Wide Zone landmark

Wide zone is a scheme designed to stretch the defense horizontally in rapid fashion to create widening lanes for the running back to puncture through.

The simple explanation of the scheme is each lineman is going to reach and run to the next gap in the play direction. The lineman will then attempt to get his head to the play side of the the defender that appears in his new path.

The 2nd level defenders are reading the flow and the path of the running back. To maximize the stretch the landmark would need to be (at minimum) to the outside leg of the tackle.

In the clip below the running back landmarks the outside leg of the guard and he is into the line of scrimmage before the stretch occurs. If he had landmarked outside leg of tackle, he would have seen the expanded B gap was uncapped and could have punctured the line of scrimmage at that location.

The right guard #52 does not have an immediate threat in his path. He is going to confirm on his first two steps that a defender has not entered into his gap path and then work to his secondary threat. In this clip his secondary threat is the middle linebacker. Follow the guard and notice he turn inside to build on the wall of the center and pickup a linebacker flowing to the play. But, the linebacker did not need to flow to him and instead remained unblocked to make the tackle.

Had the RB been landmarked further outside and chased the expanding B gap, the guard was waiting for the flowing middle linebacker. But, as it played out, the running back landmarked inside and the middle linebacker remained unblocked. Don't be too quick to criticize rhe offensive lineman when a run play is not successful. Todd Greenwell

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