teams run some version of it.
Read more: http://triblive.com/sports/steelers/2950866-85/zone-scheme-ravens-leach-running-success-tackle-teams-rice-run#ixzz2Ca4jTX2X
Follow us: @triblive on Twitter | triblive on Facebook ================================================================================================ Steelers have to slow down Rice. | |
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