Las Vegas Raiders

Oakland Raiders Film Room: How the Inside Zone Works

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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A detailed breakdown of how the Oakland Raiders offense utilizes the Inside Zone.

Chip Kelly made a big deal out of differentiating the difference between the inside zone from shotgun and zone read. Just because they are run concepts out of the gun does not mean they are the same. The Oakland Raiders run game is heavily influenced by Kelly, and even if you don’t like his style, Kelly is a shotgun run game guru. So what is the difference? The answer is simply: numbers.

If the offense has enough blockers to block the defensive front then they will run inside zone without reading a defender. If they have a tight end in the formation then they can handle a six-man front without reading a defender.

However, if the defense has a seven-man front, the offense will be outnumbered since they only have six blockers. This is when the offense will run the zone-read concept and will read one of the defenders. The Raiders run a classic zone read that reads the backside contain player, which is usually a defensive end or outside linebacker.

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— Ted Nguyen (@RaidersAnalysis) October 29, 2016

By reading the defender, the offense has gained back the numbers advantage and now have a blocker for every defender. The unblocked defender is called the “read man”. If the read man stays put, then the quarterback will hand the ball off to the running back.

If the read man chases down the the run, then the quarterback will keep the ball and run to the area where the defender vacated or “replace” him.

In the above example, the safety comes into the box and becomes the seventh defender. Since the offense only has six blockers, they read the safety. The safety turns his shoulders and chases the running back, so Carr keeps the ball. This could have been a huge play, but Amari Cooper couldn’t block Jalen Ramsey, who forces Carr to run the ball out of bounds.

Although I do not want to see too many designed runs for Carr, him keeping a couple of these zone reads could bolster the running game. He has been very hesitant to do so in the past, but he is extremely athletic and would give the defense another thing to think about.

Obviously, we all want Carr to be smart and avoid taking hits by sliding and running out of bounds, but his athleticism is a weapon that this offense could use.