The New York Jets’ moves in the 2024 offseason largely hinted that the offensive coaching staff was planning to switch from a zone-blocking run scheme to a gap-blocking one.
Firstly, the Jets added two burly, mauling offensive linemen who hailed from one of the NFL’s most gap-heavy blocking schemes in Baltimore: left guard John Simpson and right tackle Morgan Moses. They also added left tackle Tyron Smith, whose skill set made him a better fit for the gap scheme.
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After that, the Jets doubled down on their power-based mentality by drafting two running backs who were better known for their size and their downhill running than their speed or agility: Braelon Allen and Isaiah Davis.
Finally, switching to a gap scheme was a wise move to maximize the talents of Breece Hall. Over his first two seasons, Hall led all running backs in yards per carry on gap-blocking concepts, while his yards per carry on zone-blocking concepts was substantially below average.
All signs pointed to the Jets becoming a physical, gap-blocking, power-running football team in 2024. They would rely heavily on pullers, double teams, and between-the-tackles grit, mimicking the mold of teams who found great success by leaning on the power run game in 2023, such as the Ravens, Bills, and Rams.
Three games into 2024, this schematic shift has not occurred. In fact, the Jets’ run scheme looks as unchanged as any in the NFL.
According to Pro Football Focus, the Jets have used a gap-blocking concept on 42.6% of their designed rushing attempts, which ranks 18th in the NFL. That is a measly 0.3% decline from their 42.9% rate in the 2023 season, representing the smallest year-over-year change of any team in the NFL so far.
Here is a look at each team’s zone-gap balance from Weeks 1-3 of the 2024 season, per Pro Football Focus, and how those rates compare to each team’s final rate from the 2023 season.
| Team | Zone | Gap | Gap% | 2023 Gap% | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cardinals | 19 | 53 | 73.6% | 51.8% | 21.8% |
| Titans | 15 | 34 | 69.4% | 43.5% | 25.9% |
| Jaguars | 18 | 37 | 67.3% | 56.3% | 10.9% |
| Giants | 20 | 38 | 65.5% | 39.2% | 26.3% |
| Patriots | 29 | 45 | 60.8% | 59.3% | 1.5% |
| Chiefs | 27 | 38 | 58.5% | 35.2% | 23.2% |
| Rams | 29 | 34 | 54.0% | 63.4% | -9.5% |
| Bills | 32 | 37 | 53.6% | 65.6% | -11.9% |
| Packers | 46 | 52 | 53.1% | 41.3% | 11.7% |
| Bengals | 22 | 23 | 51.1% | 56.5% | -5.4% |
| Browns | 24 | 24 | 50.0% | 61.1% | -11.1% |
| Dolphins | 30 | 27 | 47.4% | 33.6% | 13.8% |
| Buccaneers | 29 | 26 | 47.3% | 43.6% | 3.7% |
| Broncos | 28 | 24 | 46.2% | 43.7% | 2.5% |
| Ravens | 45 | 36 | 44.4% | 54.8% | -10.4% |
| Commanders | 38 | 30 | 44.1% | 33.7% | 10.5% |
| Chargers | 44 | 34 | 43.6% | 41.9% | 1.7% |
| **NFL Average** | 37 | 28.5 | 43.6% | 44.7% | -1.1% |
| Jets | 39 | 29 | 42.6% | 42.9% | -0.3% |
| Cowboys | 25 | 18 | 41.9% | 46.2% | -4.3% |
| Vikings | 40 | 28 | 41.2% | 39.8% | 1.4% |
| Eagles | 45 | 31 | 40.8% | 33.4% | 7.4% |
| Raiders | 27 | 18 | 40.0% | 50.9% | -10.9% |
| Seahawks | 37 | 24 | 39.3% | 32.0% | 7.4% |
| Lions | 52 | 33 | 38.8% | 46.8% | -7.9% |
| Bears | 33 | 19 | 36.5% | 39.6% | -3.0% |
| Colts | 43 | 20 | 31.7% | 34.1% | -2.4% |
| Panthers | 42 | 17 | 28.8% | 42.4% | -13.6% |
| 49ers | 57 | 23 | 28.8% | 31.4% | -2.7% |
| Saints | 72 | 20 | 21.7% | 44.3% | -22.5% |
| Steelers | 67 | 18 | 21.2% | 41.1% | -19.9% |
| Texans | 51 | 12 | 19.0% | 43.5% | -24.5% |
| Falcons | 58 | 11 | 15.9% | 32.2% | -16.3% |
It’s not that the Jets haven’t used any gap runs. They have; every team mixes in both running styles. It’s just that New York has not leaned as heavily on those concepts as we expected.
