MLB Play vs. The Zone Read
I want to get a couple of things out there regarding 40 yard dash times on LBs, specifically MLB. Everyone gets caught up in a guy that runs a 4.6 vs. a guy that runs a 4.8. Most on here would agree that a 4.6 is pretty fast for a MLB at this level. I will agree. Most on here would agree that a 4.8 is pretty slow for that same guy. I’ll argue that it doesn’t really make a shit when it comes to MLB and here’s why. First off, the 4.6 guy is covering a yard .005 seconds faster than the 4.8 guy over a 40 yard distance, so it’s not much considering we’re dealing with 5-10 yard increments here. Steps mean everything at MLB. Two steps in the wrong direction or two steps too far in the right direction means you’ve rendered yourself useless. The only two steps that you can’t fuck up are the first two and they should always be downhill whether run or pass. A 4.6 guy that takes two steps in the wrong direction is worse than a 4.8 guy that never moves. Plus, he’s covered that ground at .005 seconds per yard faster, so he’s going a greater distance in the wrong direction than the slow guy. Essentially, he’s just blocking his own guys. Ideally, you want a 4.6 guy that runs in the right direction, but those are hard to find. It’s the toughest position to play on the defensive side of the ball and nobody plays it perfect every down.
Zach Thomas is the fastest MLB I’ve ever seen play in person. I don’t care what his 40 time is he reads hats and reacts like it’s embedded in his DNA. Some refer to it as “instinct”, but that’s a bunch of horse shit. He watches film, practices it, and soon it becomes second nature. “Reading hats” is everything at MLB. All the shitty ones mirror the steps of the guy with the ball. They tend to get sealed off or overrun a lot of plays. The good ones mirror the steps of centers, pulling guards or tackles. The goal is to identify the guy that’s responsible for blocking you as early in the play as possible.
Let’s make some assumptions here for a better example: The offense is in a 4-wide balanced set and running a zone read play to the right side (referred to from here on out as “playside” of the offense), or the left side of the defense (referred to from here on out as “playside” of the defense). The defense (unwisely) is playing a 4-3 with base personnel and the OLBs split out covering slot receivers. I’ll use what we are all familiar with. Both DTs are playing a 3 technique (outside shoulder of the guards). The hats start with the center as peripheral vision is focused on the guards. A good MLB never lets the center cross his face. Obviously, if the center fires off the ball with his right foot first and his hat is facing you, that tells you that the ball is going to your left and you need to beat him to the punch. However, if you make it too easy for him, the center just keeps pushing you out of the play once you cross his face and any decent RB will cut back to the middle of the field behind your overrun. After all, your first responsibility is the “A” gaps (between the center and guard). So, once you cross his face, you have to hold your ground. Good MLBs like Ray Lewis and Zach Thomas perform this so quick it’s tough for the naked eye to pick up on. They explode into the blockers, create separation with their hands, and gain leverage. The next hat to look out for is anyone that crosses your face. Since, we’ll assume the backside guard is pulling to perform a kickout block on the playside DE, this guard reveals his intent when you see his helmet go by. The ball never goes the opposite direction of a pulling lineman unless someone fucked up, or some team is desperate to create deception. Follow this guy horizontally to the “B” gap.
It is also worth mentioning here that having 2 bad motherfuckers at DT in front of you helps out the process tremendously. Since the backside DE is left unblocked and the offense is pulling the backside guard, the most difficult block to make in this scheme is the reach block that the backside OT must execute on the backside DT playing a 3 technique. This is by no means a gimmee block and the biggest weakness of this veer blocking scheme. If well-played, the backside DT should be taking away the “A” gap preventing the cutback. Under this scenario, a MLB gains much confidence in his next decision of moving to the “B” gap. This is where the other bad motherfucker playing to your left in a 3 technique has hopefully tied up a double team. If he has, you should already be standing in the hole with your feet under you and shoulders square to the line of scrimmage ready to knock the next LaDanian Tomlinson into retardation.
