Matthew Stafford Ahead of the Curve When It Comes to Poise

In a recent article, Detroit Lions center Dominic Riola was quoted as saying that one of the reasons he likes Lions number one overall pick Matthew Stafford is that he has the maturity (Patience) to let the offensive lineman make their calls.

I thought I would give an example of some of the calls Riola was talking about.

Lets take a play that virtually all pro and college teams use; the inside zone.

First, you need to know that the inside zone is considered a vertical play as opposed to outside zone which is horizontal.

What's the difference?

With the inside zone play, we want to drive the defensive lineman to the linebackers with either a drive and chop block or what is called a piggy back block. And with the outside zone, we want to step and engage and keep our feet moving laterally which will allow the back find the hole.

The inside zone play calls start with the last man at the end of the line of scrimmage.

Let's say it's the tight end. His call is telling the tackle what type of block he is going to attempt and whether or not he needs his help.

Some schools use a pork product for the piggy back block so the tight end might say ham 52. He just said I'm going to use a piggy back block to the linebacker number 52 and you're going to help me do it. If it's a drive and chop, he'll use a color.

The tackle then has to answer him and then talk to the guard to tell him and so on.

This obviously takes time, and not all quarterbacks have the poise to let it happen.

The back has reads too...if it's an inside zone to the right for example, he's going to read the helmet of the first down lineman outside the center or in this case the left defensive tackle.

If the d-tackle pressures inside, he goes pretty much straight ahead or slightly to the right and hits the hole hard. If the tackle's helmet goes outside, he cuts back into his second read (the other tackle).

If the second read comes inside, he cuts back side one more time and goes for the homerun. If not, he slams up the middle for as much as he can get.

For a good example of inside zone, take a look at the Lions first game against Atlanta when rookie running back Aaron Brown cut back for his touchdown run in the second half. It is text book inside zone.

Riola's point was that if the quarterback (In this case it was Drew Stanton) doesn't let the lineman make the correct calls, none of this happens. Stafford, at least in this aspect of the game, is way ahead of the curve.