Broncos HC Nathaniel Hackett Teases How Zone-Blocking Sets up 'Deep Shots'

Nathaniel Hackett and Justin Outten laid out the Broncos' new offensive philosophy.

All through the process of the offseason training program, Denver Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett and his stable of assistant coaches have been quick to reference how much they love the outside-zone rushing system.

Broncos Country fondly remembers the days when the early version of the wide-zone helped power the franchise to back-to-back World Championships under Mike Shanahan in the 1990s. For a long while, under Shanahan's leadership, the Broncos had a conveyor belt of running backs that could lace up and rush for 1,000-plus yards without seemingly breaking into a sweat.

Hackett’s system will come with tweaks and added nuances to fit the modern NFL, but his appreciation of the system meets perfectly with his desire to run it successfully. As training camp approaches, the installation of the system will get ramped up to the next level. 

“Whenever you’re dealing with the outside zone action, the defensive line not only has to step up to fit the run, but now they have to run sideline-to-sideline,” Hackett said via Parker Gabriel of USA TODAY. “It’s almost like you give them a two-fold area that they have to cover. When you add in the play-pass that looks just like it, whether you’re booting out with (quarterback Russell Wilson) or he’s setting up in the pocket, it makes them have to step up and go sideways, which voids the zones behind them. Those are things where you’re always trying to get that run, get them stepping up, get them thinking and guessing.

“Then you have a chance to get those deep shots behind them, which we all love the most.”

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Thus, the importance of getting the players' techniques polished up will fall on the shoulders of assistant coaches — like first-year offensive coordinator Justin Outten.

“The outside zone concept—the whole world with the outside zone is just pulling the trigger, rolling, running and not measuring,” Outten said via USA TODAY. “That’s where you get in trouble—when you start to measure and slow down. When one guy is off, the back’s track is off and then it just turns into a bad deal. Getting them to buy into the technique that we’re getting them to do is a little bit outside of the box, as far as this system.”

While Hackett's rushing scheme is built on the bones of the Shanahan classics, the wide-zone, or as many Broncos fans know it — the zone-blocking scheme — has evolved over the years. Coach Shanahan explained to USA TODAY how things have moved forward in recent years. 

“To be honest with you, it really has changed. It’s like anything,” Shanahan told USA TODAY earlier this summer. “You take a look at the 3-4 defense, the Buddy Ryan defense, people catch up with it. You have to have different variations: Is it the splits, is it the attack point? You’ve got to have a base. What is your base and then what are the variations off of it? That’s where I think (offensive coaches) have done a great job through the years. Even the coaches, when you take a look at whatever the flavor is, whoever the new guy is, what is he doing that’s a little bit different? How do you get guys that open? What is he doing that other people aren’t doing?”

It’s a system that requires a fair degree of precision timing to work. Every moving part needs to know where they need to be as a matter of course. 

In truth, had the Broncos been forced to stick with former quarterback Drew Lock for this season, it's highly probable that Hackett and Outten would have been forced to pare things back and be far less ambitious with the Broncos' new offense.

Those kind of issues are quickly forgotten when a superstar quarterback like Russell Wilson enters the dynamic, however, so expect the things to develop quickly during training camp. Having Wilson firmly in the fold allows the coaches to be firmly on point and keeping the engine well-oiled and ready to hum.

Up to this point, Outten feels that as a collective group, all the Broncos' new assistant coaches have positioned themselves well as it relates to learning the finer details of the offense. So much so, that they've been challenging the more experienced coaches who've had much more time to master it. 

“When we go up here and watch the video, those guys are on it,” Outten said. “They’re bringing up the details that myself and Hackett took almost a year to learn. It’s really exciting to for those guys because they’re putting in just as much work as those players because as a teacher and as a motivator, you have to be on your stuff. If you’re not, they see right through that.”

This bodes extremely well for what’s to come, and in the process, it’s serving to keep the senior coaches on their toes and performing to the best of their abilities.

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