If the MLB is whipping the center on a consistent basis, the offense may choose to execute a combo block by releasing the playside OT off the double team on your 3 technique and gain an angle on the MLB for a seal block. As a MLB, it helps to not have a playside DT that is (1) getting blown off the ball by the double team or (B) unable to maintain outside leverage on the playside guard during the combo block. If the playside OT releases on the MLB, all a good 3 technique playing correctly has to do is fall his 300-pound body on a tailback.
I’ll contend that the most effective way to stop the zone read play is with a couple of All Americans at DE, or the closest you can get. Hopefully, your backside DE has not followed the tailback into the hole like a donkey in heat and Brad Smith is not in a light 70 yard jog to the end zone on the backside. He’s stayed at home, kept containment, and forced the give to the tailback going the other direction. Kansas under Bill Young did this better than any team in the conference. Now, there’s one guy we haven’t covered and he could possibly be the most critical piece of the puzzle, the playside DE. While all this is going on, he’s doing one of the following: (A) Standing there wondering why no one is blocking him with a deer in the headlights look on his face as a tailback with the ball barrels straight towards him, all the while anxiously waiting to be earholed by a pulling guard. (B) Being a hero by charging straight to the ball leaving himself vulnerable to a light elbow to the ribs by a pulling guard rendering him useless for the rest of the play. (C) Looking horizontally down the line of scrimmage preparing himself to hit a pulling guard in the mouth while at all costs holding his ground and keeping his outside shoulder free. Hopefully, it’s C. That’s why teams don’t try this shit on guys like Vernon Gholston. Texas should feel pretty good about Brian Orakpo. If all things have been executed correctly by the defense, the trap is set for a MLB to rip the larynx out of his prey. Or in Tech’s case, the offense has added a wrinkle of misdirection and our MLB is careening into the stands the wrong direction at the clip of 4.8 seconds per 40 yards.
Your zone read tastes like chicken.
Now, I know someone is going to get on here and start arguing how important the MLBs role has become today in regards to coverage and defending the passing attacks of these spread offenses, but someone else can cover that. Maybe I’m a little traditional in my thinking that a MLBs priority should always be to stop the run first. As Lewis and Thomas age, lucky for football fans, there are two great ones we’ll get to watch for the next 10 years in Patrick Willis and DeMeco Ryans, both evidence of what fast guys can do who run the right direction.
AM I WRONG???????
July 19, 2008 at 11:52 am
good post.
July 19, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Wasted steps! Wasted steps! Good points. This is why I like to watch the o-line drills (in the old days when you could go to practice and actually watch work outs). First steps mean everything. Whether you are taking them or you are reading them. One of the problems I have had with our DEs are the multiple times they don’t stay at home on the backside.
July 19, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Thanks. MLBs with bad DTs in front of them will try to take shortcuts by cutting behind the center’s block, but that shit catches up to you.
July 19, 2008 at 12:27 pm
That’s probably the common offense I see some of the Texas LBs make. Your guys are fast enough that they can cut in behind blocks and still make the play. However, after a few times, savvy centers will take a more controlled fire off against you keeping their feet under them and sealing you off. When it plays out in regular speed, the end results appears to be your MLB running right into the center every play (Bobino anyone?).
July 19, 2008 at 12:29 pm
The confusing part is you guys had pretty damn good DTs last year. That usually points to coaching.
July 19, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Not after Lokey went down. It was Miller and nothing else. Okam wasn’t ever damn good.
Our LBs were also not fast. I doubt any of them even ran a 4.8.
And Bobino’s job was to read run and attack his gap, or at least it was his instinct. One of many reasons our defense sucked laterally.
The best defense I ever saw a college team play on Vince and the zone read was, believe it or not, Tech in 2004. You don’t need a good or even great player at the offside DE. They just crashed him down every play and twisted a LB behind him. Vince saw the DE, kept the ball, and before he could really move he had that stunting LB in his face.
And if your QB isn’t a threat to run, you can eliminate the OL and RB with one guy . . . the offside DE. Everyone else can focus on the QB knowing the RB won’t get the ball.
