Theoretically, there should always be a small gap between the zones the defensive backs patrol. The WR is supposed to have watched enough tape to find the holes in the Zone. Some of Ridley's numbers are the QB's fault for this game. It was the first time I had seen that and it worked pretty well. Ultimately, it was taking a Linebacker off the field so they could play their normal zone scheme, but make certain they had someone on Hopkins at all times as well. They had someone shadow Nuk, but also played zone. During their playoff game against the Texans, they did something pretty cool with their Zone though. They don't have great man-to-man Corners in Indy, but that defensive backfield plays excellent as a unit overall, so they stick with Zone. They did play Zone throughout the entire game. I'd laugh hard if the colts actually played man D all game. I see plenty of players make the mistakes listed above with disasterous results because the WR broke off on his route at the wrong spot, or didnt stop at the soft spot and then the throw was behind him.īTW: did anyone watch the game? did the Colts actually play a zone D? He could just be feeding a line to the dude giving him the interview. rookie's and second year guys? not always. usually that's where the QB throws the ball, but if you run past the spot or run your pattern too deep or too shallow (depending on the spot in the zone coverage) you can run the risk of an INT if the QB throws you the ball. So when running your pattern, you find that soft spot in the zone and target that location. (usually between or in front of 2 defenders where the largest gap is) In Zone, you find the soft spot and sit there. Running a pattern vs man D is completely different than running patterns vs zone D. Well, some players take time to figure out where they need to be. Packers get that atrocious Eagles secondary. Thinking about MVS over Ridley this week due to matchup. He is now dealing with a hip issue, limited in practice Wednesday. Good news is lack of targets was not by design. Bad news is he had a hard time beating zone defense. Dirk Koetter (Falcons OC) said it was his fault for not including Ridley more in week 3 but Ridley went on to say he had a hard time getting open.