We are one of seven NFL teams who emphasize zone blocking in our running scheme. The other teams are...

Denver Broncos -- 16TH IN NFL (1470, 4.5 ypc)
Atlanta Falcons -- 2ND IN NFL (1907 total yards, 4.2 ypc)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers -- 13TH IN NFL (1502 total yards, 4 ypc)
Oakland Raiders -- 10TH IN NFL (1540 total yards, 4.2 ypc)
Houston Texans -- 11TH IN NFL (1522, 4.4 ypc)
Carolina Panthers -- 4TH IN NFL (1898 total yards, 4.8 ypc)
Green Bay Packers -- 18TH IN NFL (1445 total yards, 4.1 ypc)

Atlanta has a rookie QB, Michael Turner, and Jerious Norwood.
Tampa Bay has Earnest Graham and Cadillac Williams.
I live in the Bay Area, and I don't even know who the Raiders start at tailback.
Houston has Steve Slaton.
Carolina has that tandem of Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams.
We have Ryan Grant.

If you look at their cast of players, they really aren't that great (except for obviously Carolina.) But the thing is, Carolina is under their first year in the ZBS.

If we're going to keep the scheme, we need to totally retool the offensive line and probably hire a new coach, because it's not giving us the results we're supposed to be getting--even with the continuity we've been having.

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Why did we even turn to a zbs? What's the advantage?

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I still think that the offense never recovered from the loss of OC Jeff Jagodzinski after one season. He was supposed to be our ZBS guru.

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ZB....it hasn't worked here yet.
Get rid of it.......it's costing us way too much it seems.
JMO

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Everyone is welcome to their own opinion of the ZBS, and if you're against it, that's fine, but you can't use those statistics to support your position.

Those stats show that all 7 teams using the ZBS rank among the top 18 rushing offenses. And if you dig just a tad deeper you'll find that we are 15th in YPC and only 30 yards behind 15th in total yards.

That means we are almost exactly league average.

Those stats provide eveidence supporting the ZBS rather than indicting it.

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This post was made with the intention of making known where we're at, compared with other teams who use it. It is not to show my opinion at all.

The bottom line is that this is our fourth year under the system, and we're the worst at using it, despite the fact that our offensive line has remained the same since it was installed.

That can mean one of two things:
- Our offensive line isn't good enough.
- Our offensive line coach isn't good enough.

As far as I know, it can also mean both. We thought the strength was in pass blocking, because of elusive Favre continued to be, but this year the offensive line is so bad, we can easily predict when Rodgers would get sacked. (Yeah, I know Favre's experience and competitive nature is a factor to him not being sacked, but that doesn't affect Rodgers own athleticism and grasp of the system.)

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Grant is averaging 4 yards a carry, the same as Matt Forte but we seem to think that we aren't able to run the ball. We've been pretty effective running the ball since the Indy game, it definitely isn't a problem that needs fixing.

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Especially Denver's rank is pretty amazing, looking at how many RBs they lost this year. This scheme has been great for them for ages.

Maybe it is indeed more of a coaches problem, maybe our O-lineman are bad. We're right in the middle of the pack though, with a less than stellar interior defensive line. If you look at some of the names, two of them are just ok players at best (Guards), two players that are declining ath their age (Tackles) and just one guy that seems to be working out like he should in Wells.

Our problem is, we don't have a guy with extensive knowledge of the scheme to make it work.

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How isn't it working? I don't quite get it. Grant is averaging 4.0 yards a carry, and since the Indy game he's been averaging 4.4. Just because he isn't as effective as he was last season doesn't mean he isn't producing. People just saw the beginning of the season and are holding pat to their opinion that Grant isn't very good. He's a very solid runner and is 10th in the league in rushing right now and has the same YPC as Marion Barber. Jackson is averaging 5.5 yards a carry. The ZBS obviously isn't having any negative impact on our team. We're a pass first team, thats just how McCarthy coaches.

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