Of course that leaves you vulnerable to other things, but if you really need to stop the ZR, that’s the way to go I think. 2004 was before Vince figured out how to pass, so he ended up having to get pulled at the end because he couldn’t hurt Tech. By the second half of 2005, there wasn’t much anybody could do about the zone read without giving up a record setting day through the air (Colorado).
July 20, 2008 at 7:17 pm
DF:
Great stuff. Even though I played MLB on D (and tight end on O), when I played we were not taught all the techniques you mention. When I played, MLBs were a lot bigger (relatively speaking) than now. The trend now if for LBs to be relatively smaller and faster than in the old days.
Our D was geared to protect the MLB (i.e. me) from blockers so that all I had to do was close on the ball and tackle reliably. When a blocker did approach me, I did not guess which way to dodge but simply hit him straight on (I was a very large MLB who started out at DT before moving to DE and finally to MLB), keeping the blocker at arms length so I could throw him one way or the other when I decided which way to go.
The most important thing for an MLB (to me) is to keep his head up at all times (even when fighting off a block) and see the big picture (i.e. the pattern of the play) of the field.
Now that LBs are smaller, directly confronting a blocker head on is often not a great option.
Having said that, I would say it is much easier for an LB to avoid or fight off a block by an OL guy than it is for a OL guy to block an LB in space. As a tight end, I would much prefer blocking a bigger, slower DL guy who is close to me than trying to block a smaller, faster LB in space.
July 20, 2008 at 7:36 pm
What I don’t understand is, when you are starting a young MLB, especially early in the season, why doesn’t the coaching staff make an effort to show him what the tricks look like. There isn’t really anything new, but there are many new things from senior year in HS to Soph year at State U. The Center you faced two years ago wieghs 230 and ran a 5.4 40, the guy you are now staring at weighs 301 and runs a 4.9; and he knows you are scared and/or stupid. It also doesn’t help that the highest IQ on the field is usually the Center. DE may be the meanest, but the pen is mightier than the sword. Sometimes.
July 21, 2008 at 5:27 am
Kafka, good points in there. Keeping your head up is indeed critical. I’ll also agree wholeheartedly that a LBs advantage over an OL is in space. I’ll hit on that great point in the paragraph below with regards to the play we’ve used in this example:
The touchy part or “no man’s land” for the MLB in this scenario is the gray area between the A and B gaps. If a MLB engages a center too close to the line of scrimmage, then he loses his angle to get over the top of the playside OT coming on the combo block. This is somewhat of a tricky situation during the heat of battle. A MLB obviously gives up some size to the center, so in defeating his block, you want to attack him as aggressively as possible without engaging too deep in the “trash”. This whole scenario becomes almost impossible to defend if the backside DT is not defeating his reach block (we’re assuming he is). One might ask themselves, well why not just avoid the engagement with the center and shoot to the “B” gap the minute you see the backside guard pulling? Because this violates one of the cardinal sins of MLB play: Play from the inside out, one step behind the ball.
Even though you’ve crossed the center’s face, he’s still chasing you. If the MLB arrives at the hole too early in the play, he has to wait on the ball carrier. At this point, the center’s block on the MLB essentially turns into a trap play with him earholing you and the RB cutting in behind him towards the middle of the field at the second level. You see this happen a lot at the high school and college level, and it was probably one of my more common offenses at MLB.
July 21, 2008 at 6:10 am
I’ve always felt that in the offense’s case, a tremendously successful play to run (given you had the personnel i.e. John Chiles and Chris Ogbyanna) against this defensive alignment would be a QB dive straight up the gut with a TB lead block. This would allow for easy kick out blocks by all the OL, or even leaving the DEs unblocked and working a combo to the inside with the G/T. Then, you’re left with a center and a TB leading on a MLB, and the QB to cut off either direction. I think a quick snap audible in 3rd and 4 type scenarios would be a gimmee first down. Of course, your personnel gets a little too specialized and teams can see it coming, but I think McCoy is a good enough runner to execute this play.
July 21, 2008 at 11:13 am
Stopping the zone is all about gap control, so you’d actually want to engage the center as close to the LOS as possible.
