The term "zone" is used for a type of play in which players act as a collective unit and are responsible for covering certain areas of the football field, rather than battling an opposing player one-on-one. Zone plays can occur in different situations on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball.
Zone Pass Defense
A zone defense is a type of coverage used on a passing play, in which the defensive secondary and linebackers have zones or areas to cover instead of playing man-to-man defense. When the offensive players enter a defender's zone, the defenders move to cover or prevent them from catching the pass. Sometimes, teams use zone pass defenses to confuse the offense. Other times, teams use them when they feel they cannot cover the offense in man-to-man defense. According to Football Times, all zones have weak spots or open areas that the offense can exploit, so playing zone often can be dangerous.
Zone Blitzes
According to former college football coach Bob Davie, zone blitzes started in the early 1990s and are now used by every football team. Blitzes are defensive plays in which the defense rushes the pass with more players than the standard three or four down linemen. Before zone blitzes were developed, teams strictly played man-to-man when they used blitzes. Zone blitz schemes can be very complex, because they are designed to confuse the offense and make it tough to tell who will be dropping into coverage and who will be rushing the passer. Often zone blitzes will drop traditional rushers like linemen into coverage while rushing players who do not usually chase the passer.
Zone Blocking
Zone blocking is a scheme that is used by an offensive unit on running plays. Instead of the offensive line blocking the defense man-to-man, players will instead work in unison and use double-teams or area blocking to create a hole in the defense. According to Davie, zone blocking is designed to handle movement on the defensive line. Usually teams that employ a zone blocking scheme have smaller, quicker linemen who can use their speed and agility to their advantage. These smaller linemen would have trouble in a man blocking scheme, but due to the help and use of double-teams they are more successful in the zone scheme.
Zone Read
The inside zone or zone read play has become very popular recently in college football. The zone read is considered a spread offensive play or scheme and is primarily run from the shotgun formation. The idea behind the zone read is to overpower the defensive front by double-teaming and leaving one player unblocked, usually a defensive end. The quarterback then reads this unblocked player and depending on what the defender does the quarterback can hand the ball to the running back or keep the ball and run it himself.
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