Steelers Playbook: The Outside Zone scheme
It’s that time of year again!
What does that mean? It means we’re close enough to actual football to dust off the playbook and start looking at the schemes the Steelers prefer. Over the next several weeks, I’ll write a series of articles highlighting some of the designs used most frequently in Pittsburgh last season, and that we should expect to see again in 2025.
Up first, one of offensive coordinator Arthur Smith’s favorite run schemes: outside zone.
THE PHILOSOPHY
Outside zone, or wide zone as many coaches call it (you could start a fight among offensive line coaches over the differences between wide zone, outside zone and stretch), is designed to stress defenses horizontally by utilizing a wide aiming point for the running back and giving him a three-way go. He can stay on track, cut inside or bounce outside. The horizontal stretch gets defenses pursuing laterally, where they can be ridden out of their run fits by blockers. This creates seams for the back. A back must have good vision to execute the scheme well, because the seams are not pre-determined. Rather, they happen fluidly. A back must be patient in waiting for a seam to develop, then quick to accelerate once it does.
THE SCHEME
As you can see from the diagram below, blockers either reach an adjacent defender to the side of the run, or they work in tandem with one another, trading off of first-level defenders to climb and block linebackers. A lineman climbing to the second level must initially gain control of a first-level defender and secure that block until his linemate is ready to take it over. This takes a great deal of timing and repetition, thus making outside zone an expensive install. To be successful at it, linemen must communicate well and develop good chemistry. A line coach who can teach and drill the scheme effectively is essential.
USE IN PITTSBURGH
Outside zone was utilized widely in Pittsburgh last season, although not as often as Smith used it in Atlanta. In 2023 with the Falcons, he ran the play 205 times. Last season in Pittsburgh, he called it on 131 snaps.
That reduction was a product of the fact the Steelers weren’t ideally suited to run the scheme. The line had been reconfigured, with a pair of rookies (Zach Frazier, Mason McCormick) in the starting unit. Their inexperience, and the chemistry it takes to develop outside zone, suffered as a result. Also, the Steelers did not have a natural zone back in Najee Harris, who is better suited for the more aggressive gap scheme. Harris struggled at times to find cuts, or to be decisive once they emerged. Smith’s insistence on running outside zone as a toss concept didn’t help either, as it presented a full-flow scheme to the defense with nothing to restrain them from running to the football. Defenses simply pursued too fast for the Steelers to execute their combo blocks effectively, particularly when it came to blocking linebackers.
My colleague Jason Murphy and I did a deep dive on the ineffectiveness of the toss concept back in December, which you can access in the link below.
Steelers should toss the toss sweep play
OUTLOOK FOR 2025
The Steelers seem better suited to run outside zone in 2025. They drafted running back Kaleb Johnson to replace Harris, who departed in free agency. Johnson operated in a zone-heavy scheme at Iowa and seems a better fit. Also, the line should be better than it was a year ago. Granted, the tackles will be different, with Broderick Jones kicking from right to left and Troy Fautanu stepping in on the right side. But the chemistry on the interior should be solid. Frazier, McCormick and Isaac Seumalo have plenty of reps together, which should help with communication. The tight ends return as well, which is a plus.
Hopefully, Smith will add more play-action off of the scheme than he did a year ago and will lean less on the toss concept. Outside zone can be one of the best plays in football when executed well. With a year under their belts in Smith’s offense, and some tweaks in personnel and philosophy, the results in Pittsburgh should improve.
For my video breakdown of the Steelers’ use of outside zone last season, check out the Twitter player below.
Starting a series of articles for the Steel Curtain Network about schemes the Steelers ran last season that I expect to see again in 2025.
Up first, Arthur Smith’s favorite run play — outside zone. Here’s a video breakdown: @SteelCNetwork pic.twitter.com/XQKXSa6Sel
— Kevin Smith (@KTSmithFFSN) May 24, 2025
For more of my work, follow me on Twitter @KTSmithFFSN, and tune into my “Call Sheet Daily” podcast, which runs every Monday-Friday on most major platforms.
Coach, please comment on the background/ability of Warren and Gainwell running wide zone? Warren has run some split zone, I think.
I don’t know if Gainwell is thick enough to run it into the teeth of a defense, but it wouldn’t shock me if he was used on some wide-zone jet sweep runs, or on the toss-stretch concept. Warren broke toss-stretch for some decent runs last season when he was trying to get to the edge, but I’m not sure he has the patience and vision to run true OZ well. I like Johnson best in this scheme.
No doubt, was supposing so on all counts, thank you. Would this effect defenses that oppose Pgh as far as keying personnel, or am I in the weeds?
Maybe a little. Probably depends how run-pass heavy they are when Johnson enters the game. Also, they should run enough PAP and work the stretch concept in with Gainwell and Warren enough to keep defenses pretty honest.
Just for clarification – stretch is a true perimeter run, like sweep but without the pullers, whereas outside zone can hit anywhere from B-gap to the perimeter.
A little in weeds. Much appreciated, including the clear definition of stretch. Davis liked stretch.