July 21, 2008 at 11:25 am
Yeah, but it doesn’t really play out that way, when you’ve got a 5 on 4 in the running game like in the example I’ve used here. There’s a good chance a MLB’s services will be required in both the A and B gaps. I agree that things become much more simple with 6 men in the box and gap control is the way to go. The big key in this 5 man front scenario is much like the option, it’s assignment football and requires discipline to stop it.
July 21, 2008 at 11:47 am
Guys playing two gaps is exactly what the zone was designed to beat. It’s really hard to stop unless you can just dominate the guy in front of you. There is no real plan of action for that, you just have to recruit well.
If you are dead set on running a 6 man front against the zone read, then good luck I guess. You best bet is probably to just crash the DE and worry about the QB with the weakside LB or a stunt from a nickelback or something.
The MLB is really not really a key run stopper in the big scheme of things. The zone kind of makes everybody equally important.
July 21, 2008 at 12:04 pm
With the assumption of a 4 wide set, then I think it can be intelligently defended with a 6 man front straight up. I figured out how to edit Beergut’s examples to show in drawing the play in discussion using a 4-3 with OLBs split over the slot receivers as well as a 4-2-5 nickel alignment:
4-3 with OLBs split over slot receivers (this is how Missouri blocked this formation on most occasions):
http://www.geocities.com/coachbeergut/zonereadvTech.ppt
4-2-5:
http://www.geocities.com/coachbeergut/zonetrapv425.ppt
July 21, 2008 at 12:27 pm
CA, maybe I’m getting the games mixed up, but 2004 Tech was kinda Vince’s “coming out party,” from recollection. It’s the game he seemed to get back to being Vince, after GD/Mack decided to not overcoach him (depending on the version one wants to believe). The game was expected to be really close (Lubbock), but Vince was smoking and we blew them out.
It came right after he and the O’ looked so horrible vs Missouri and were very fortunate to get the W’, which followed the shutout loss to OU.
I don’t remember how Tech handled him on the ground, so maybe you’re right, but it definitely wasn’t “before Vince learned how to pass,” from what I remember.
July 21, 2008 at 12:37 pm
You’re right SS — I meant ‘03.
July 21, 2008 at 12:43 pm
“With the assumption of a 4 wide set,”
Ah, a 4 wide set. Missed that.
Well here’s the thing; If you try to stop a zone read with a MLB covering two gaps then you are going to get your ass torched. Doesn’t matter how good a teacher of fundamentals you are. The only way to beat it is like you said, have amazing DEs, DTs, and LBs and that isn’t a real option for anybody.
The ony positive you have against the ZR as a defense is that you know where the ball will be, more or less. So you can stunt like Tech did, you can drop a safety at the last second to stop the zone part if you want, etc. Force the ball to the weaker runner and focus on stopping him.
If you just let the offense go out there and make it a battle of execution you are going to suffer an epic beatdown. You stop option teams by making them do what you want.
July 21, 2008 at 12:55 pm
ah, yes…makes all the sense now, as I remember that ‘03 Mock heroics game, too.
July 21, 2008 at 1:04 pm
I think it physically hurts my brain to think of any time when Vince was nothing less than utterly dominant, so it made my fingers type out ‘04.
July 21, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Well shit, my edits didn’t work, so disregard my draw up above. I think the overall point here is that Tech and, from the bitching I saw on here last fall, Akina chose to defend spread offenses in this manner. And with that in mind, we’ve provided sufficient evidence that this puts tremendous pressure on your MLB. Pete Carroll doesn’t even defend it this way and he’s a pretty respectable 4-3 coach with All American talent. It pisses me off to no end when I see Tech try to do this, when the one guy in college football who could maybe defend it successfully in this manner doesn’t even do it that way.
July 21, 2008 at 3:59 pm
dedfischer,
Late to the party, it seems, but I was wondering… In your 4-2-5 example, how the hell do those tackles block Will and Mike? Will needs to be blocked left by a guy coming in from the left. I guess you can just try and blast Mike straight upfield since you don’t really want him going left or right, but maybe I’m not used to reading a play diagram.
July 21, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Sorry for the confusion, I didn’t draw that up and I couldn’t get my edit to save. I’ll write the changes I made and tried to save and let me know what you think.