In fairness, nobody on the Jets’ coaching staff ever came out and explicitly stated that the team was planning on changing its run scheme. This conversation was always educated speculation fueled by the evidence that accumulated throughout New York’s offseason moves. With the makeup of their roster, it seemed likely that a gap-leaning scheme was their best option.
Now that we are three games in and the Jets have not changed their zone-gap split, it’s a discussion worth broaching.
Watching the film of the Jets’ run game through three weeks, I have not noticed that either zone or gap runs have been particularly more successful for New York. The run game has had success and struggles with both schemes. So, even if I do think it would be wise for the Jets to push their gap-blocking rate higher than it is right now, I cannot say that New York is in the wrong for not leaning heavier on gap concepts until they start performing more consistently on them.
Unfortunately, I do not have access to any data that shows how successful the Jets have been with different run concepts. What we can do is go back through the film to see some examples of what has worked and what has not.
Jets’ zone vs. gap run-blocking
Interestingly, in the Jets’ Week 3 win over New England, Braelon Allen and Breece Hall were utilized much differently in terms of the plays that were called for them. Allen had 9 zone runs to 2 gap runs, while Hall had 6 zone runs to 10 gap runs.
Let’s start by taking a few looks at the good and bad of Hall’s carries in both concepts before analyzing Allen’s zone-heavy night.
Hall gains 10 yards on this duo concept, which is a form of gap blocking. Duo involves double teams from the offensive linemen, designed to get vertical push. The running back typically gets the handoff away from the flow of the offensive line and toward the tight end side, as Hall does here. Thanks to strong double teams from Joe Tippmann and Alijah Vera-Tucker plus Morgan Moses and Tyler Conklin, Hall gets a huge hole straight up the middle and takes it, gaining about 5 yards before he’s touched. Seeing the safety crashing down with a hard inside angle, Hall hits him with a spin move to add another 5 yards or so.
Despite Hall’s big gain on the earlier duo run, the Jets have not been consistent enough with it to make it a staple play just yet. This time, the Jets run duo again, but Tippmann is burnt by the linebacker, allowing a quick TFL.
The Jets try to go back to their staple outside zone on this play, tossing the ball to Hall outside with Mike Williams throwing a crack block on the DE. However, Jeremy Ruckert does a poor job here, blowing up the play. Ruckert needs to get depth into the backfield and pull around Williams to get outside, but instead, Ruckert runs directly into Williams, preventing him from cracking the DE. This allows the DE to get a free shot on Hall for the 7-yard TFL.
The Jets go back to duo. They mostly block this excellently, with Tyron Smith and John Simpson creating tons of room on the left edge, but there is one blown block on the edge from Tyler Conklin. Hall masterfully erases it by manipulating the defender. Hall presses inside and sees the defender in his way, so he skips outside to pull the defender out of the gap. The defender reacts, pushing himself outside, but before he can make a play, Hall is already back inside, breezing by him. Tremendous vision, creativity, and short-area quickness from Hall here.
The Jets run power, which involves Alijah Vera-Tucker pulling from right guard to kick out the left edge. The run is designed for Hall to run between Vera-Tucker and Tyron Smith in the C-gap, but Conklin gets stood up in the gap, creating traffic. However, again showing creativity and vision, Hall is able to bounce the run outside for a chunk gain.
Gap plays seem to give Hall a much better opportunity to utilize his creativity than zone plays. Zone plays have more of a defined flow to them – the entire line slides in one direction, and the running back’s job is to stay with the flow and explode up the field with one cut when he sees a hole open. Conversely, gap plays are more methodical, buying Hall the time to decipher the defense and plot ways to create holes for himself. From what I saw in this game, I do think gap plays are a better fit for Hall than zone, and the Jets stayed true to that with their 63% gap rate for Hall in this game.
Another outside zone run where Hall gets stuffed. It is hard to pinpoint one whiffed block by a Jets lineman here, but the Patriots just do a generally good job of creating havoc on the play side, eliminating options for Hall.
Again, Hall has more chances to be creative in gap-blocking situations, when he can square his shoulders up to the line of scrimmage and shuffle around laterally to create his own lanes. When he is sprinting toward the sideline, there isn’t as much he can do to make things happen. If the blocking does work, zone blocking is a great option to unlock Hall’s grand-slam speed up the sideline, which we saw on his 2022 touchdown in Denver, so it’s a high-reward, high-risk type of play for Hall and the Jets right now.
Braelon Allen, however, found plenty of success on zone runs.
The Jets run outside zone with Allen. The play is poorly blocked, as Conklin strangely allows the linebacker to come in unblocked, but Allen makes the play work solely through his own elusiveness. He side-steps the linebacker with ease, leaving him in the dust and continuing upfield while hardly losing momentum. While Allen is best known for his power and size, it’s his lateral quickness for his size that gives him the potential to become something special, as he shows here. And while the cut is the main attraction here, Allen’s strength still contributes; the defender tries to grab Allen around the legs, but Allen trucks right through it.