You touch on my reservation. It is the OLine staying on assignment. Is this group a better gap team in general than zone. It has seemed in the last few seasons that their best performances have come when they are blocking more man assignments. Maybe that was running back related as well as OLine.
I think the running game has been ok the last few seasons it has just lacked consistency. Najee had 20+ yard runs in 8 games last season.
Agreed, JSegursky, on all accounts.
I think McCormick was a bad fit for outside zone last season. Maybe it was his inexperience, or the fact they didn’t run it much at ND State. Hopefully he improves this season. The inexperience the line had as a unit together factored in as well. Hopefully a year under their belts will help on all accounts.
I don’t think Najee had a great feel for the scheme. But it wasn’t blocked real well, either, which made his job harder.
Reminds me of Dotson, outside of topic.
Wide zone can requires athleticism more than size. That’s what made it so popular back in the 90s. Jones and Fautanu are both known as fabulous athletes. They should be better suited for the wide scheme than they would be for gap running.
When you wrote, “A back must have good vision to execute the scheme well, because the seams are not pre-determined. Rather, they happen fluidly. A back must be patient in waiting for a seam to develop, then quick to accelerate once it does.” I thought of Le’Veon Bell and I was wondering if he would have been a good fit for outside zone.
Also, how long has the outside zone concept been around? I don’t recall hearing about it growing up in the 80’s, 90’s and into my adult years in the 00’s. I recall more power runs, with pulling lineman like Dawson and others. I also recall that great quote from Merrill Hoge who told his Bears coaches that, “If you don’t have a center who can snap the ball and then pull, then you can’t run the ball like the Steelers do.”
Mike Shanahan ran wide zone frequently during the Broncos’ championship runs during the ’97 and ’98 seasons, I don’t know if he invented the scheme. Always Terrell Davis.
I remember Davis running stretch better than OZ, though.
Like Matt said below, the Broncos really popularized the zone run scheme in the 90s, both inside and outside zone. The Bengals had an OL coach, Jim McNally, who introduced the scheme to the league in the 80s, and then Alex Gibbs, who coached OL for the Broncos, studied McNally and brought it to Denver. Icky Woods was running the inside zone play for the Bengals but wasn’t quick enough to make outside zone effective. Davis was the perfect back for both IZ and OZ, so the zone philosophy really took off in Denver.
I was thinking back in the Bronco’s days when the OLine was really doing more cut blocking as part of their scheme during the Terrell Davis. I don’t think we see it as much today.
Yeah, problem was with walking post-retirement…killed the wishbone, too.
Not sure if this article would generate any interest, but I could write up a history of the zone run scheme if people were interested in its origins. Or maybe I’ll do an episode on it on my “Call Sheet” podcast. It’s cool tracing its roots, and how it evolved. A coach I know is actually pretty close with Jim McNally, who is in his 80s now. We could even try to get him on the podcast…
That would be fantastic. I’m always interested in the history of systems and approaches in the league.
I appreciated this one, and will echo others in hoping that more time together will help the line pull it off more effectively.
I’m interested, but unreiiable with podcasts. Once lucked into one on the wishbone, that one was good. How to get to Call Sheet?
Just search The Call Seet Daily, with Coach Kevin Smith on Spotify or Apple Music. If I do something on the zone scheme, I’ll put an article on SCN and link to it. Thanks
Yeah, TV Tizen is no-go, will try with Smartphone. Me Luddite. Thanks back at ya.
If memory serves, Arthur Smith fell in love with wide zone schemes when he worked under Joe Gibbs in Washington. I also remember Tunch & Wolf talking about how Mike Webster disliked the scheme because it called for a bucket step of some kind, and he preferred to initiate contact off the snap.
What are the differences between wide zone teams? I remember the Broncos being vilified for cut blocks until the rules changed to outlaw it, but Shanahan’s 49ers still run it with great success. How does their approach differ from Smith’s? And didn’t the Ravens have great success running OZ a few years back?
I, for one, would love to hear that fight BTW since Arthur Smith seems to have a strong opinion about “outside” vs. “wide” vs. “stretch. I also note that Pittsburgh has drafted linemen who are noted for exceptional movement skills and athleticism. That cannot be a coincidence.
Webster was more a butt block guy–put head into ribcage of defender, directly ahead, though he did sometimes trap block. Dawson was far more flexible in the hips and quicker than Webster.
Tizen is bad, sometimes. Webster was a 5th round pick, wasn’t tall or big. Webby barely outweighed Lambert in ’74. Webby sacrified everything for his profession.
Anyhow, Webby didn’t possess much lateral quickness, and he had to flip his hips prior to turning to a side. Bucket-step is taken perpendicular to the direction one is facing, as in the start of a B-ball shuffle, keeping the body facing roughly perpendicular to the direction of movement.
Pretty neat when 5-7 guys perform this in unison.
I, for one, would love to hear that fight BTW since Arthur Smith seems to have a strong opinion about “outside” vs. “wide” vs. “stretch. I also note that Pittsburgh has drafted linemen who are noted for exceptional movement skills and athleticism. That cannot be a coincidence.
I’m on it.