In Beergut’s zone trap play vs. the 4-2-5 here are the changes I made from left to right:
- I moved the TB to the other side of the QB and ran him through the 4 hole versus the 1 hole. Of course the QB was running his read around the left end, now.
- I actually pulled the backside OT to block the playside DE. I didn’t pull either of the guards and liked what I saw when facing this defensive front and in this particular play. I wanted all the OL to have down blocking angles and this seemed like the best play to start since we’re not blocking the backside DE (he’s the read). Now, we’re left with a backside OG downblocking on a 3 technique, a center and playside OG combo blocking on a 1 technique into a weakside LB, and I kept the playside OT’s downblock on the mike. The backside OT is performing a kickout block on the playside DE. Now, used to block this play just like this in 1994 and we called it 14E and ran some load option out of it with the I formation. It will work, your OTs just have to be mobile, or you might want to go with a OG pulling and try a reach block by the OT on the 3 technique, but he could royally fuck things up if you miss that block.
July 21, 2008 at 5:17 pm
So, to be clear, playside is still right, yes? If that’s right, then I see much more clearly. I guess we should get beergut to explain how the hell you block those LBs with the chunky tackles in his version.
July 21, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Yep. I was thinking that reach block by the tackle on the weakside LB might be tough to get to for a fat guy, myself.
July 21, 2008 at 5:33 pm
What was more baffling to me is why would you pull the guard to block the end on his side, when he already has a perfect down blocking scenarios on a 3 technique right in front of him. I think that double trap would get blown up by any team with just marginal talent, or at least, it should.
July 21, 2008 at 10:14 pm
Ded,
Is this what you mean?
Dedfisher’s 14E
Do you really think that backside OT is going to make it to the playside DE without forcing the RB to slow down?
I would never run the TB to the 4-hole in this series. That is the territory of a 3-technique, and Rich Rodriguez, the man who invented the Dart series (Dart (Zone) Read, Dart Trap, Outside Zone, etc.), is adamant that you don’t have the TB go to a 3-tech, he is to either go at 1 or 5 techs.
“I guess we should get beergut to explain how the hell you block those LBs with the chunky tackles in his version.”
The same way they execute any other zone blocking assignment. Your OTs should be the best athletes on your offensive line. They should be athletic enough to handle speed rushing DEs, and strong enough to handle DTs. Asking them to get to the second level and block LBs who are trying to read the play isn’t that hard.
“What was more baffling to me is why would you pull the guard to block the end on his side, when he already has a perfect down blocking scenarios on a 3 technique right in front of him. I think that double trap would get blown up by any team with just marginal talent, or at least, it should.”
Two things:
1)The original design of this play as RichRod drew it up was against a 4-2-2-4 alignment. I adjusted it to a 5-3-1-5 b/c I was explaining it to some college coaches, and all they saw against 10 personnel was 5-3-1-5.
2)The playside guard isn’t really pulling to trap (hence, I don’t like calling this play a “double trap”), he is just getting depth to shield the DE out of the play. Most DEs are actually surprised to see the OT just ignore them and go to the second level immediately, so they hesitate a little. (Remember, this play is part of a series that utilizes Zone Read, so an unblocked DE has to make a decision.) That one half-second of hesitation is all the PSG needs to get depth and shield the PSDE out of the play.
We don’t care about the downblock on the 3-tech, we want him coming upfield. The further upfield he comes, the nicer the angle is for the trap block.
July 21, 2008 at 10:20 pm
CA,
“The best defense I ever saw a college team play on Vince and the zone read was, believe it or not, Tech in 2004. You don’t need a good or even great player at the offside DE. They just crashed him down every play and twisted a LB behind him. Vince saw the DE, kept the ball, and before he could really move he had that stunting LB in his face.”
There are two ways to deal with that:
You can run a zone read option (think A&M, with McGee/Lane being the ZR, then McGee/Goodson running option at that LB), or you can bring a WR/H-back in orbit motion around the QB/TB, and run option off that LB.
Of course, that would require for Greg Davis to make quite a departure in his offensive scheming, so that wouldn’t happen.
