HOW TO ATTACK A ZONE DEFENSE

THE zone defense is the bane of pro-football quarterbacks, since it is designed to take away the offense's most potent weapon, the bomb. Basically the zone calls for the seven behind-the-line defenders--three linebackers, two cornerbacks and two safeties in the normal pro lineup--to cover designated areas rather than specific receivers on a pass pattern. (If they do cover individual receivers, they are playing a man-to-man defense.) The defenders in a zone are charged with the responsibility of protecting their areas until the ball is thrown; then they converge on the receiver. Thus an end who looks wide open to the quarterback when he drops back to throw may be well covered by two or more defenders by the time the ball arrives.

There are many varieties of zones in the pro game. One of the most effective is the rotating zone, perfected by the Baltimore Colts and shown in the diagram above. In this defense there are four short areas of responsibility and three deep ones. Ideally, the defensive backs will line up in a nondescript formation, then shift quickly to their predesignated areas as soon as the ball is snapped. In other words, the quarterback sees one defensive alignment before the play begins and a totally different one when he drops back to pass.

The trick for the quarterback is to recognize a zone forming while he is retreating into the pocket. In the case of Baltimore's rotating zone, the essential key for Namath was the way the two Colt safeties reacted at the snap of the ball--by bolting to the left. Joe and the Jets tried to counter the zone by using a slot formation (see diagram), in which one wide receiver was slotted inside another on the right side, while the tight end was split wide to the left. When Namath dropped back to pass, the outside receiver, Don Maynard, ran a deep pattern, taking two defensive backs with him; at predetermined reading points, Maynard had the option of cutting toward the middle or toward the sideline, depending upon how he was being covered. Meanwhile, the slot receiver, Eddie Bell, ran a shorter pattern into the area vacated by the defensive backs --an empty spot in the zone known as the seam. One result: Namath was able to complete nine passes to Bell for 197 yards and one touchdown.

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