There has been a lot of talk about zone blocking and how it can be effective. Well - those of you are right - it can be - but I dont see how it can the way we do it.
For starters, generally the zone blocking scheme is better when your OL aren't quite as dominant. Having Orlando Pace in zone blocking is like having Picasso paint houses. When you have guys like that - its better to use drive blocking and let them blow the DL off the ball. Zone blocking is more "read and react". The idea is to let the DL move, and then use his momemtum to push him out of the play or to create holes. The kicker with this is that it requires space - ie - larger splits between the linemen. Using zone blocking with small spilts just creates a mass of humanity and no holes - kinda exactly what we have been seeing for the last.....three years? If you dont believe that our OL are close, just look at how many times JZ has tripped over an OLs foot that wasnt the center.
Minnesota uses zone, and take a look at how wide their splits are. In my opinion, our OL are way to close to use zone.