July 22, 2008 at 3:44 am
I will concede that my only issue with pulling a backside tackle is that it becomes a slow developing play, but most of them are anyway in a zone read.
2. I’ve thought about it a little and this zone trap play you’ve drawn would be a nice play to run against a defense with quick, undersized tackles, who were shooting the gap in order to keep them honest. However, that doesn’t change that it’s easy diagnostics for a well-coached MLB.
I still don’t see how running a 6 man front over a 5 man front makes you any more susceptible to trap plays. The trap play is the 2nd play they show you at LB and DT in the 7th grade.
July 22, 2008 at 8:20 am
ChrisApplewhite - sorry, but you must be thinking of some other game (maybe Missou?), cause VY had a HUGE game against Tech that year. 300 yards total offense, a 4TD’s running and one more passing, and no turnovers. You may be right about him getting pulled at the end, but it was only because we were blowing out the sand aggies by 4 TD’s+.
July 22, 2008 at 8:23 am
He’s thinking of the 2003 game where Vince was pulled in favor of Chance Mock.
July 22, 2008 at 10:32 am
A MLB who follows pulling guards and pulling tackles will be cross-keyed and false-keyed out of plays. There is more to it than just following hats.
I’m not saying a 6 man front makes you more susceptible to a trap, the math alone would deny that, I’m just saying if you run a 42 front, the first thing that comes to mind is the trap.
If you’re running a 5 man front against a spread team, you obviously are trying to encourage them to run the ball. The problem is, Tech can’t stop the run, so I don’t know why the operate on this philosophy, unless they think they’ll get lucky and stop them eventually, and the offense will outscore them anyway?
July 22, 2008 at 5:21 pm
A pulling guard is the most sure key there is in football. Guards don’t lie.
Also, nobody really runs the trap anymore. DT technique has kind of nullified it for the most part, although overly aggressive teams still can get hit with them. It’s just rare.
July 22, 2008 at 9:01 pm
“A pulling guard is the most sure key there is in football. Guards don’t lie.”
Disagree. Good coaches watch to see if the MLB is keying the guards, and then call plays to screw up his read. It’s Football 101.
“Also, nobody really runs the trap anymore. DT technique has kind of nullified it for the most part, although overly aggressive teams still can get hit with them. ”
Disagree here, too. I’ve seen A&M, West Virginia, Illinois, and Florida all run trap plays. A&M’s bread-and-butter short yardage play is an inside trap to Jorvorskie.
You know the play against Army ‘06 where Jorvorskie was stopped for short yardage in the 4th quarter? It was b/c the backside guard completely whiffed on his trap block, letting the tackle come upfield and stuff the play.
July 23, 2008 at 3:33 am
“Disagree. Good coaches watch to see if the MLB is keying the guards, and then call plays to screw up his read. It’s Football 101.”
I guess we’ll just agree to disagree. I don’t think pulling guards to false key is Football 101. In my mind, it’s more “desperation on offense to try to find something that will work against these fast motherfuckers 101″.
July 23, 2008 at 7:16 am
Most coaches I know who utilize run-intensive offensive schemes, especially at the lower levels (HS, youth) false key.
Probably the last major college program to do it was Nebraska during Osborne’s tenure.
July 23, 2008 at 7:27 am
You’re right. I forgot about the Fumblerooski. It’s been around for decades.
July 23, 2008 at 9:14 am
” Disagree. Good coaches watch to see if the MLB is keying the guards, and then call plays to screw up his read. It’s Football 101.”
Name one play that goes opposite a pulling guard that isn’t a reverse or something.
July 23, 2008 at 9:37 am
Well, Chris if you were paying attention, you would have learned from Beergut that all good MLBs key on the nearest running back.
July 28, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Zach Thomas ain’t that smart
October 14, 2008 at 7:28 pm
[…] the only playmaker we have at LB. It also requires elite DTs to run successfully. See link: http://www.barkingcarnival.com/dedfischer/mlb-play-vs-the-zone-read We only have one on our roster. He shouldn’t be on the bench this early in a close game unless […]