Pats switching to zone blocking

[Rob0729]

According to ProFootball Weekly, the Pats are going to change their run blocking scheme from a straight line blocking to a zone blocking to accomodate Maroney's cutback style.

I think this is big. People blamed Maroney for not hitting the hole fast enough late in the season, but I felt the o-line wasn't opening up holes for Maroney in a lot of cases. Now that they will zone block, it will allow him to shift to hit the hole. I think assuming he is healthy, he can only be better behind this blocking.

 

[skaIownsIyou]

huzzah~:rocker:

 

[Tunescribe]

According to ProFootball Weekly, the Pats are going to change their run blocking scheme from a straight line blocking to a zone blocking to accomodate Maroney's cutback style.

I think this is big. People blamed Maroney for not hitting the hole fast enough late in the season, but I felt the o-line wasn't opening up holes for Maroney in a lot of cases. Now that they will zone block, it will allow him to shift to hit the hole. I think assuming he is healthy, he can only be better behind this blocking.

I agree 1,000 percent on this. Those here who have criticized Maroney for "dancing" at the line of scrimmage don't know what they're talking about. He's never been a power back who puts his head down and pushes the pile, his style is to work in space -- even a little space -- and when it's not there, he's not effective. Did PFW attribute this news to anyone in particular?

 

[Remix 6]

i never liked our blocking scheme anyways..our and Panthers never made me happy..always better suited for power running. this will help Maroney and Faulk

ZBS is awesome

 

[Oswlek]

I agree 1,000 percent on this. Those here who have criticized Maroney for "dancing" at the line of scrimmage don't know what they're talking about. He's never been a power back who puts his head down and pushes the pile, his style is to work in space -- even a little space -- and when it's not there, he's not effective. Did PFW attribute this news to anyone in particular?

I don't know about that. To my knowledge one of the things that BB got from Florida's coach is the zone stretch play that they run. It is quite possible that Maroney's "dancing" was the impetus for a major change.

 

[Rob0729]

I agree 1,000 percent on this. Those here who have criticized Maroney for "dancing" at the line of scrimmage don't know what they're talking about. He's never been a power back who puts his head down and pushes the pile, his style is to work in space -- even a little space -- and when it's not there, he's not effective. Did PFW attribute this news to anyone in particular?

It was in their whispers section where they never attribute anyone. Here is the entire piece:

Word is the Patriots are considering changing to more of a zone-blocking scheme to take advantage of RB Laurence Maroney’s cutback ability. Last year’s blocking scheme was better-suited to Corey Dillon’s straight-line, off-tackle running style.

http://www.profootballweekly.com/PFW/The+Way+We+Hear+It/Whispers/2007/whispers2202.htm

 

[Fixit]

Maybe we should switch to holding. That seems to work pretty well.

 

[Pat the Pats Fan]

Maybe we should switch to holding. That seems to work pretty well.

The Pats don't have white helmets with horseshoes on them, they'll never get away with that.

 

[Tunescribe]

I don't know about that. To my knowledge one of the things that BB got from Florida's coach is the zone stretch play that they run. It is quite possible that Maroney's "dancing" was the impetus for a major change.

Why is it so difficult to believe it was the scheme and not Maroney? To me, the PFW report states the obvious. I felt all along last season that the line was not doing its job for Maroney, whereas Dillon often could make something out of nothing because of his plow-horse style.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

It was in their whispers section where they never attribute anyone. Here is the entire piece:

Word is the Patriots are considering changing to more of a zone-blocking scheme to take advantage of RB Laurence Maroney’s cutback ability. Last year’s blocking scheme was better-suited to Corey Dillon’s straight-line, off-tackle running style.

http://www.profootballweekly.com/PFW/The+Way+We+Hear+It/Whispers/2007/whispers2202.htm

Gee, I could have sworn I heard BB basically say this himself on WEEI is his season wrap up last year.

It's part of the reason Corey isn't here any more. Bill realized that trying to force a square peg into a round hole wasn't a great long term strategy, and his round peg was running on fumes. They tried to implement complimentary schemes in TC last summer, but in pre season they realized that because of the personnel changes it would entail given this Oline's composition, it was just too confusing to manage alternate blocking schemes in game situations. So they went with the system that the players had the most familiarity with and that benefitted the veteran Dillon the most and hoped that he would be highly productive and the kid could adapt sufficiently to be reasonable productive in his rookie season without getting hurt. Didn't exactly work out swimmingly down the stretch.

 

[Oswlek]

Why is it so difficult to believe it was the scheme and not Maroney? To me, the PFW report states the obvious. I felt all along last season that the line was not doing its job for Maroney, whereas Dillon often could make something out of nothing because of his plow-horse style.

Precisely. You and I are saying the same thing, but you are unnecessarily scolding those that believe that Maroney danced and missed some opportunities. Just because I believe that this is a good move does not mean that Maroney was not responsible for some of his failings.

