The Steelers have been fairly proficient at running the inside and outside zone this year. On Monday night, they also ran their counter-play with great frequency. The Steelers ran all three plays beautifully, as Le'Veon Bell had a career night. Here is the inside zone:
With the inside zone, the end man on the line of scrimmage isn't blocked by the offensive line. This normally gives the line a plus-one with their numbers. It allows the offense to spread out the defense and still be able to run against a six-man box. What the offense has to decide is how to account for the end man on the line of scrimmage.
If you are Oregon, your QB reads him and pulls the ball if the DE crashes. The Steelers aren't going to major in that (even though Ben has kept it a few times this year); instead, the Steelers chose to kick him out. This also sets up the pass as the man who normally kicks out the DE is instead slipping into the flat for a pass.
Where the inside zone has evolved over the years is the wind-back. What this means is that the back is always going to aim for the A-gap player. If the A-gap player is on the play side, then the back hits the play with a more vertical angle. However, if the A-gap player is on the backside, the back winds his path back to the A-gap player. This helps the offensive linemen.
Previously, most teams ran the inside zone to B-gap, meaning that the play-side guard (in this case David DeCastro) had to reach a three-technique. Instead, as you see here, DeCastro can just block the three-technique out, which is a much easier block.
The Steelers execute two very good double-teams on the linebackers. Notice how both Ramon Foster and Kelvin Beachum keep their shoulders square. As a result, Bell is never funneled in a certain direction. Bell can press the line of scrimmage and cut wherever he wants.
To be a good zone-back, you have to have patience. You'll see that Bell's footwork helps with this. Bells crosses over with his second step which slows down his advancement. This allows the blocks to develop. Secondly, it put the linebackers in a bind. They have to press the line of scrimmage. That allows them to be blocked by the combo blocks by the offensive linemen. What happens if the defense doesn't give the offense an A-gap player?
The alignment of Tennessee's defense set up the Steelers to run their counter-play. The Steelers are going to block down on the play-side, pull a guard to kick out the end man on the line of scrimmage, and then bring Heath Miller to lead through the hole to block the linebacker.
Great job here by Kelvin Beachum. Initially, Beachum thinks he's going to block the three-technique over Foster. But he slants inside. Beachum keeps his head up, reads the slant and climbs to the linebacker. Maurkice Pouncey also has a tough block. He has to block back on the backside three-technique since the guard is pulling. Pouncey has to take a deep, bucket step in order to gain enough width to block back that far. He does get help from Marcus Gilbert. He steps inside to stop the initial penetration but, he also keeps his shoulders square, which allows him to block the blitzing linebacker.
Finally, the Steelers also ran the stretch, outside zone very well.
Even though he didn't really hit anyone, Marcus Gilbert gets a great block on this play. He blocks the linebacker with his path. He stays on his angle and, as a result, the linebacker has to go around him. Once he does that, he has no chance of getting to Bell.
We discussed Bell's patience earlier. Here we see him explode through the hole. Notice also that Bell's first two steps are the same on the inside zone are they are on the outside zone. Once again, this makes it hard on the linebacker to be too aggressive.
Bell and the offensive line put on a clinic during this game. When they didn't get great blocks, as you see with Beachum on this play, Bell made a great cut and bailed out his linemen. But that didn't happen often. The offensive line controlled this game.
The Steelers offense has produced a 500-yard passer and a 200-yard rusher this season. It will be interesting to see how the offense continues to evolve during the home stretch of the regular season.
See all Steelers Film Room entries here, including GIF and video breakdowns of Steelers plays this season