Every NFL Sunday, the “Zone” run play is called and executed countless times. However, few run it better than the Texans’ Arian Foster. For years Gary Kubiak made the “Outside Zone” or Zone Stretch play a staple in the Texans playbook, and Bill O’Brien has continued to run the play with one of the NFL’s best Running Backs. A perfect example of the Outside Zone was on display this past Sunday on a 3rd Quarter Arian Foster Touchdown.

The basic premise of the outside zone (or zone stretch) play is simple; every lineman will “zone their gap”, or block the immediate area to the side of the play. (in this case, the linemen’s left). Lineman are given the “On or Outside” rule, meaning they should block the player immediately on them, or if nobody is on them, the first player to the outside. If a lineman has a defender immediately to the inside, they will give help so the next lineman can “take over” the block. Arian Foster will run to the outside leg of the Tight End and then make one cut: either continue outside if all the defenders are sealed, or if a defender has overrun the play, plant a foot in the ground to make a zone cut up the field. Here is the look the Texans saw against the Cowboys pre-snap:

Here, the Tight End (#87 C.J. Fiedorowicz) will help the Left Tackle “take over” the Defensive End, (#58 on Dallas), and then attempt to reach block up to the Linebacker, #52, Justin Durant. Meanwhile, the rest of the line takes their Zone step in sync: Continue reading →