Why the Commanders may be switching to a zone run game

The Commanders are expected to shift to more of a zone-based run scheme, here's why

It’s widely believed that the Washington Commanders will be transitioning to more of a zone based run scheme under new offensive coordinator David Blough. Former offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury did use zone runs but preferred to lean more on gap scheme runs with lineman pulling and moving gaps. The Commanders had a pretty successful run game under Kingsbury using those gap scheme runs, so why might Blough be looking to use more zone runs? Let’s break it down.

Personnel fit

The primary reason to switch a scheme, whatever that scheme may be, is to fit the personnel that you have. When you look at a running game, the most important consideration for scheme fit are the offensive lineman available. The Commanders have built up an incredibly athletic offensive line over the past few years. Laremy Tunsil, Josh Conerly Jr. and Sam Cosmi are all excellent athletes. If Brandon Coleman wins the starting left guard spot, he’s a good athlete too.

Why highlight that athleticism up front? Zone run schemes typically require more athletic offensive lineman that are able to get defensive lineman running sideline to sideline while also being able to climb up to the second level to reach linebackers. Bigger, less agile lineman struggle to do both of those things consistently, but the four lineman named above all excel in those areas. Let’s look at some examples.

This was Croskey-Merritt’s 72-yard touchdown run against the Cowboys late last season. The Commanders run a zone scheme to their right. The Cowboys have a defensive tackle in the B gap between Conerly and right guard Andrew Wylie. That leaves Conerly uncovered, meaning he can use a punch to help Wylie secure the block but ultimately he needs to climb up to the second level and block a linebacker. At the snap, the defensive tackle stunts inside while tells Conerly he doesn’t need to help Wylie.

That enables Conerly to simply focus on climbing up to the linebacker on the second level. With his athleticism, he does that smoothly. He climbs up and even manages to position himself with inside leverage to help him push the linebacker outside, kicking him out and creating the lane for the running back inside. Conerly gets a strong block and sustains it, enabling the back to cut inside of him without being touched.

That’s a perfect example of how you want a lineman to block when climbing to the second level on a zone run scheme. Either you want them to get to the play side and seal the defender off inside, or in this case you want to get inside of the defender and kick them further outside, forcing them to overrun the play. Conerly did the later and he made it look very easy, which I can assure you it is not.

But Conerly isn’t the only athletic lineman the Commanders have. On the other side of the line, they also have a stud left tackle in Laremy Tunsil. Tunsil was dinged a bit in Houston for his run blocking but I felt that was largely overblown. Last season in Washington, he proved to be a very good run blocker and his athleticism helps him be especially effective on zone runs.

Here is one of the tougher blocks for an offensive tackle to execute in the run game. Tunsil is on the back side of a zone run to the right and he has a defensive tackle in the B gap between himself and left guard Chris Paul. That means, his job is to try and reach across the face of that defensive tackle and seal him off on the back side of the run, creating a big gap between the interior defensive lineman for the running back to cut into. It’s a very tough block because he’s outleveraged at the snap, so he has to work hard to not only regain that leverage, but then seal the defender on the back side.

Tunsil gets off the ball quickly at the snap. He shows off his athleticism and foot quickness here to regain that leverage by reaching across the face of the defensive tackle. He is helped out by left guard Chris Paul, who gives a strong punch with his left hand to the left shoulder of the defensive tackle. That buys Tunsil a little bit of extra time to make up the ground but I’m not sure he really needed it. Tunsil gets across the defender’s face so quickly that he’s able to then flip his hips and seal the defender on the back side of the run, creating a big lane for the running back to work into. Chris Rodriguez takes that lane and works untouched into the secondary for a nine-yard gain.

A lot of people focus on the blocks on the front side of zone runs but it’s often the blocks made on the back side of zone runs that create the biggest running lanes. That was a good example by Tunsil of what a reach block on the back side of a zone run can open up. Here’s another example of how important the back side blocking can be on zone run schemes, while also highlighting how right guard Sam Cosmi fits in the zone scheme.

This time, the Commanders run a zone scheme to their left against the Eagles after rushing up to the line and snapping the ball quickly. The Eagles were still getting themselves sorted and made some last second adjustments to their front. The front side of the line, being the left tackle, left guard and center, all do enough here to get to their respective blocks and force them outside. But the real work is done on the back side here. Right guard Sam Cosmi and right tackle Josh Conerly make this play work.

Cosmi lands an initial punch with his inside arm to the defensive tackle, giving Conerly the opportunity to reach the block. Cosmi then peels off and works to the front side, where he has to try and reach the Mike linebacker. The Mike reads run quickly and looks to fill the A gap in a hurry, but Cosmi has the athleticism to work down the line and catch up, washing the linebacker out of the play. Conerly, meanwhile, uses the help from Cosmi to reach the defensive tackle and get play-side of him. This means that Conerly can seal the defender on the back side of the run, creating a split in the defense.

Croskey-Merritt takes his hand off and cuts his run back inside, finding a big lane between Cosmi and Conerly. He bursts through the line of scrimmage and into the secondary, where both safeties have to come down to try and make the stop. He shows some nice power and contact balance as he breaks through the initial tackle and fights for every yard, getting inside the five yard line before being brought down.

So the Commanders have three excellent athletes in Tunsil, Conerly and Cosmi that all suit the zone run scheme perfectly. If Coleman wins out the left guard spot, and I think the switch to the zone scheme might help him in that regard, then that gives them four very good athletes that fit the scheme very well. The only question would be at center. Former center Tyler Biadasz was an excellent fit for zone runs, hence why Mike McDaniel signed him for the Chargers, but the Commanders opted to cut him and go with Nick Allegretti instead. Allegretti isn’t a terrible athlete but he’s not a great one either.

At center, there’s a little less emphasis on the athleticism part because typically you have a nose tackle covering one of the A gaps, which means the center doesn’t always have to climb up to the second level. On that Croskey-Merritt 72-yard touchdown we saw earlier, Allegretti was the center on that play and actually did a nice job climbing and reaching his block, to his credit.

But as the center, the most important thing is being able to get the run game targeting correct to ensure every lineman knows where they are going and how they are handling pass offs. Defenses typically try and stunt their fronts against zone run schemes to try and disrupt the natural blocking paths for the lineman, so having a smart center that can identify and alert all of that can make up for a lack of athleticism. We’ll have to wait and see if Allegretti can perform that role well, but clearly the Commanders think he can.

But overall, when you have the majority of your offensive line made up of great athletes, it makes a ton of sense to lean more on the zone run scheme to fit their skill sets and make use of that athletic upside, instead of using more gap scheme runs where you maybe need a bit more powerful lineman.

Natural layering

One of the big benefits of leaning more heavily on the zone run scheme is the natural layering you can do off of those zone runs. Fans of the team that remember when the Shanahans were in Washington will know just how many layers you can build off of a foundation of a zone run scheme. The most obvious layer to start with is the bootleg game. Bootlegs can be run off most run schemes, but they work best when run off of zone run fakes. This is because wide zone run schemes get the defense all running to the sideline on one side of the field, clearing the opposite side of the field for the bootleg to work off of.