Allen gets another outside zone handoff, this time with Ruckert at fullback to lead the way. The Jets block this tremendously, creating a huge play-side hole for Allen. Vera-Tucker clears his man laterally while Tippmann and Simpson seal the back side. Ruckert takes on the linebacker. Allen doesn’t have to do anything here but rumble downfield. He runs through the DT’s arm tackle with ease, stays afoot through the safety’s diving attempt, and tumbles forward for a few more yards. When you give a man with Allen’s size and power a head of steam, he’s going to bowl people over.
Allen’s go-ahead touchdown against the Titans in Week 2 was on outside zone.
Ruckert leads the way with a good kick-out, while Moses and Vera-Tucker do just enough to hold Jeffery Simmons inside. Allen bursts to the second level, and No. 37 just does not look very interested in tackling him while he is moving at that speed.
People tend to stereotype running backs like Allen as a better fit for a gap/power scheme, simply because all of the cliches fit together. Oh, Allen is big and powerful? So let’s plow him up the middle behind a power blocking scheme, right? Pound that man up the middle!
That is not always the truth, as Thursday night showed. Allen’s 235-pound frame isn’t too much for a 300-pound defensive tackle to handle. It is too much for a 190-pound safety to handle. That’s why outside zone is great for Allen. When you run him outside, you get him matched up against the smaller defensive backs who will struggle the most with handling his overwhelming frame. The Titans got the most out of Derrick Henry by using him this way.
Not to mention, outside zone gives Allen a head of steam, which is when his power has the most impact. You can see that on this play.
Ruckert blocks this one terribly, putting Allen one-on-one with the edge defender in the backfield as soon as he gets the ball. However, Allen enters this encounter with plenty of momentum; since this is an outside zone play, he is already running going into the handoff. Allen uses this momentum to plant the defender in the ground and turn a potential loss into a 1-yard gain.
On inside gap runs, the running back needs patience and short-area quickness to find a hole, which is why Hall tends to perform better with those. You can’t just hand the ball to a big dude and ask him to barrel forward into a pile of traffic – that’s not how inside running works. We saw an example of that from Allen on the following power concept.
The Jets put Ruckert in motion to kick out the left edge, while Vera-Tucker pulls from right guard to seal the inside half of the C-gap. The design is for Allen to run between Ruckert and Vera-Tucker, which is what Allen tries to do, but he runs into a wall and gets stuffed for barely a 1-yard gain.
However, because of the dominant down block from Simpson, there is a huge hole up the middle that Allen could have used to gain an easy 1-2 yards before meeting the linebacker, where Allen’s power likely would have yielded at least another 3-4 yards to make this a 4-6 yard gain on first down. In addition, with the left edge defender overpursuing inside, there is a huge lane for Allen to bounce this outside. Either option would require some quick improvisation, though. Right now, Allen is more of a downhill, one-cut runner who wants to pound the designed hole and make plays using his power and elusiveness rather than manipulation.
Allen, being more of a one-cut runner, is a perfect fit for zone concepts, when all he needs to do is follow the designed blocking scheme, wait for a gap to open, hit it, and keep rumbling. Hall, who has a more creative, east-west mentality to go with more experience and better short-area agility, is a perfect fit for the methodical progression of gap-blocking plays. Based on what he showed on his plays in this game, Hall probably would have gained at least 4 yards in the same situation as Allen on the play above, either by hitting the gap up the middle or manipulating the edge defender and bouncing outside.
The Jets, to their credit, utilized both backs to their strengths in this game. Allen ran zone on 82% of his carries. Hall ran gap on 63% of his carries. This perfectly explains why the Jets’ zone-gap split isn’t as gap-heavy as we expected before the season.
If the Jets were relying as heavily on Hall as we expected them to, then perhaps they would be one of the heaviest gap teams right now. Instead, they have mixed Allen into the game plan much more than anybody anticipated. With Allen being a better fit for zone plays, the Jets’ overall zone-gap split has been pulled back down to the same league-average neighborhood it was in last year, even though Hall himself has indeed been leaning heavily toward gap plays.
The Jets surprisingly have a two-headed monster in the backfield. Because of that, the Jets are not necessarily a gap team nor a zone team. They’re a Breece Hall and Braelon Allen team, so they’re going to do whatever works for their two talented backs. Right now, outside zone is working for Allen, and gap plays are working for Hall.
It will be interesting to see how the Jets develop their run scheme throughout the year. They will definitely want to mix things up a bit more, as it could become predictable if Allen and Hall continue to lean heavily toward one particular scheme. Nonetheless, if both players continue to be successful in their respective roles, there is no reason to change anything.
The New York Jets have a dynamic run scheme.