In your comparison between Dillon and Maroney you say the same thing yourself. Just because the scheme did not align with Laurence's style does not mean that he didn't dance. You should be targeting those that felt that Maroney's failings were not impacted by the scheme, not those that commented on his dancing. They are two completely different issues.

 

[Krazy Koz]

with all minds focused on the draft... does this mean we draft an O-lineman? Also, as many of you noted during the year, Brady wasn't sacked a lot this year, but he was hit a lot. So maybe another O-lineman isn't so far fetched?

 

[Krugman]

Pardon my ignorance on such matters,I am curious on how much of a task this is regarding coaching,time for players to adjust and get comfortable with the scheme ,etc..Is is something they should be fairly adept at by early Sept or will it be a "work in progress" much of the season? It sounds interesting,and if it plays to Maroneys ' strengths(naturally) look out...the offence could be killer this year.

 

[jeffd]

Any of you NCAA fans know if he used zone blocking in college. I remember reading that his college coach didn't want him making more than one cut but I don't know crap about OL or blocking schemes.

 

[Oswlek]

Any of you NCAA fans know if he used zone blocking in college. I remember reading that his college coach didn't want him making more than one cut but I don't know crap about OL or blocking schemes.

I never watched a single game of his, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn....

err....

I did read once that Minnesota is a zone blocking team.

 

[Tunescribe]

Precisely. You and I are saying the same thing, but you are unnecessarily scolding those that believe that Maroney danced and missed some opportunities. Just because I believe that this is a good move does not mean that Maroney was not responsible for some of his failings.

In your comparison between Dillon and Maroney you say the same thing yourself. Just because the scheme did not align with Laurence's style does not mean that he didn't dance. You should be targeting those that felt that Maroney's failings were not impacted by the scheme, not those that commented on his dancing. They are two completely different issues.

My point is I got criticized here last season for pointing out that Maroney's so-called "dancing" was a scheme-related anomaly. To me he was doing what he was supposed to be doing, which was look for daylight and cut back. The line didn't give him much to work with in many cases. Consequently, what appeared to be tentativeness or "dancing" at the line of scrimmage was Maroney following his natural running instincts until things caved in on him.

The contrarians apparently felt he should have just dived into the line (a la Dillon) when the holes weren't there instead of shifting/skipping around people at the LOS, buying a few microseconds of time, in hopes that a crease might develop. I don't think Maroney did anything wrong in his alleged "dancing" and the apparent change to zone blocking lends credence to that. It seems people wanted Maroney to be Dillon when the holes weren't there, which he ain't.

I might add that I think zone blocking would be a lot more fun for an offensive lineman. I hope the PFW report is true.

 

[unoriginal]

Pardon my ignorance on such matters,I am curious on how much of a task this is regarding coaching,time for players to adjust and get comfortable with the scheme ,etc..Is is something they should be fairly adept at by early Sept or will it be a "work in progress" much of the season? It sounds interesting,and if it plays to Maroneys ' strengths(naturally) look out...the offence could be killer this year.

The only people who might have trouble with zone blocking are Ryan O'Callaghan and Wesley Britt. They're not very quick and they may have trouble beating the defense to their zone. Kaczur looks to be the favorite at right tackle since he's smaller and since Toledo was a zone blocking team.

 

[unoriginal]

My point is I got criticized here last season for pointing out that Maroney's so-called "dancing" was a scheme-related anomaly. To me he was doing what he was supposed to be doing, which was look for daylight and cut back. The line didn't give him much to work with in many cases. Consequently, what appeared to be tentativeness or "dancing" at the line of scrimmage was Maroney following his natural running instincts until things caved in on him.

The contrarians apparently felt he should have just dived into the line (a la Dillon) when the holes weren't there instead of shifting/skipping around people at the LOS, buying a few microseconds of time, in hopes that a crease might develop. I don't think Maroney did anything wrong in his alleged "dancing" and the apparent change to zone blocking lends credence to that. It seems people wanted Maroney to be Dillon when the holes weren't there, which he ain't.

In a man-blocking scheme the running back is asked to hit the hole, not pick the hole, even if the hole doesn't appear to be there. Faulk, who is even less of a plugger than Maroney, had no trouble running decisively this year. Don't excuse Maroney.

 

[Major **********]

How will this affect our pass protection? Going to a zone blocking to get the most out of Maroney is all fine and good but the one I want protected is Tom. I couldn't care less if Maroney never has more that 1100 yards a season. As Tom goes so does our team. We can win without a running game. If Tom is constantly on his back we got 0 chance.

 

[Tunescribe]

In a man-blocking scheme the running back is asked to hit the hole, not pick the hole, even if the hole doesn't appear to be there. Faulk, who is even less of a plugger than Maroney, had no trouble running decisively this year. Don't excuse Maroney.

We don't know for certain that Maroney wasn't given some leeway to look before leaping. The fact he did it so often suggests as much, especially since I don't recall hearing BB or anyone else on the team criticize Maroney for "dancing" or tentativeness.