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How Cowboys use inside zone to dominate defenses
ByJoey Ickes
https://www.fanragsports.com/nfl/cowboys/cowboys-use-inside-zone-dominate-defenses/
MATTHEW PEARCE/ICON SPORTSWIRE
The Dallas Cowboys are the best running football team in the NFL, and it isn’t all that close. The team’s primary running backs rushed for nearly 3,000 yards in 2014 and 2015 combined, speaking to the prowess of its vaunted offensive line. Then the organization made the decision to double down on the running game by drafting Ezekiel Elliott with the fourth pick in the 2016 draft. All Elliott did as a rookie was lead the league in rushing, finishing more than 300 yards ahead of his nearest competition with 1,631 yards (and Elliott didn’t play in Week 17).
One of the things that makes the Cowboys’ running game so dangerous is their ability to be extremely multiple in schemes. The bread and butter of the Dallas running game is the outside zone “stretch” run made famous by the Denver Broncos in the late 1990s. The athleticism of the offensive front — along with Elliott’s patience, vision, and burst — makes this an extremely difficult play for defenses to stop.
On top of the traditional zone runs, the Cowboys will show multiple gap-scheme runs like duo, power, and counter, along with multiple sweeps designed to get their athletic linemen in space blocking defensive backs and escorting Elliott down the field. This diversity up front and in the backfield gives the Cowboys a rushing attack almost every defense struggles to contain. One of the many base schemes the Cowboys use to run through their opponents, is the best play in football, inside zone...